686 Shooter
Regular
I wanted to share this story for anyone interested. It may help someone make a decision on an annealer. For the last year or two I have been salt bath annealing. Does it work? I don't know, but I did it anyway as it seemed to work for me. But I am somewhat of a klutz and was never 100% comfortable with the whole molten salt thing. So I decided to do some research and purchase a different style of annealer.
And let me tell you, people are crazy. If someone even suggests that that one type, salt, flame, or induction, is as good or better than another type people lose their minds. Okay maybe not lose their minds, but some of them sure get defensive. Salt bath was out for me so I weighed the pros and cons of flame and induction annealing.
Flame was definitely the more economical way to go. There are some machines that you fill up a hopper and let it run, they feed the brass automatically. That's a nice touch. But still has variables and needs adjustment for each different caliber. And there is the propane that I'm sure would run out for me at the most inopportune time. I like things idiot proof. I'm not saying I'm an idiot but....... I am a klutz.
Induction annealing seemed like the way to go for me. I looked at the Annie annealer. It seems like a decent machine. But like flame annealing it has variables (time) that you have to mess around with and I can screw up. Plus you have to come up with some kind of system for adjusting either the height of the cartridge or the machine for each caliber. People say the water cooled induction coil is the way to go but that just seems like more of a hassle to me. Not huge headaches, but not idiot proof. So I looked at the AMP Annealer. Great reviews and the guys that have them seem to love them. Best part was it's idiot proof. Even I would have to try to screw things up. But the price was a big drawback. I'm not a top competitive shooter, just a guy who is on a quest to put 5 rounds through the smallest hole I can. After much contemplation I bit the bullet and ordered an AMP.
I received the unit and started with annealing some 223 brass. And I can confirm it is about as idiot proof as it gets. It analyzes the brass and gives you the correct setting for annealing it. Right now I have some Winchester, Nosler, and Federal brass in 223. I analyzed each brand and each gave me a slightly different setting. To see if its analyses was consistent I annealed some of the Winchester and then analyzed each brand again. And sure enough the settings for each one was the same as it gave me the first time. The actual annealing is very quick, and though I didn't time myself, I had 100 pieces annealed in no time. Also did some 308 and it worked just as well.
So far I am impressed with the machine. Sure it's a big investment, no argument there. But it sure seems to work extremely well. And like I said earlier it is dead simple to set up and should give consistent, repeatable results. Just the way I like things, idiot proof. If anyone is interested I can post updates if I run into any issues.
And let me tell you, people are crazy. If someone even suggests that that one type, salt, flame, or induction, is as good or better than another type people lose their minds. Okay maybe not lose their minds, but some of them sure get defensive. Salt bath was out for me so I weighed the pros and cons of flame and induction annealing.
Flame was definitely the more economical way to go. There are some machines that you fill up a hopper and let it run, they feed the brass automatically. That's a nice touch. But still has variables and needs adjustment for each different caliber. And there is the propane that I'm sure would run out for me at the most inopportune time. I like things idiot proof. I'm not saying I'm an idiot but....... I am a klutz.
Induction annealing seemed like the way to go for me. I looked at the Annie annealer. It seems like a decent machine. But like flame annealing it has variables (time) that you have to mess around with and I can screw up. Plus you have to come up with some kind of system for adjusting either the height of the cartridge or the machine for each caliber. People say the water cooled induction coil is the way to go but that just seems like more of a hassle to me. Not huge headaches, but not idiot proof. So I looked at the AMP Annealer. Great reviews and the guys that have them seem to love them. Best part was it's idiot proof. Even I would have to try to screw things up. But the price was a big drawback. I'm not a top competitive shooter, just a guy who is on a quest to put 5 rounds through the smallest hole I can. After much contemplation I bit the bullet and ordered an AMP.
I received the unit and started with annealing some 223 brass. And I can confirm it is about as idiot proof as it gets. It analyzes the brass and gives you the correct setting for annealing it. Right now I have some Winchester, Nosler, and Federal brass in 223. I analyzed each brand and each gave me a slightly different setting. To see if its analyses was consistent I annealed some of the Winchester and then analyzed each brand again. And sure enough the settings for each one was the same as it gave me the first time. The actual annealing is very quick, and though I didn't time myself, I had 100 pieces annealed in no time. Also did some 308 and it worked just as well.
So far I am impressed with the machine. Sure it's a big investment, no argument there. But it sure seems to work extremely well. And like I said earlier it is dead simple to set up and should give consistent, repeatable results. Just the way I like things, idiot proof. If anyone is interested I can post updates if I run into any issues.
