annealing

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  • Last Post 06 June 2018
Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 19 May 2018

here is an interesting discussion of annealing brass for handloaders.

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

also do a search here in our cba forum;  as usual, the more opinions, the " better ".  

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a few basic things are repeated in these articles ::   

making case necks turn red means you have gone too far for ideal results.     650 degrees for a few seconds is desired.  this gives a mild anneal .   for safety, less annealing is better.

DO NOT  anneal much below the neck, the brass has to be springy below the neck.

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ric's idea of an aluminum plate with snug fitting holes for the necks ... floating in lead at 650 F.  really seems to me a very fine idea.  

ken

 

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TheMrNotSoFamous posted this 20 May 2018

While not fancy or expensive, I use nothing more than a candle for my anneal method. Shown to me many moons ago. It just plain works.

Owning a firearm doesn't make you armed anymore than owning a guitar makes you a musician...words of Jeff Cooper

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awelton85 posted this 29 May 2018

Care to explain your method? Sounds like something I could do in the kitchen as opposed to my 100° shop.

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R. Dupraz posted this 30 May 2018

I started annealing cases years ago when I got involved with the BPCR game with nothing more that a propane torch, a couple of cigar boxes or something similar, a dark room and my fingers. No expensive  machines, water or anything else. I continue to anneal normal brass that I use regularly as well as when reforming, such as making 30 Herret cases from 30-30's this way. 

After getting the hang of it, it's easy, fast, effective and consistent, I have not had a problem with ruined brass or with the shoulders being slightly annealed. And accuracy has not suffered.  

I believe that Ed Harris mentioned this method in a post several years ago.  

 

R.

 

 

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TheMrNotSoFamous posted this 30 May 2018

Start with a candle that will stand and cut the wick to about 1/4". After lighting candle, grab an empty, deprimed case by the base or rim and hold about 1/4" above flame with case mouth angled upwards slightly (to avoid having to clean soot from inside case necks) and rotate case neck above flame while slowly counting to 10 (one one thousand, two one thousand etc.). Be consistent with your counting cadence. When done counting drop case on towel to cool. When cooled, wipe soot from case and your ready to go, lightly annealed cases. Has worked for me for decades.

Owning a firearm doesn't make you armed anymore than owning a guitar makes you a musician...words of Jeff Cooper

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Coydog posted this 30 May 2018

I will have to try the candle way. Thank you for posting this .

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durant7 posted this 04 June 2018

 Can someone describe the candle way?  Roll neck in flame until??  Case too warm in hand?  15 seconds?  I have some old 52 SL 30-06 which seems to be splitting at the neck.  I thought anything would be useful to try to keep these old girls going while I do some load development in my M1.  Belling just a tad for the lead pill is not what these cases like.  Thanks in advance.

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 04 June 2018

durant7 .....  i think themrnotsofamous described a version of the candle way a couple posts prior to yours above.  just scroll up a foot or so .

oversimplified, he twirls the neck of the brass for 10 seconds over a 1/4 inch high candle wick and then lets it cool in air.  sounds pretty good to me.

hope this helps.

ken

 

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RicinYakima posted this 04 June 2018

In a little more detail, I hold the edge of the case neck about 1/4 above the flame at a 45 degree angel. Depending upon the size of the flame, about 10/15 seconds until I can feel heat on the case head. I do that right handed and roll it between thumb and firs two fingers. When base is warm, I wipe the neck with a damp paper towel in may left hand. Not to cool it , but get the soot off the neck.

I can do about 100 cases in three innings of a base ball game on the radio.

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awelton85 posted this 04 June 2018

I tried it on about 50 cases today. Easy as pie.

Thanks for the tip!

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mrbill2 posted this 04 June 2018

I found this one on you tub. Made my own copy and it works real well.

mrbill2

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 04 June 2018

....   i love it !! ....    i would look into adding/converting to induction/resistance/arc heating ..... gotta be a simple way to do that .... would there be a problem because of different diameter necks ? ... might be a fun project ...  slide the neck horizontally into the induction coil ...

hey how about a capacitor discharge through a variable resistor  ...  ?? ...  little old school gadgetry, maybe a charge indicator light bank ... and a drop-out mechanical relay for safety , something to make noise ...

ken

edit update ... i should have known ... there are several videos on case neck induction annealing ... on you-tube ...  looks interesting . 

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tlkeizer posted this 06 June 2018

Greetings,

Like R. Dupraz up a few posts, I use a propane torch, but I use a drill and socket.  For my 45-70 I have a deep well socket that a 45-70 case fits in easily, bought a cheap socket extension and cut off the female end so the shaft fits in the drill, and use the drill and socket to turn the case in the flame for about 5 seconds.  I then dump the case on a cloth and let it air cool.  and like Mrbill2 and Ken Campbell Iowa write there are numerous videos on u-tube.  Since starting to anneal I have only tossed out 1 45-70 case so far, but with black Powder and barely belling the case mouth I don't use the cases very hard.  I will also have to add I have not done a lot of annealing but use the same process for 45-70, .308, .243 and 25-06.  Have fun annealing.

TK

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