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Old September 20, 2012, 09:08 PM   #1
browninghunter86
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First attempt to anneal brass

So my WW 308 win brass has been fired 3 times and decided to try and anneal without the expensive machines costing a small fortune. I think they turned out pretty good for first attempt.

Clamped drill in vise and had torch set just on the case neck/shoulder junction and ziptied the drill on very low speed(no case wobble). Dropped case into a 12mm deepwell socket and with the lights off as soon as it started to change to a semi reddish color I took it out with a pair of pliers and set in a metal bucket.
Brass was not spot clean like when using stainless media but had tumbled for 3 hours. So I think this may have to do with why the case necks appear "darker". But how far the heat traveled down case appears very consistant


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Old September 20, 2012, 09:29 PM   #2
iraiam
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they sure look anealed.

I fill a deep aluminum cake pan with water partway, stand the cases up in the pan, heat the neck up with a propane torch, and when they are the color I want I just tip them over into the water.
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Old September 20, 2012, 09:33 PM   #3
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I tried this recently on some 5 fired.. hated it. Annealed. Resized. Loaded. Had feeding problems. Pretty bizarre. Bolt felt like the shoulder needed to be set back, but they didn't according to the gauge. Oh well.
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Old September 20, 2012, 10:57 PM   #4
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I"d say they are annealed but not very consistant.
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Old September 20, 2012, 11:07 PM   #5
browninghunter86
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Maybe your eyes are better than mine. The heat appears to have traveled down the same ammount in all of these except for the second one on the left...........
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Old September 21, 2012, 01:55 AM   #6
Kiwi Hunter
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They look a bit over cooked to me?

I do it by time (like 7-11 secs depending on your torch) and just less than visibly red is the go.

Its easier to have a still flame and move the drill - that way its really easy to put the case in the exact spot every time (use a rest) and you can control the flame time really evenly too..
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Old September 21, 2012, 06:47 AM   #7
browninghunter86
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ok sorry should have went further detail in original post: torch was laying untouched pointed at the brass and these didn't even make it 8 seconds. It was more like 6.5 seconds then took off. 8 seconds was a little too much red


***I guess only more consistant they could be, would be the timing since the torch was stable and the drill was stable and the speed was slow enough not to cause any case wobble
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Old September 21, 2012, 08:37 AM   #8
Rifleman1776
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I don't understand all the fuss and bother with drill/deep socket....
I do just like iraiam. Put in pan of water about 1/3 up cases, heat with torch and tip over. No time at all involved and is perfect. BTW, only three loadings is not, in my experience, enough working the metal to require annealing. Somewhere in five to ten times is more like it.
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Old September 21, 2012, 08:47 AM   #9
browninghunter86
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but do you rotate the cases in the water? If not the heat is not distributed evenly on the case. That is why almost all of the annealing machines rotate the case at a constant speed and for set ammount of time so they are uniformly annealed
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Old September 21, 2012, 08:55 AM   #10
BPowderkeg
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i shoot 5.56mm exclusively, i once tried the annealing gimmick, but found it is a waste of time, i only do trimming, some of my cases have been reloaded 20+ times, when they show cracks, splits or other signs of wear, they get crushed then thrown into the scrap bucket.
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Old September 21, 2012, 09:30 AM   #11
jmorris
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You can't go by simply time, the process is too dependent on your flame. Any "red" is too much red, thay is why the mouth of your cases look cooked. You don't even want your flame to change color, from blue to orange.

This is an example of too much.



This is what you want.

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Old September 21, 2012, 09:39 AM   #12
browninghunter86
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jmorris: if I did too much it was ever so slightly, the flame just started to change color when pulled them off. So next time I will not allow any flame color change or red color of the brass
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Old September 21, 2012, 12:24 PM   #13
rajbcpa
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This is interesting;

http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html
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Old September 21, 2012, 02:27 PM   #14
mehavey
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Quote:
Originally Posted by B_Hunter
if I did too much it was ever so slightly, the flame just started to change color when pulled them off.
So next time I will not allow any flame color change or red color of the brass
Your method (drill with deepwell socket) was fine. Good on`ya.
Suggest next time only two things:

Just set the propane torch on the bench and hold the drill in your hand.
You can operate in the kitchen that way w/ good light.

Get some 500° TEMPILAQ and paint a small patch ¼" below the shoulder.
When it goes transparent upon heating the neck/shoulder well above, dump the case.
You're precisely/repeatably done.
No guesswork

Last edited by mehavey; September 21, 2012 at 05:20 PM.
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Old September 21, 2012, 09:22 PM   #15
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Take a case that you didn't anneal. Set. Pair of vice grip pliers so that they barely squeeze the neck of the case. You want to see how the neck springs back after squeezing.
Now do the same with your annealed cases. If they spring back the same way you're good to go.
If they don't spring back they are junk.
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Old September 21, 2012, 09:35 PM   #16
browninghunter86
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I will have to check the spring back method. I think it may be how my brass is RP brass not cleaned stayed a bluish silver color but all my WW no matter what I do has that darker tint to it even when it was clean brass. Exact same method. I think to get it the "perfect anneal" color the brass has to be run with stainless media then it would look alot nicer


Ok did the method mention with vise pliers and adjusted so when closed it ever so slightly squeezed brass. Annealed cases sprung back like the un-annealed case did. So should be GTG

Last edited by browninghunter86; September 21, 2012 at 09:56 PM.
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Old September 21, 2012, 10:03 PM   #17
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I used to use the sitting in the pan of water method, but it only applies heat to one side. And without using an indicator of temperature, you can overheat the neck.

The process I follow now is covered here

As soon as the indicator melts (650 degrees F just below the shoulder) I drop them into a bucket of water.
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Old September 21, 2012, 11:52 PM   #18
deepcore
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Quote:
I think it may be how my brass is RP brass not cleaned stayed a bluish silver color but all my WW no matter what I do has that darker tint to it even when it was clean brass. Exact same method. I think to get it the "perfect anneal" color the brass has to be run with stainless media then it would look alot nicer
Yup, Stainless media or ultra sonic cleaning (though I think it might be more due to the cleaning chemical than the physics of the cleaner) does take my brass back to "square one" where seeing the color change during annealing is easier.
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