Well I tried annealing, take a look.

[DrMike]

I just ran 5 of the test pieces through the full length sizer and had no collapsed shoulders and they went through nice and smooth. I think I did it right.

That is a pretty good indication that you did it correctly.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

I just hope I got them hot enough to soften the brass.

 

[Wincheringen]

What temp are you trying to achieve? I have a infrared noncontact thermometer that will read up to 750 degrees. Was thinking I might be able to use that rather than tempilaq. Anybody ever tried that?

Tempilaq is much faster than the infrared. You need to be able to see the temperature instantly, brass has a very high temperature conductivity.

Additionally, annealing is accomplished at a much lower temperature than 'red hot', somewhere around 450 degrees.

 

[SJB358]

I just ran 5 of the test pieces through the full length sizer and had no collapsed shoulders and they went through nice and smooth. I think I did it right.

That is a pretty good indication that you did it correctly.

They look good to me WT. if they go through your sized smoothly, that's one of the best indications your doing it right.

 

[atmoshpere]

Tempilaq is much faster than the infrared. You need to be able to see the temperature instantly, brass has a very high temperature conductivity.

Additionally, annealing is accomplished at a much lower temperature than 'red hot', somewhere around 450 degrees.

Agreed that you don't want red-hot, but I think 450 is too low. This article discusses the entire process in great detail.http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html You can scroll down to the section titled: Optimal Case Temperatures for Successful Annealing.

750 degree Tempilaq would be a very good idea, as it sounds like the difference between "annealed just right" and "irrevocably over-annealed" is a rather small temp range in the grand scheme of things and it is definitely recommended to stop at 750.

I would also agree that color can be misleading and that different gases and brass can produce different coloring effects. Another reason for the tempilaq :grin:

 

[wisconsinteacher]

I just read the 6mmbr article and from what I read, I did it right. From the reading, if you over heat them, you will have issues when you run them through the FL sizer. If they are too soft, the shoulder would collaps or buckle.