annealing brass

[Tokimini]

With new brass being almost impossible to find I'm going to start annealing some of my old Win and Remington brass. Any comments on what procedure you used and how it worked would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Joe O]

I mount my propane bottle in my bench vice,so that the nozzle in parallel with the floor at chest level,and use a cordless screwdriver with one of CRT's tools to turn the brass in the flame.I dump them in an old square cake pan.I established the length of time with templax,and now only count to myself while rotating the neck/shoulder in the flame.

[futuretrades]

First thing I would consider is the torch annealing tip that is available at the Woodchuck Den. I started with some junk 223 brass that I had in my junk brass bucket. This helped me get the "feel" of using this setup, without destroying my good brass. Tod Kindler, owner of the Woodchuck Den, will fix you up.

[bow shot]

Yo bro.!
For me, its:

1) 25 seconds over the kitchen stove flame, keeping the shoulder/neck area in the flame...
2) ... while rotating in a 10mm socket in a cordless drill (about 60 rpm, speed doesn't seem to matter)
3) Quenching is not needed for brass

If you go to acurateshooter.com, there are some great threads, and at least one good article.

Best advice I can give:
After reading up on this till my eyes bled, I'm convinced the trick is to hit annealing temperature in the neck/shoulder area, and not dwell any longer, which will (over-dwelling) have 2 effects; over-annealing the neck/shoulder, and weakening the head area.
And to do that you use the tempilaq liquid (one that indicates when you have reached annealing temperature, I fergit the value...), and experiment with some scrap cases to see how long it takes to:
1) reach annealing temp in the neck, shoulder, and about 1/2" below the shoulder
2) reach annealing temp in the danger area, which is "away" from the shoulder, closing in on the head.

Once you get the timing down (how long to keep in the flame, and how long is too long) you are dialed in for good, and won't have to use the tempilaq again, unless you change caliber or brass mfg.

My system is definately homegrown, but it works well and using the tempilaq has demonstrated to me that I'm well in the safe zone. You'll that there are much more sophisticated methods.

I've noticed this: Many folks say that you'll know when you've hit annealing temp when the brass turns from brass/gold to shiny/tin colored. My experiments with the tempiaq confirm that it does indeed work that way with MY brass (Hornady, Nosler and Norma and Laupua so far). It seems to be the consecus to warn that "YRMV" on that one... ie., don't rely on the color change thing until you've confirmed it with tempilaq. Also, I've found that its much easier to see the color change if the brass kindy (or quite) dingy, NOT real shiny, like freahly tumbled.

Dang... gotta get back to work, lol!!

[Tokimini]

Thanks all. Bow, I'm going to order some of that tempilaq liquid from Brad at CRT. What temp would you suggest?

[bow shot]

Here's that article (article)

http://www.accurateshooter.com/technica ... /annealing

here's a 'tube where the temps are mentioned: 750 -800 for a short period: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmWAotv7Zfg

I use the 750 tempilaq, and found that even if I leave the brass in the flame for a while, the heat didn't migrate very far from the neck area.. unless I got stupid about it