Got the Giraud case annealer, a few questions

[clayne_b]

So I am annealing Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor brass.


The 2 on the right have been annealed, The 2 on the left have not been



Here is a video I did with tempelac 750 in the inside of the neck, 425 on the out side of the case body

Test - YouTube

Tell me what you guys think, If im doing this wrong please tell me, and teach me the way of the ninja!

 

[missed]

Nice annealer!

I have been working on one similar but with more control for different cases.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[HodgdonExtreme]

The video seems to show the caseneck and shoulder begin to turn a bit red. If that's true, then I think your annealing is pretty good.

I've no experience with Tempilaq, I've always set mine by a combination of the looks of the heat affected zone (HAZ) and by doing it in the dark to see the caseneck begin to glow.

Still, I'm very surprised to see no HAZ on your cases. When mine is tuned up just right, my cases look like fresh Lapua cases.

However, I've found the state of cleanliness and tarnish of the cases has a dramatic effect on how the HAZ looks. Before I cleaned brass using stainless, I found I didn't get much HAZ coloration. If I immediately anneal after tumbling in stainless, I also don't get dramatic Lapua-like HAZ coloration. However, if I clean in stainless and then let the brass sit around and "tarnish" for a week or so, they DO look like Lapua.

 

[clayne_b]

that red color, stayed even after cooling, I think it came from wiping off the 750 tempilaq off the mouth of the case, because cases that had not tempilaq turned out like the ones in the picture above

 

[TrapperT]

It depends on how the cases have been cleaned prior. If you have used stainless steel media then you will get hardly any color change in the brass. Whereas if you cleaned with Citranox via ultra-sonic cleaning, your brass will show a definitive color change. If the cases are new and you haven't done anything to them, then it was probably what ever process used by Hornady to get the brass clean which is affecting the color. I have done a bunch of brass with US and stainless media and regardless of the brass maker, my above statement is at least true for me. Regardless, don't trust color to tell you when it's annealed correctly...let the Tempilaq tell you that....

 

[gstaylorg]

One thing I noticed with mine is that you have to be careful if you set the annealing time using the guidelines that come with the instructions and load the rack up pretty full with cases. As the gas tank runs down and the pressure changes, so does the size of the flame. Not a huge deal as long as you are aware of it and can readjust the flame over time.

As far as your case appearance, I use Lapua .308 cases cleaned with SS-media. They are very shiny going into the annealer, but have a much more noticeable color change afterwards than do yours in the photo. I'm guessing from the appearance of the case in the video that the two annealed cases (on the righ)t in the separate photo were cleaned again prior to taking the picture? I believe I set the machine to anneal .308 cases for ~ 8-9 sec. (approx. the middle of whatever time range the instructions recommended). On your video, your neck is in the flame for ~ 17 seconds. Or did you change the speed before doing more cases? That seems a little long to me if I remember their guidelines correctly. At the end of the video, it looks like you've actually smelted some pure copper out of the brass as the surface of the neck looks like a new penny. Based on the video, I'm wondering if you're not over-annealing the necks. My first few test .308 necks looked like that as I was adjusting the speed to get the total annealing time down where I wanted, then the copper color largely went away. However, as mentioned above the Tempilaq should be the best indicator of annealing.

 

[Monmouth]

After you wet tumble your cases and they look ultra clean without any tarnish, throw the dry cases in a vibratory with corn and case polish. After this, anneal and watch the colors start to appear.

I'm still seeking the best wash, vibrate, polish, anneal combo for optimal visual appearance and I think I'm getting close. Does it matter? Not at all, I'm just way over the top at times and that's according to me wife, haha. She doesn't know that I just contacted her little cousin who is seeking a PHD in chemistry to help me with the best combo. The same cousin, who loves to shoot the .308, just said "yeah, we should have pretty brass in that kick ass rifle."

 

[clayne_b]

The cases were tumbled in corn cob, The picture with the 4 brass, ( 2 on the right that have been annealed ) were not cleaned after doing so.

 

[wrenchmonkey]

Doubletap

 

[wrenchmonkey]

If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's trust your equipment and data. If your laquer tells you your temps are right, they're right. Full stop. Don't go based off what they look like. As others have mentioned, there are things you can do to make the colors appear, but if the tempilaq tells you you've hit temp, you're done.

 

[delixe]

Looks good to me, pretty much how mine turn out. If the 750 degree Tempilaq changes color, you've heated the brass to the proper temperature. You absolutely cannot judge the heat the brass reached by the resulting discoloration of the neck afterwards. The Tempilaq is a far better indicator, and you can trust it.

 

[clayne_b]

Thanks guys.