Annealing

[Rugger7622]

That's exactly what I notice with the "finger" method.

 

[Weldor]

I'm just taking a dive down the annealing rabbit hole! Is there any other method for detecting temperature other than Tempilaq? Would a heat laser gun work as well? With Templiaq over $50 for the tiny amount needed to determine time in the flame, seems crazy.

Tim

Tempilag is a pain. it has a shelf life. unless you use for alot of brass it goes to waste. I have used to get my base line and the keep a log book for the type and time for ea caliber brass. Have not tried my laser.

 

[BULLBLASTER]

Dark room and orange glow for me. I use a giraud machine and after enough use have gained a feel for how to set it up and how it looks on brass. Though different brands are slightly different.
I have found that i like to err on the side of longer anneal time than short as it makes bullet seating feel much more consistent.

 

[Weldor]

There is some good info on youtube, it is worth checking out.

 

[Rugger7622]

I agree on YouTube, that's where I saw a couple videos of just using your fingers, as long as the brass gets to temp before the heat gets to your fingers!

 

[Vern400]

I got a batch of once fired, same head stamp brass recently. I loaded about 10 and noticed a big difference in bullet seating effort in the press. The only explanation for that is the hardness of the brass.

So I annealed it. I used the Lee lock stud that's used for trimming cases, and a cordless drill to spin it slowly. I held the cases in the flame of a propane torch for about 8 seconds while spinning the cases at about 30 RPM. I adjusted the time in the flame so that my freshly cleaned and annealed brass looked just like my brand new Lapua brass. I tumbled the brass in Walnut media to remove any oxidation or Garbage inside the neck.

After that, all the bullets seated with a lower, and more consistent force in the press. I know I did not overcook the brass. I have no intention of buying an annealing machine. I think this is one of the steps that makes your brass last longer, and may provide a more consistent bullet release Force which may provide a tiny improvement in ES Or groups. Good enough for me.

I'd rather save the money and get a Garmin Xero. I think that will help me more with my process.

 

[manitou1]

I got a batch of once fired, same head stamp brass recently. I loaded about 10 and noticed a big difference in bullet seating effort in the press. The only explanation for that is the hardness of the brass.

So I annealed it. I used the Lee lock stud that's used for trimming cases, and a cordless drill to spin it slowly. I held the cases in the flame of a propane torch for about 8 seconds while spinning the cases at about 30 RPM. I adjusted the time in the flame so that my freshly cleaned and annealed brass looked just like my brand new Lapua brass. I tumbled the brass in Walnut media to remove any oxidation or Garbage inside the neck.

After that, all the bullets seated with a lower, and more consistent force in the press. I know I did not overcook the brass. I have no intention of buying an annealing machine. I think this is one of the steps that makes your brass last longer, and may provide a more consistent bullet release Force which may provide a tiny improvement in ES Or groups. Good enough for me.

I'd rather save the money and get a Garmin Xero. I think that will help me more with my process.

You're gonna love the Garmin.

 

[Rugger7622]

Great thread. For my 300 wsm brass, I’ve switched to a cordless screwdriver and socket and doing it in the dark until the next just turns orange/red. I get that annealed silver look down about 1/4” past the shoulder doing this method. I haven’t loaded any since annealing and I’m curious to see what I find out. I did 10 pieces of nickel brass as well. No annealing line, but the should turned orange the same as brass.

 

[justin davis]

The thing I learned the most from the Hornady podcast is that they found no real difference in brass life from annealing every time vs annealing every 3 times. They said their best performance was 1-2x firing after annealing.

Yea I thought that was interesting as well. Annealing allows your load to stay the same I think thou. So there’s a benefit to annealing after every firing.