Who anneals their brass, and how do you do it...?

[AJMD429]

The comments on the .32-20 sizing got me wondering about annealing brass; I've never done it except I think one time kind of experimenting, and yet do sometimes have brass lots that just 'feel' (can you really feel brittle-ness?) brittle, or at least sometimes factory rounds that split on first firing in a known-normal chambered gun.

How do those of you who anneal brass decide IF it needs annealed?

Does annealing it when it doesn't need it hurt anything?

What methods do you use?

With the price of brass these days it might be good to know.

Also - I just toss cracked brass in a bin with what .22 LR cases I pick up and non-reloadable cases I come across or shoot, and spent primers; someday I suppose I should take it for 'recycling', but is it worth anything substantial per pound, and who buys it? If it's worth enough I suppose I shouldn't mix it in with the 'junk'. I presume the .22 LR cases are the same material as the centerfire ones as far as recycling, or are they not?

[KirkD]

I stick the brass in a chuck in my hand drill and turn it at medium speed in the flame of a small propane torch. I do this in the dark, so that I can see when it starts to glow red. When it does, I plunge the brass into a pail of water beside me. You have to be careful, I am told, that you do not overheat the brass. That is why I do it in the dark. I am sure you can do it in the daylight, but I don't know what the signs of the right amount of heating are in the daylight, when it is hard to see the brass start to glow as soon.

[J Miller]

AJMD,

I know this isn't a specific "how I do it" answer but it might be helpful.
I haven't actually annealed any brass in maybe 30 years, but when I did I just stood them upright in a pot of water, heated them till they glowed and then tipped them over. That was with a batch of mil surp 303 Brits and it worked.
Annealing, how, why and when:
http://forums.handloads.com/archive/for ... 21570&PN=1

Joe

[Ysabel Kid]

Cool post. I don't (anneal my brass) and would like to learn how!

[stanforth]

I do a lot of anealing as my interest is loading obscure calibres.

Joes way by standing them in water is standard practice and works well as the body of the case is unaffected.

My other way is to stand a gas blowlamp on the sink unit in the kitchen (the wife must be out) hold each case, with a pair of pliers, in the flamme until the mouth changes to the requied colour then drop it into a bowl of cold water.

[Tycer]

I use the lead pot to do it just like the article Joe posted. I don't do it until I see a split in one of the cases, then I do them all.

[kimwcook]

I've only annealed 45-70 brass, which as you all know is a bit long, so I just spin them in my fingers in front of a propane torch. I also do it in a dark location and when it starts to glow red I drop them in a bucket of water. Seems to work fine for the BP loads I've loaded.

[perry owens]

I anneal all my big-bore or fireformed black powder brass every 3 or 4 firings to stop it splitting.
Here's the posh way to do it:


A dab of Tempilaq heat sensitive paint turns from yellow to black at 650F.
Once you get a feel for the right dwell time in the propane flame you don't need the Temilaq.
I just chuck a knurled brass rod in an electric screwdriver, slip the empty case over the end and rotate it in the flame, dumping it into water when at the right temperature. I never let them get to glow red though, I dump them at the dark blue stage.
Perry Owens

[COSteve]

For those of you who are big annealers, check out Giraud's brand new annealing machine HERE. Its pricey but watch the video cause its slick.

[.Dirty-.Thirty]

I anneal outside in the daylight. Same as Kirk I use a battery drill and i use a bit made to hold a socket that fits the particular cartridge case I'm annealing. In the daylight I see the brass change to a silver color and start down the neck, when I see this I simply drop it into a tub of water. My Hornet brass is currently annealed 4 times and on its 9th loading. .DT

[Hobie]

I'm not posh like Perry. I hold the big brass in my fingers by the rim and have the torch set up pointing away from me with a bucket of water beneath. I spin it to get even exposure to the flame and when it is too hot to hold I drop it in the bucket. Works a treat.

[Tycer]

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

They don't recommend my lead pot method, but this is where I got my 750ºF setting from. I use a big blob of welder's heat sink putty to hold the brass.

[jnyork]

I'm not posh like Perry. I hold the big brass in my fingers by the rim and have the torch set up pointing away from me with a bucket of water beneath. I spin it to get even exposure to the flame and when it is too hot to hold I drop it in the bucket. Works a treat.

I do it the same way, except I dont drop into water, just into a pan. Works the same, as far as I can tell. The brass starts to turn color about the same time as it gets a little too warm to be held in your fingers.

[pdawg.shooter]

I have used the lead pot method for the last 40+ years with perfect results. Guess I will keep on.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

A dab of Tempilaq heat sensitive paint turns from yellow to black at 650F.

I was wondering if anyone knew of or used Tempilaq for this. Seems like a good way to go for the novice.

[yooper2]

I do it the same way as Hobie, never had any problems.

Eric

[Sixgun]

Brass is still cheap. I only do it for hard to find stuff. To me, its not worth the aggravation. With light to moderate loads, (which is 95% of my loads) I'm still getting 15-30 loadings with rifle brass and twice that many with handgun brass. Brass does not grow much with these loads and paying attention to sizing and quality of the guns

For an instance, lets pretend I shoot 100 rounds of 44 Spl, 100 rounds of 38-55, and 100 rounds of 30-30 on a Sunday----------after inspection I may have 5 splits in the whole bunch---I just reach in my boxes of brass and replace 'em. Its that simple

Different precautions are done with .223, 257's or other high pressure accurate ammo-------------Sixgun

[765x53]

I stick the brass in a chuck in my hand drill and turn it at medium speed in the flame of a small propane torch. I do this in the dark, so that I can see when it starts to glow red. When it does, I plunge the brass into a pail of water beside me. You have to be careful, I am told, that you do not overheat the brass. That is why I do it in the dark. I am sure you can do it in the daylight, but I don't know what the signs of the right amount of heating are in the daylight, when it is hard to see the brass start to glow as soon.

Like KirkD, I do it in the dark to keep the heat to the absolute minimum required.

[geobru]

I annealed some 40-82 brass after 15 reloads according to the article written by Myron Rockett. The brass started to fail a tenth of an inch down the neck. A ring of brass broke off the end of the cases, making them that much too short. It appeared that the brass broke at the point where the crimping stopped. The jury is still out on the effects of this on case longevity, but I am keeping track of the number of loads I get after the annealing.

I did find out that it is important to keep the body of the case cool, because the annealed brass really is soft at the neck. It would ruin the case if he lower part were that soft.

[mark]

I have been reloading for 45 years.

I don't anneal brass.

I reload common rifle calibers(22Hornet-45-70), for which brass is relatively cheap and easily available.

My loads are moderate.

I don't have problems with split necks. The occasional one gets tossed out.

I certainly wouldn't anneal unless there was a very good reason to do so.

For the calibers I use, a bag of 100 new brass is the least of my concerns.

Mark