How to anneal brass

[Shamu25]

I just watched 2 youtube videos on annealing brass cases. On the first one the guy heated the necks and shoulders to blue and quenched them. On the second a guy heated to orange and quenched them. The first guy warned to not heat above the blue temp. The second guy makes them glow. So what are your thoughts on this and thanks for your input.

[Ol` Joe]

http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html

[wirelessguy2005]

there is a short video on our website that shows our annealing tools in use. It also explains the use of the tempilaq temperature indicating paint which we highly recommend when learning to anneal. We keep the tempilaq paint in stock. Here is the link to the video: http://www.customreloadingtools.com/crt_006.htm

Brad
Custom Reloading Tools LLC

[bow shot]

+1 on Ol Joe's post.

Personally, I believe that some try to make this more difficult than it needs to be.

Do yourself a BIG favor: Read up..... and use tempilaq. When you hit the right temp range you are good.

[jo191145]

If you saw the video I once saw from a guy in Texas getting them cherry red hot and tipping them into water,,,,, DON'T EVER DO THAT!!! Fool should be in jail for posting such a video.

Get some scrap brass from the range. Collect as much as you can from varying lots and SEGREGATE. No two cartridges, no two lots will require the same dwell time. How hard the brass is when you anneal will dictate how much time it requires under the flame. Practce on scrap first always makes sense.
Most folks suggest tumble/vibratory cleaning before annealing. I never do but will not dispute the benefits for beginners.

Get yourself a deep dish socket that will accept your brass and a battery/electric drill. I suggest battery.
A little tinfoil in the base of the socket MAY aid in getting it to the proper depth.
Use standard propane and spin that case in the point of the flame aimed at the neck.

Wanna use Tempilaq? By all means do so. Personally I threw it in the trash but thats just me. Cro magnon type.
What you will notice with observation is theres a blueish/grey line that starts at the shoulder neck junction. As the case spins and annealing takes hold that line will somewhat rapidly move down the shoulder to momentarily stop where the socket begins. (think heat stop)
At that point you should be done with annealing.

Once I've found a count cadence of what a particular set of brass requires I try my best to keep them consistent.
Not always possible tho. Sometimes theres a few hard buggers that refuse to listen to reason.
That line/demarcation point clealy marching down the brass has turned into a better indicator than any chemical I've yet witnessed.

[bow shot]

A few other pointers:

My experience was that if my brass was shiny clean, it was diffucult, usually impossible to see a color difference once the anneal point was reached. If I was doing dull brass, the color change was very obvious, and agreed very precisely with the tempilaq's indication range. I guess the brass oxide or whatever it is that makes it dull, has the "reaction" that is visible, and it nicely coincides with the brass's actual anneal? Just a hillbillly guess. Good indicator though!

So I'm saing pretty much +1 to Ol Joe on not needing the tempilaq... but in my case, not so for shiny clean brass. Of course, YRMV...

[Shamu25]

Thanks guys for the info. Very much appreciated
Ray

[wild willy]

With the price of brass I'am thinking about starting to anneal my brass.So far I like the socket idea. Thought about using sockets and making something like the Anneal -Rite. Any pictures or ideas on homemade setups?

[Rick in Oregon]

willy: Pop over to both saubier and 6mmbr, both have extensive posts and info on annealing and the equipment and methods required.