annealing cases

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Just finished annealing 75 cases for my 7mm Weatherby mag. 58 are Weatherby brass, 17 are federal 7mm rem mag.

Bucket of water, propane torch, and my fingers to hold and spin the cases. 11 seconds in the flame to get the "dull red" in my darkened bathroom. Pretty easy actually, didn't even burn my fingers. The cases now look like factory Lapua brass I have seen images of on the intrawebs.

I thought this post would be longer, but that about covers it.
 
Here's how I do it (thanks to kombayotch for the idea):


P1040718.jpg


$3 worth of plumbing fittings. Works the same as the Hornady kit: insert case, rotate in flame using drill, tilt down and dump the case out (into water).

I need a propane torch and a dark room, and as soon as redness starts to appear on the shoulder, I dump it into water. I can do 500 in an hour.

This cheap hardware store setup provides very even heating, the jig protects the lower part of the case from the flame and acts as a heat sink, and there's no finger contact with hot brass. I know there are more expensive and complicated systems, but I doubt they're any better, and many are worse IMO.
 
I use a baking pan with 1" of water and stand the cases up in the water.
I heat each neck up to almost red ( the room light is dim) and knock them over.
Works well and is the fastest method I've tried.
 
I've been asked about the sizes of the fittings. Go to Canadian Tire, Home Depot or any other store with a plumbing section and put something together from the bins (bring a tape measure and an empty cartridge). In my own jig, from top to bottom:

- short section of pipe with at least a 1/2" inside diameter. Buy two so that you can cut them to different lengths to accomodate different lengths of cartridges;
- a reducer;
- another short section of pipe probably a bit larger than 1/2" in diameter; and
- in my case, a short section of bolt soldered into the small pipe as a reducer to fit my drill chuck.

Annealling_Jig.JPG
 
You could also buy a socket driver that you chuck into a drill. Less pcs. to grab.

Or you could just use your fingers, unless you have soft girl hands. : )
 
Dipping the case neck first into molten lead till it get too warm to hold works good too and you won't overheat the case making them brittle............Harold
 
I like the molten lead idea myself but need to get a lead thermometer still. Be sure to use deprimed cases as the air expands and bubbles out splashing your fingers with molten lead if it can't escape.

The homemade spinner should work great too if you are careful not to overheat.
 
Andy said:
I've been asked about the sizes of the fittings. Go to Canadian Tire, Home Depot or any other store with a plumbing section and put something together from the bins (bring a tape measure and an empty cartridge). In my own jig, from top to bottom:

- short section of pipe with at least a 1/2" inside diameter. Buy two so that you can cut them to different lengths to accomodate different lengths of cartridges;
- a reducer;
- another short section of pipe probably a bit larger than 1/2" in diameter; and
- in my case, a short section of bolt soldered into the small pipe as a reducer to fit my drill chuck.

Annealling_Jig.JPG
Click to expand...
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Kudos; I love it, and wonder why I never thought of it. You really couldn't get any better heat distribution by other methods for the top of the case.

Driller
 
I tried a little experiment lately. I checked the hardness of an unfired case at the base with a file. Then a 3x fired case in the same location. The 3x fired case was noticeably harder. I then heated the case in an oven to 500 degrees F for 15 minutes and quenched it in cold water. The base was the appx the same hardness as the new, unfired case.
Now I've always read and heard that only the neck and shoulder should be annealed. This is supposedly to prevent stretching and the problems that go with it, amongst other things.

OK, I took a bunch of 30-06 cases converted to 338-06 that were fired at least 6x and heated them all in the oven at 500 degrees F for 15 minutes and quenched. They came out nice and soft. The reason for retiring them was the hardness of the body area and some difficulties swaging them down to properly feed.

I then split a couple of cases to check the wall thickness. They looked fine.
Next, I loaded up about 20 cases with 225 grain spitzers at the load the Ruger No1 likes. I fired all of them without a hitch. I loaded and fired them again, same thing. Then I did it a third time. The cases were still soft enough to form and load easily.
By the fifth reloading the cases were hardening again. So I stopped there.

I again cut a couple of cases to check wall thickness, they still looked fine.

I heated up the cases in the oven again and trimmed them to length. They were just as soft as a new case, so I reloaded again. Fired all 18 cases 3 more times each without any problems. On the second, fourth reload and firing, I got a couple of split necks. Nothing else was problematic. I've had split necks on new Winchester brass, so I don't think these cases were at all unusual.

What I'm saying here, is that annealing only the neck may or may not be written in stone. I like the attachments that have been shown here and applaud their ingenuity. I'm starting to wonder if all of the hoopla is necessary.
 
bearhunter said:
....Now I've always read and heard that only the neck and shoulder should be annealed. This is supposedly to prevent stretching and the problems that go with it, amongst other things.

.....What I'm saying here, is that annealing only the neck may or may not be written in stone. I like the attachments that have been shown here and applaud their ingenuity. I'm starting to wonder if all of the hoopla is necessary.
Click to expand...

There's that, but my understanding is that the primary concern with softening the entire cartridge is that the primer pocket would also soften and you'd have primers falling out prematurely.

If manufacturers could just heat a lot of brass in an oven and then quench, why are they employing expensive annealing methods?

CanAm said:
There is no need to cool it in water.
Click to expand...

Correct - quenching does nothing to brass. Manufacturers don't do that, but for home hobbyists, it has become an essential part of the process, a dogma if you will. The idea is that quenching will immediately stop the softening, but if the heat is applied where it should be, the cooling is rapid when the heat is removed and the base will never get anywhere near hot enough to soften. I've confirmed this by picking up just annealed cartridges by the base after I dropped them. Hot, but not too hot to handle (and you need over 400 F to soften brass). A practical reason to quench is safety, i.e. to make them cool so they can't burn anything, but then they're wet and have to be dried.......

Quenching is part of the dogma of home annealers and will never go away. Does no harm, does no good either. I drop into cold water for convenience - I have a bit of CLR in the bucket to clean them (5-10 minutes max), and it allows me to handle the brass immediately without fear of burning (safety).
 
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As for the "stand in water, heat and tip over" method - it's the worst IMO. I know people take their annealing personally and will get defensive, but there is just no way you can get even annealing unless the cartridge is rotating in the flame.
 
Andy said:
As for the "stand in water, heat and tip over" method - it's the worst IMO. I know people take their annealing personally and will get defensive, but there is just no way you can get even annealing unless the cartridge is rotating in the flame.
Click to expand...

You are entitled to your opinion. Brass conducts heat very well and you can move the torch around the brass.
I have had no problems and good results using the heat and tip over method.

Some nits are just to small to pick...
 
CanAm said:
There is no need to cool it in water.
Click to expand...

The reason to put the base in water is so the base does not heat up and soften as well.

Andy is right, tipping them over does nothing to make them softer - but is does let you know which ones you have done...
 
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