Specialized Annealing Services, what is it worth?

dthunter

dthunter

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Location
Grande Prairie,AB
Hello fellow gunnutz! I am thinking of possibly providing an annealing service for cartridge cases.

What is your thoughts on what is a fair rate/charge for this service?

Anyone looking for this service will be aware of its advantages and the ability to recondition the fire formed cases for our rifles. Or for any fired case for that matter.

I will likely try to offer annealing for the majority of cartridges available.

I was thinking of three different rate levels.

1.) small cases up to and including 223 Rem based cases.
2.) medium capacity cases from above 223 Rem to 30-06 sized cases.
3.) large capacity cases all above the 30-06 case size. (Not including 50BMG).

Feel free to share your ideas on what you think is a fair price per case. This will give me some food for thought for setting my base prices.

Thank you for your input guys!
 
Having started a few businesses of my own I don't want to dampen anyone's dreams, but this may be a hard one to justify. I do realize that there are services in the US that do this however.

I anneal as part of my reloading process, every time. I would probably have to send cases in bulk to justify the time & expense involved in shipping, which means I need to buy more brass that I can use while waiting. As a competition shooter I also like to control every aspect of brass prep. I would be worried about the consistency of annealing, and when I get the brass is it the same brass I sent you or a mixture of other people's brass; different lengths, number of firings, flash hole wear, hopefully not different manufactuers etc. As well, in my opinion shooters are very cheap, so I am thinking that you will need to be under 5 cents/piece including shipping. Shipping rates are a huge deal for this kind of thing. Assuming you can reload a case 15x and you anneal every 3rd time, that adds about $15 per 100 to the total cost of cases.

As a business you should think about scalability as well .. this is entirely based on how many hours you work. The best businesses I ever owned were the ones where the more sales I made, the less hours I worked. I tell my son that if he wants to start his own business, then he needs to make at least $100k/yr otherwise work for someone else. That works out to about $49/hr based on an average work week, including holidays. Assuming you had no expenses, that would be 980 cases an hour at 5 cents, continuously for 40 hours a week, or just over 1.9 million cases a year. To do that you would eventually need to run several machines (the ones where you load brass in bulk from the top). You would do shipping and admin at night and weekends. So it is possible to do from that standpoint.

If you are retired and this is something to do on the side just to keep busy then sure do it. Your startup cost is really low, and I expect you already have an annealer. But if you want to make this into a real business, then maybe look at something else. But it could work.

my 2 cents.
 
Last edited:
I have seen used AnnealEZ advertised for around $250, so for me to buy into the service it would have to be very cheap. Someone is building similar units locally for a little more money so by the time I packed and sent cases to be annealed plus return shipping, I would imagine that buying my own unit would be more cost effective. Seems like this would be a losing proposition, depending how you value your time. I suppose there's also a risk that you damage someone's Lapua/match cases, which could be costly to replace.
 
Thank you guys for your input!
I guess I never put enough info down to fully iterate what I am thinking. This idea is still in its infancy yet.

I was thinking/planning to have the unit mounted in our business, and the customer would rent the unit (time) and do it on our site.
This will reduce/eliminate our liability. Local use only really. No shipping of brass back and forth.

The unit is a very high end induction unit, computer timed to anneal each case exactly the same. The unit can calibrate the exact temp and dwell time for a particular lot of brass. Pretty much fool proof.

I am just exploring this idea to see if fellow shooters think it would be viable. I am making the plunge to purchase this system for my own use anyhow, but thought it may be useful for an optional addition to our business.

Mike in calgary:
Definitely good points to concider. Allot of shooters are nortoriously cheap! Lol! It would take serious volume to make it viable if it was my only source of income. This is not an option suitable for everyone for sure. This process would be just another unique option for the customer in our indoor shooting range/and store.

As far as the unit is concerned, induction is the most controllable and precise system available. The most user friendly as well.

This is still in the planning stages yet.
 
Last edited:
I looked at adding annealing at one time to my product line. That idea lasted about 5 minutes. Most insurance policies will prohibit "hot works" unless you have a specific line for it in your policy. That line was not worth the requirements they were going to impose on me.

Second issue is, I would highly recommend that you should not let consumers in your shop. All you need is someone to trip and injure themselves. Another point, remember Kung-Fu Panada? If they see how you complete your process, then they can duplicate it.

https://4.bp.########.com/-2SX475jWCFI/VfuOKLZ1P5I/AAAAAAAABHU/v_XS3_kj8FQ/s1600/1425225461_2022933529_kadrs.jpg

Also, volume is an issue. The commercial reloading market is very small in Canada, and I have engaged a couple of the more senior operators as informal mentors. The one had a very good line of thought, you cannot rely on the consumer market to make a living unless you are a retailer, an individual consumer is too fickle to count on for an income for an extended period of time. You can only truly make money when you have a product or service that commercial loaders will see value in, as they may take 10 million annually.

But again, my input is worth nothing, as it is just an opinion. Albeit, I went from consumer support --> retailer support --> commercial loader support.
 
I bought an annealing machine a few years ago and loan it out to my friends, they throw a few dollars in the pot each time. So although not commercial, it's sort of like what you are talking about. They just take it home. It might get paid off by 2030!
 
Sounds like the AMP machine.....I can't wait for the ##### upgrade!!!! I received an AMP machine from X Reload last week and got a chance to try it out. The autofeeder looks to be around the corner too.

Since this was my first venture into annealing, the loading aspect is a lot different. The soft brass combined with the clean necks from SS pin tumbling was galling even with a carbide expander and light lube. I have to lube the heck out of the necks now. Also, with no spring back of the case mouth, I need larger neck bushings.
 
PGW Steve:

Yes, it is the AMP machine. I am waiting until the units have the ##### upgrade installed. I will also purchase the auto feed at the same time. Love the concept!

You mentioned that your resulting brass is super soft? I wonder if it is annealing too soft? What are your thoughts?
 
dthunter said:
PGW Steve:

Yes, it is the AMP machine. I am waiting until the units have the ##### upgrade installed. I will also purchase the auto feed at the same time. Love the concept!

You mentioned that your resulting brass is super soft? I wonder if it is annealing too soft? What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...

I believe it's doing what it's supposed to do and that the soft brass is correctly annealed. I've read that the SS pins cleaning the inside of the necks are as much or more to blame for the increased friction.

Yeah the case feeder will be an addition to mine as well, I wanted to at least get a unit while I could. Seeing what ##### is capable of and also the autofeed, I was worried that demand for these would go way up and I'd miss the boat.
 
BlackSheepBrass said:
......But again, my input is worth nothing........
Click to expand...

I disagree, anyone's input offers a different perspective that can be quite valid but often overlooked or ignored. Yours is always appreciated...

As to the OP's question, imho, I think that a Case Annealing business would be limited to a local drop-off and pick-up type of affair due to return shipping costs (1,000 x .223Rem = 6 kg / 13 lb)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom