Do you have any tips for annealing brass you'd care to share?

[gregintenn]

I bought a hundred rounds of ancient 303 Savage brass, and I believe I would like to anneal it before doing anything else with it. Could I put my drill in a vice and turn each case while heating the neck until it begins to change colors, and then drop the case in water to prevent overheating the case head?

 

I don't want to buy a bunch of expensive equipment to do it with if I can help it.

 

How do you do it?

[79troublehead]

stand the cases in a pan of water to about 2/3's up the case. Lightly do the propane till color shift and knock over case into water. Do it in batches.

[MacGyver]

I learned a whole bunch from these guys:

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

[Lowpower]

what 79 said and to add....no fired primers in the brass while you do it.

[ttocswob]

I've used the oven method for Nagant revolver brass with some success. Place a thick metal pan in the freezer for an hour or so.  Stand the brass upright on the pan. Add 1/2 inch or so cold water to cover the case heads. Put the whole shebang into the oven under the preheated broiler for 15 minutes or so, adding more cold water if necessary. No need to tip the brass over; just keep the base cold.

 

This probably won't work with thicker rifle brass, but it's just the ticket for the tricky, paper-thin Nagant brass. Before, I'd have 2 or 3 split cases out of 50. The annealed cases load without splitting.

[gregintenn]

I used the brass in a pan of water method for annealing these old 303 Savage cases today. After doing so, I still lost 16 cases out of 98 to splits in the neck while sizing.

 

Each one that failed suffered a longitudinal crack in the neck, or neck/shoulder area. None extended all the way to the mouth of the case.

 

Does brass just get brittle with age? I don't know the history of this lot of brass, but to the eye, it appears to be in good condition. There's no ring around the case head like I'm accustomed to seeing with rifle brass near the end of it's life.

[Worriedman]

Bring them by the house, will take us 15 minutes.

[Worriedman]

I used the brass in a pan of water method for annealing these old 303 Savage cases today. After doing so, I still lost 16 cases out of 98 to splits in the neck while sizing.

 

Each one that failed suffered a longitudinal crack in the neck, or neck/shoulder area. None extended all the way to the mouth of the case.

 

Does brass just get brittle with age? I don't know the history of this lot of brass, but to the eye, it appears to be in good condition. There's no ring around the case head like I'm accustomed to seeing with rifle brass near the end of it's life.

I have some age on me, and I am getting more brittle by the day.  "Cold" working is what makes brass brittle, plus I suppose age could deteriorate the brass itself, but annealing seems to "bring it back" for me.  I got one of the machines, as I do so much wildcat case prep.

http://www.bench-source.com/id81.html

[mikegideon]

[media] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCWni2nNNeE [/media]

[Worriedman]

[media] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCWni2nNNeE [/media]

That thing is sweet.  They came out with it after i bought the one I have, or I would have picked it instead, though, I am very happy with the ease of set up and use of the the one I have.

[mikegideon]

That thing is sweet.  They came out with it after i bought the one I have, or I would have picked it instead, though, I am very happy with the ease of set up and use of the the one I have.

 

There are a few pretty good ones out there. Giraud just knocked it out of the park. Set it up, load it with brass, and open a beer.

[OD#3]

Spin the cases in a drill. I chuck a socket that is slightly larger but considerably shorter than the case into a drill after I've made a shaft for the socket out of a small bolt. Spin the case while holding the neck in a propane torch flame. Depending on the case, it usually takes about 5 seconds to reach the proper anneal. Then I point the drill down and let the case fall into a bucket of water below. Dry cases in the sun or in an oven at low temps. I not only extend the life of my cases this way, but I've been able to eliminate sooty blowby in low pressure .45 Colt. Really helps keep my lever gun actions from gumming up with my .45 Colt black powder loads too; it eliminates the 44-40's advantage in this regard.