Annealing brass

[my82cam]

I have some 300wm brass I am wanting to anneal, does anyone around here do it, I would gladly pay you.  Don't have much right now, maybe 100 or less 300wm brass.  I live in Hendersonville and work in Madison, if you do or know of someone who can help me out, I would appreciate it! Thanks

[Hozzie]

I built this pretty cheap.   There is a YouTube video somewhere from a guy who did it originally   Works good for what I do   

Edited September 13, 2016 by Hozzie

[my82cam]

I like it.  I think I will copy this and make my own.  Could you give a brief description of what you are looking for and what you are doing while annealing?

 

[Hozzie]

I basically heat them for about 4 seconds in the flames and turn the holder and add the next piece of brass. I don't quench them in water.  They just go into a pan below the stand.   That's about it.  Basically it needs to get hot enough to soften the brass molecularly.  I am probably not the best to give specifics, but if you google it, I think you will find more info than you ever wanted.  

Edited September 14, 2016 by Hozzie

[Jakeway]

My82Cam, did you build one, and did it work?  I plan to anneal my first batch sometime later this week, just using a single torch and a cordless drill to spin the case.

[Omega]

I do it that way, get some 475 tempilaq or a tempilstik to mark just under the neck, when it starts melting, drop it in water to stop the heat from going further down.  Count the seconds you are in the flame, do it a few times making sure the drill spins at the same speed, a bit slow, and you are in the same part of the flame.  Once you feel you have the rhythm down, just count seconds.  I suggest you use three or four expendable cases to get your rhythm down, you don't want to reload any that have the base annealed.  And always start with the cases at room temperature, and dry.  Also, do this again if changing calibers, and maybe even headstamps.

[xtriggerman]

An old timer I knew back in the 70's that used to be a WWII Navy navigator on a destroyer gave me a tip on how he annealed many thousands of rounds. He said just stand them up in a large pan of water that's about 1/3rd deep on the casing. Propain can heat the neck slightly down into the mouth long enough to get a good sizzle in the water when you knock the heated case down into the water. I used this on .308 casings back then and never had a brittle problem after this simple method. Spinning the casing is a cool idea but I saw no need to improve on ol' Virgil's ..(God rest him) method with the couple hundred casings I put threw my FAL.

Edited April 5, 2017 by xtriggerman

[Omega]

21 hours ago, xtriggerman said:

An old timer I knew back in the 70's that used to be a WWII Navy navigator on a destroyer gave me a tip on how he annealed many thousands of rounds. He said just stand them up in a large pan of water that's about 1/3rd deep on the casing. Propain can heat the neck slightly down into the mouth long enough to get a good sizzle in the water when you knock the heated case down into the water. I used this on .308 casings back then and never had a brittle problem after this simple method. Spinning the casing is a cool idea but I saw no need to improve on ol' Virgil's ..(God rest him) method with the couple hundred casings I put threw my FAL.

Perfectly good way to do a pan full, the spinning method just lets you do more than a pan full of cases at a time.  As long as the method keeps you from heating the base, you're golden.  I first started that way back pre-www, a...shall we say, well seasoned, reloader taught me that little trick back in the 80s.  Once you do a few k, you might even begin to just "know" by the orange glow of the case mouth and not even count anymore, at least not consciously. 

Edited April 6, 2017 by Omega
Speeling

[MP5_Rizzo]

I've seen just about every kind of home grown contraption imaginable when it comes to annealing brass.   Some as simplistic as a single propane torch and a cordless drill to those with dual torches and all kinds of improvised motorized set ups that required a great deal of engineering and construction.  I received an email blast from Creedmoor sports this morning and low and behold the most high tech brass case annealer I think I've ever seen. To say the least it's pricey but if you want perfectly annealed brass every time this is the machine to do it.  It even says so in it's name.

Creedmoor Sports Annealing Made Perfect.

 

[Omega]

Yea, I can get another weapon or three for that much.  If I were to buy a machine, I'd probably get this one for $275:

http://www.annealeez.com/

[RedlegEd]

Hi all. I know this is a little necro posting, but I thought I have something to contribute. While researching the annealing process, I came across this video from Ballistic Recreations (http://ballisticrecreations.ca/) on salt bath annealing. I did some research, and the cost of the materials (minus the small Lee melting pot,) was $90 (US) + shipping. I went ahead and ordered the kit and some extra salt. The little Lee melting pot was another $36 on Amazon, so my total buy in was about $150. Yesterday, I did about 100 prepped (clean, sized/deprimed, and trimmed) .22-250 cases using this method in about 10 minutes (not including warm up time.) When I first started, it was a little tricky getting the timing right, but once I got a rhythm going, it went smoothly and quickly, doing two cases every 10-12 seconds. The trick, I found, was to use the "My Metronome" skill with Alexa (there are similar apps for iOS.) I set the beats per minute at 10 (every six seconds,) and process the brass this way: on the first beat put two shells in the holder, on the second beat pull them and drop in the bucket of water at my feet, grab two more, and on the 3rd beat, put the next two in. Repeat until done. I've tried the torch+socket on drill method, as well as stand the cases in a pan of water, but I liked this method the best. You can precisely control the amount of heat and amount of time for each case, and it's good for a whole range of cases (I use on .22-250, .30-06, and .45-70.) When I was finished, I simply rinsed and drained the brass, put them on a foil line baking sheet, and dried in the oven at 250°F for 1 to 1.5 hours. The salt is reusable, and once it cools, you put the cake back into it's jar. Hope this gives you all some ideas. Ed

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Edited January 12, 2018 by RedlegEd