Annealing Brass

Re: Annealing Brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DJ1075</div><div class="ubbcode-body">hope this helps you mouse07410
propane is twice as hot as natural gas and map gas the yellow bottles is even hotter then propane. you can use your stove its just going to take you a little longer then a gas torch. The higher the BTU means less flame time you need to anneal brass.</div></div>
Oh, I didn't realize that! I was afraid the stove flame would be <span style="text-decoration: underline">hotter</span> than needed. If it's <span style="text-decoration: underline">cooler</span> - it's perfect for me!

And <span style="font-weight: bold">yes it helps</span>, thank you! This info is crucial for me.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">so you may have to anneal your brass for 7-8 seconds on a stove instead of say 5 seconds with a gas torch. you just have to play with the annealing time with some brass to get your feel of it.</div></div>
Oh, perfect! To spend a couple (or a few) more seconds on each case is perfectly OK with me. When I reload - I usually deal with bunches of 50 to 100 "quality" reloads per session. So an extra minute or two is a benefit rather than a problem!

Thanks again!
 
Re: Annealing Brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: mouse07410</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DJ1075</div><div class="ubbcode-body">hope this helps you mouse07410
propane is twice as hot as natural gas and map gas the yellow bottles is even hotter then propane. you can use your stove its just going to take you a little longer then a gas torch. The higher the BTU means less flame time you need to anneal brass.</div></div>
Oh, I didn't realize that! I was afraid the stove flame would be <span style="text-decoration: underline">hotter</span> than needed. If it's <span style="text-decoration: underline">cooler</span> - it's perfect for me!

And <span style="font-weight: bold">yes it helps</span>, thank you! This info is crucial for me.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">so you may have to anneal your brass for 7-8 seconds on a stove instead of say 5 seconds with a gas torch. you just have to play with the annealing time with some brass to get your feel of it.</div></div>
Oh, perfect! To spend a couple (or a few) more seconds on each case is perfectly OK with me. When I reload - I usually deal with bunches of 50 to 100 "quality" reloads per session. So an extra minute or two is a benefit rather than a problem!

Thanks again! </div></div>

I'm not as versed as others here on annealing but, I'd be careful working other methods than accepted ones. Brass conducts heat very quickly so, if it takes longer to heat the neck to the right temp. then, if the brass conducts quickly enough while leaving the neck over a cooler flame, you could potentially ruin it by getting the case head and body too hot by the time the neck reaches the right temp.

Just something to think about or remember.
 
Re: Annealing Brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jwoolf</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Brass conducts heat very quickly so, if it takes longer to heat the neck to the right temp. then, if the brass conducts quickly enough while leaving the neck over a cooler flame, you could potentially ruin it by getting the case head and body too hot by the time the neck reaches the right temp.

Just something to think about or remember.</div></div>
Yes definitely something to be on the alert for. Thanks for making me aware of this!
 
Re: Annealing Brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Bacarrat</div><div class="ubbcode-body">This is how I anneal brass.
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So any amount of heat, from 1-2" away, anywhere from the top of the neck to below the shoulder, for anywhere from 12 to 23 seconds, while heating the hell out of the adjacent cases, is perfect!

Got it!

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Kidding!
 
Re: Annealing Brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: queequeg</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Bacarrat said:
This is how I anneal brass.
smile.gif


So any amount of heat, from 1-2" away, anywhere from the top of the neck to below the shoulder, for anywhere from 12 to 23 seconds, while heating the hell out of the adjacent cases, is perfect!

Got it!

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Kidding! </div></div>

I was just waiting for your cases to melt completely...holy hell do you heat those suckers up!!
 
Re: Annealing Brass

I tried my hand at annealing for the first time today..I did these 2 by hand turning. I then used my drill with a 14mm deep socket, with a bolt and a nut.
P1000324.jpg
 
Re: Annealing Brass

Well I thought while I had some time I would try some 223 brass, on the left is a brand new lapua. I have found that it is easier for my eye to anneal with the light on, no water quench.
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P1000326.jpg
 
Re: Annealing Brass

Read Suasponte's posts on first page and look at the direction sheet closely.

The you tube and red cases ruined them all. About six seconds in flames for 308/30.06. About four seconds for 5.56 cases.

Cases should be light to medium blue. Dark blue they got too hot.

Direct flame about 3/8" to 1/2" below shoulder with inner flame about 1" long with propane tank source. Heat the thick part of the brass and let the heat propogate towards the neck. Do not put flame directly on necks, they overheat quickly.

Get a LC case and use it as a color chart. You want it that color, no darker and perhaps a bit lighter but if you dupe LC color you are on the money.
 
Re: Annealing Brass

The biggest problem I have is whether the rest of the brass is getting to hot. Magnum cases take quite a but longer.I am thinking about 15 seconds,not sure, alot has to do with the flame. I set mine so it is just barely staying on. As far as the rest goes thats how I do mine. You can actually see the color propogate up the neck and just past the shoulder,thats when I take it off the flame.Then it goes on a damp cloth.
 
Re: Annealing Brass

15 seconds is way too long. Make your inner flame exactly like the drawing in Suasponte's post on page one of this thread and you are good to go.

the only time I ever had to go that long was to stress relieve Norma 7.62X54 cases that had been reformed to 6.5 Daudeteau. I had to stress relieve them half way to the web as they were brittle and broke in half on first shot after rework. After I stress relieved the case, never had another failure.

Rotate your brass about 150 to 200 RPM.

Case should not turn blue before removing it from flame. It turns blue after it hits towel. Towel does not have to be wet.
 
Re: Annealing Brass

Well I tried using the heat on the shoulder for 7 case in the block approx 10 seconds. The other ones were by eye, not sure I may just throw thwm all out, and get some Tempilaq.
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P1000328.jpg

 
Re: Annealing Brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: noneck180</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> The other ones were by eye, not sure I may just throw thwm all out,
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why throw them out ? you thinking the case heads got to hot ?
 
Re: Annealing Brass

Yes those cases look fine.

Before I learned how to do it I got some dark blue. Thought nothing of it at first. Was getting ready to move so I loaded up a couple hundred rounds to hold me till I got my loading operation up again.
I opened boxes about 18 mo later and over half the necks had split just sitting there in the box.
 
Re: Annealing Brass

I have something that is worrying me when I anneal. I stop right when it starts to change color (at around 5-6 seconds) and yes I have the head sitting in water and I use one of those easy turn tables. So i sit the pan on the turn table and spin the pan on the turn table as the flame gets the neck/shoulder. My issue is this:

on one out of every twenty or so cases it looks like there is a black scorch mark on the neck of the case. Like I said I never seen it get orange or red just a slight color change. is the black mark (which is always just one side of the neck not all 360) powder residue or something on the neck? I am confused by this. I will post a pic later if needed.
 
Re: Annealing Brass

I had black deposits when stress relieving until I started cleaning with the stainless stuff. I figured it was left over case lube that was doing it and now I never see it. I FL size before tumbing cases to remove all the case lube and carbon.

Case head temp can be a problem but there is a proven method to make sure you don't have any.


The KISS principle works and was taught to me by ammo engineer from Frankford Arsenal who was also a highpower shooter.

Fired 223 cases eject at about 171F. Third degree burns to skin occur about 155F.

Thusly if you hold case HEAD in fingers while rotating in flame your fingers will tell you when case head gets to about 120 which for most is the pain level. Logic 101, if your fingers don't have blisters (2nd degree burn = lower temp) then your case head has not reached 155F. Now wasn't that simple? haha.

Now most folks will drop case at the point it gets too hot to hold? As they say in commercials "Your results may vary" haha.

Turning them in electric drill with variable speed capability is the most uniform I have ever seen and <span style="text-decoration: underline">most closely duplicates how the ammo plants do it in house.</span>

They don't put them in water, they don't dump them in water, They don't use temp sticks, they rotate them through gas flames for about 4-6 seconds and drop out in a buggy before they are taken to the "candy machine" which cleans the blue off.

Note the flames in the arsenals are natural gas and not propane under pressure but then again propane is the easiest thing for us to get set up for.

Why do they clean the blue off? They have these guys called marketing specialists that think blue doesn't look good and people want shiny brass so they put them through a bath that removes the blue.

I can do about five cases a minute, don't wear gloves and my stuff comes out looking exactly like LC Match cases. I place chuck (like Suasponte shows above) in drill, crank it up to about 150 to 200 rpm, drop case in spinning holder, pivot drill over into flame, count to six, point drill down, case drops into plastic bucket lined with a towel and turns blue AFTER hitting towel. I can watch it change color NOTE COLOR IS NOT DEFINED AS BLUE AND CERTAINLY NOT RED.

It just changes a tint of the brass and I watch it till it is about at case mouth and pull it through flame on the way out and drop it.

Now if you want to realy arrive at the scene in style get a Smith's Little Torch, get a 20 lb propane cylinder and a propane regulator and a oxygen regulator w/ bottle and you can have a nice little flame about 1/4" long placed precisely where you want it and you will get very nice results but now we are talking about $300.00 investment all bought as new.

I got lucky, friend just gave me a Little torch, I already had 20 lb propane bottle from grill, already had oxy/acetylene set up from 40 years ago, so all I had to buy was a propane regulator. I have only done a few cases as I haven't rigged a torch holder yet as it is so small. Right now I have a propane torch with smallest tip I could find mounted on a green short fat propane bottle so it holds itself up and running with that now as I have about 15 propane bottles laid in.

If I desire I can hold cases in fingers, rotate them in flame till the tint changes on neck, drop them on towel and case head never gets warm till a couple seconds after it hits the towel.

The Little Torch is designed to silver/gold solder fine precision jewelry where heat has to be precise and under complete control. The tips are very tiny all the way up to small. On one tip you can get blue flame about 1/16" long if desired.
 
Re: Annealing Brass

I never let it get red or orange, but sometimes (i count to 5-6) the brass heats up just a little faster , wether it is me holding too close or if the brass is thinner or w/e the reason but it will just start to turn colors when I dump it. Is it ruined at that point? I will be using the vice grip test later but is a case ruined when the whole neck turns orange or if it just starts to. To me the "blag magic" of annealing is getting it hot enough, but not too hot. I think I am just paranoid about it to be honest cause my brass looks like yall's in the pictures.
 
Re: Annealing Brass

I've been kicking around getting into annealing as I've started to notice my cases becoming stiffer in the FL resizing die after a couple of reloads on them. This looks like a fairly easy process that should only take a handful of scrap cases to figure it out. I plan on using the variable speed drill method with a deep well socket (all I'll be doing is .308) but had a question regarding the type of torch. I have absolutely no experience regarding what types of torches are capable of what, but would something like this from Home Depot fit the bill? http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware/...catalogId=10053 Thanks
 
Re: Annealing Brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: CardiacKid</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've been kicking around getting into annealing as I've started to notice my cases becoming stiffer in the FL resizing die after a couple of reloads on them. This looks like a fairly easy process that should only take a handful of scrap cases to figure it out. I plan on using the variable speed drill method with a deep well socket (all I'll be doing is .308) but had a question regarding the type of torch. I have absolutely no experience regarding what types of torches are capable of what, but would something like this from Home Depot fit the bill? http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware/...catalogId=10053 Thanks </div></div>

Yep. I'm using the same one.
 
Re: Annealing Brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SVG308</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: CardiacKid</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've been kicking around getting into annealing as I've started to notice my cases becoming stiffer in the FL resizing die after a couple of reloads on them. This looks like a fairly easy process that should only take a handful of scrap cases to figure it out. I plan on using the variable speed drill method with a deep well socket (all I'll be doing is .308) but had a question regarding the type of torch. I have absolutely no experience regarding what types of torches are capable of what, but would something like this from Home Depot fit the bill? http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware/...catalogId=10053 Thanks </div></div>

Yep. I'm using the same one. </div></div>

I use the same one as well, works great....
 
Re: Annealing Brass

I use the same torch as well. Interesting tidbit; at my local HD they had just the nozzle for $12 hanging in plastic, the kit you linked to for $18, and then on the bottom shelf in a cardboard box the nozzle and one fuel tank for $12.
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The fuel tanks are $3 each, so I got the nozzle and two tanks for less than the plumbers kit. Look around some your HD may have a similar situation. It was not a pricing error, just "bean counter stupidity" according to several of the clerks at HD.
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Re: Annealing Brass

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Bunsen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I use the same torch as well. Interesting tidbit; at my local HD they had just the nozzle for $12 hanging in plastic, the kit you linked to for $18, and then on the bottom shelf in a cardboard box the nozzle and one fuel tank for $12.
confused.gif
The fuel tanks are $3 each, so I got the nozzle and two tanks for less than the plumbers kit. Look around some your HD may have a similar situation. It was not a pricing error, just "bean counter stupidity" according to several of the clerks at HD.
grin.gif
</div></div>

Yep - I was looking around the plumbing aisle at HD today and found the same thing. Looks like I can get totally set up with the torch and a sparker for just under $18. I'm finishing building my new reloading bench now (finally) so after that's done I think annealing might be the new project. I'm trying to find a cheap power screw driver to use that will work with a deep well socket and a hex bit as the holder because I think that should do the trick speed wise and work well as a quick bench-top setup. Didn't look at tools today as I'd already spent an hour just wandering around HD looking at lumber, paint, etc. I can spend hours there.

On another note, I found at HD that Stanley makes some little yellow plastic bins that they sell in an 8 pack with adapters to hang them from a wall, etc. for $6.99 or so. Makes for great brass/bullet sorting bins for ridiculously cheap.



EDIT TO ADD: Picked up one of these at Black & Decker Cordless Pivot Driver the PX today for $19.99. Not a bad thing to have around the house and it looks like it will be perfect for annealing. I am using a 1/4" drive craftsman six sided 13mm deep well with a hex-bit to 1/4" adapter and it fits a .308 casing perfectly. The specs say it turns at 180rpm. A quick tilt allows the .308 case to fall right out and it leaves what looks to be almost the perfect amount of case and shoulder exposed for annealing. I need to pick up an HVAC filter for the house so I think it will be the perfect excuse to buy one of the small propane torches and give this rig a whirl. Does anyone know how much burn time you'll get from the standard size "fat boy" propane tanks? Thanks
 
Re: Annealing Brass

Will this give any benefit in rifles that you are not trying to get incredible accuracy from. I plan on doing this for my 5r .300 WM which I shoot a lot less of than my 6.8. Will this make my 6.8 brass last much longer and make it worth the extra step? I can see it taking some time to do 500 or so cases.