Annealing
- Thread starter dpollard
- Start date
clubstrump
Member
CT eh?
Your almost as wise as someone else I paid attention to once.
Your almost as wise as someone else I paid attention to once.
spotstalkshoot
Well-known member
I'm not a chemist or metallurgical scientist, all I know is dull red for a few seconds saved a bunch of older 17 rem brass that had started to crack necks when seating bullets or shooting. I also do all new or new to me brass, you can feel the difference when sizing and seating. Thank you guys my rifles perform better and confidence about where the bullet will impact has never been higher.
It seems that the consensus is whatever works for you!!
The primal rights video is the best one I could find. Using the orange flame method is a good way to uniform your annealing. I anneal pretty much in the dark and use the first visible dark red glow on the inside of case neck as my cutoff point using a benchmark. This co-incides with the orange flame give or take a 1/2 sec. I aim the tip of my pencil flame horizontally toward the middle of the shoulder.
I think it is more important to anneal in a consistent manner than strive for some magic temperature. When your annealing is consistent then your color gradient below the shoulder will also be consistent. This all results in better neck tension consistency, groupings and of course case life. Thats why I switched from doing it manually one by one as I found it hard to be consistent holding the flame distance and angle the same each time for a specific time.
When you anneal you loosen up your bullet grabbing pressure compared to work hardened brass. Some precision shooters prefer to have light tension and anneal a bit more while others want a higher tension and anneal a bit less. And some just anneal primarily to extend case life with less attention to consistency.
I had zero luck with the 650 tempilaq on the necks. Tempilac was not made for that application to be on direct flame or right next to it if painted inside the neck. However the 450 works great on the case base to indicate how far excessive heat goes down the case as it is not subjected to flame.
I would say a reliable gauge is to ensure sure you are not over heating the middle of the case. If you do this using the 450 tempilaq with normal torch head/flame on the shoulder and see the melt happen about half way down your case then you are automatically heating your neck within the right temp range.
Thats my take on all of this.
The primal rights video is the best one I could find. Using the orange flame method is a good way to uniform your annealing. I anneal pretty much in the dark and use the first visible dark red glow on the inside of case neck as my cutoff point using a benchmark. This co-incides with the orange flame give or take a 1/2 sec. I aim the tip of my pencil flame horizontally toward the middle of the shoulder.
I think it is more important to anneal in a consistent manner than strive for some magic temperature. When your annealing is consistent then your color gradient below the shoulder will also be consistent. This all results in better neck tension consistency, groupings and of course case life. Thats why I switched from doing it manually one by one as I found it hard to be consistent holding the flame distance and angle the same each time for a specific time.
When you anneal you loosen up your bullet grabbing pressure compared to work hardened brass. Some precision shooters prefer to have light tension and anneal a bit more while others want a higher tension and anneal a bit less. And some just anneal primarily to extend case life with less attention to consistency.
I had zero luck with the 650 tempilaq on the necks. Tempilac was not made for that application to be on direct flame or right next to it if painted inside the neck. However the 450 works great on the case base to indicate how far excessive heat goes down the case as it is not subjected to flame.
I would say a reliable gauge is to ensure sure you are not over heating the middle of the case. If you do this using the 450 tempilaq with normal torch head/flame on the shoulder and see the melt happen about half way down your case then you are automatically heating your neck within the right temp range.
Thats my take on all of this.
Wow a lot of information here. I recently annealed some 6.5 Grendel brass using a propane torch and a pan of water. I just kept the blue point in the flame on the case neck just above the shoulder for 40 seconds in one spot on the case then tipped the cases over. Worked great, bullets seated easier and came off the expander ball without a squeak. Another guy I know holds the brass by the casehead and drops his cases into water when the case gets too hot to hold and his cases are softened nicely too. My 6.5 shoots very nicely with the annealed cases so maybe I didn't do it all wrong but I am going to stop using the pan of water and start using a cordless drill and crumpled aluminum foil.
spotstalkshoot
Well-known member
The drill and socket will save you a lot of time, will probably be dull red in 8-12 seconds.
Here's a question for the torch users out there......are you using the blue bottles or the yellow bottles of propane? I use the blue bottles, but lately it seems to take longer.
The bottle is getting low though.......will that affect the temp that its putting out? I know it sounds like a dumb question, but I'd don't know the answer.
Thanks in advance.
Here Kitty Kitty
The bottle is getting low though.......will that affect the temp that its putting out? I know it sounds like a dumb question, but I'd don't know the answer.
Thanks in advance.
Here Kitty Kitty
Last edited:
BrassRat
New member
Originally Posted By: Mark204Here's a question for the torch users out there......are you using the blue bottles or the yellow bottles of propane? I use the blue bottles, but lately it seems to take longer.
The bottle is getting low though.......will that affect the temp that its putting out? I know it sounds like a dumb question, but I'd don't know the answer.
Thanks in advance.
Here Kitty Kitty
I use the short-fat Coleman bottles - they won't fall over as easily as the tall thin bottles.
When the bottles get cold, the flame will get smaller - the tip is technically as hot, but it is smaller, and there is less total heat produced so it takes longer to get the desired effect.
The bottle is getting low though.......will that affect the temp that its putting out? I know it sounds like a dumb question, but I'd don't know the answer.
Thanks in advance.
Here Kitty Kitty
I use the short-fat Coleman bottles - they won't fall over as easily as the tall thin bottles.
When the bottles get cold, the flame will get smaller - the tip is technically as hot, but it is smaller, and there is less total heat produced so it takes longer to get the desired effect.