Redgum Posted July 4, 2012 Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 Do many on here anneal their cases, I have just started having a go at it and soon realised how much bad advice is out there on the net. There are quite a few that suggest you heat the necks until they glow cherry red with the cases in a few centimetres of water. Diggin a bit deeper it seems this will ruin the cases. I have invested in some 750degree tempilac and have tested it on some old cases and it seems the ideal temperature is reach a fair bit earlier than the glowing stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barney 66 Posted July 4, 2012 Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 Isnt there someone on here that advertises annealing cases? they might help you out or give you the info you need,cant remember the name though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitloop Posted July 4, 2012 Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 this guy does a good job http://www.riflebrassrefurb.co.uk/annealing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redgum Posted July 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 Rifle Brass refurb is/was ackley on here. I tested some of his work and it turned out well and was done in 2-3 day turnaround. He is banned from the forum now but to be fair, is a bit of a different chap in person and easy to deal with, he was a bit of a sucker for winding people up and if you knew him, you realised he was doing it lol, if you didnt it wasnt that funny and perhaps he should have held back a little ;-) Didnt realise Ackley got banned in the end,last time I heard he was on a warning, shame I had some good run ins with him on here. He was a master of making ya thump the keyboard though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitloop Posted July 4, 2012 Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 (edited) he did me a bach the other week still got to try them yet but will see on sunday at catton. as you say fister yes he can be a wind up but a nice chap face to face Edited July 4, 2012 by fruitloop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barney 66 Posted July 4, 2012 Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 That was the one i was thinking of,didnt know he was banned,shame when experienced people get banned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coolhead Posted July 4, 2012 Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 Do many on here anneal their cases, I have just started having a go at it and soon realised how much bad advice is out there on the net. There are quite a few that suggest you heat the necks until they glow cherry red with the cases in a few centimetres of water. Diggin a bit deeper it seems this will ruin the cases. I have invested in some 750degree tempilac and have tested it on some old cases and it seems the ideal temperature is reach a fair bit earlier than the glowing stage. It's a balance between brittleness and complete lack of strength. Taking it to red heat and quenching will result in it being too soft to grip the bullet or reform in the die properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redgum Posted July 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 It's a balance between brittleness and complete lack of strength. Taking it to red heat and quenching will result in it being too soft to grip the bullet or reform in the die properly. I have come up with a simple system using the cordless drill and a propane torch (commonly used) Experimenting with tempilac on old cases I have found a case needs 6 seconds in the flame to reach around 750f and then drop in water. Look forward to testing the ten cases I have now annealed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vipa Posted July 4, 2012 Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 I have come up with a simple system using the cordless drill and a propane torch (commonly used) Experimenting with tempilac on old cases I have found a case needs 6 seconds in the flame to reach around 750f and then drop in water. Look forward to testing the ten cases I have now annealed. All of the annealing systems I have seen just allow the cases to cool naturally.. as far as I am aware it isn't necessary to quench them.. happy to be corrected though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1066 Posted July 4, 2012 Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 All of the annealing systems I have seen just allow the cases to cool naturally.. as far as I am aware it isn't necessary to quench them.. happy to be corrected though You are quite right - quenching in water has no effect on the brass. I do quench but only because I have burnt my fingers too many times picking up hot cases to admire my handiwork. I also wet tumble so it's no problem drying the cases. If you are using tempilac (750F)it really needs to be painted on the inside of the neck. It is designed to indicate radiated heat not direct heat from the flame. If you get to the point where it is glowing you have gone too far. You really only need to use the templiac on the first few cases until you are happy you have the timing right. The "Hornady" method advise the use of something like 450F tempilac painted on just down from the shoulder. It is essential not to let the heat run too far down onto the body of the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dicehorn Posted July 4, 2012 Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 All of the annealing systems I have seen just allow the cases to cool naturally.. as far as I am aware it isn't necessary to quench them.. happy to be corrected though I have been annealing my brass for about 4 years now using the blow torch and cordless drill method. My time limit is about 7 - 9 seconds but what I am looking for is a sudden change in colour to the neck - you will see all of a sudden an irredescence (sp?) when you see that stop. I also let my cases cool naturally without water. I have some 6.5 cases approaching 30 reloads and still maintaining the same fps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redgum Posted July 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 You are quite right - quenching in water has no effect on the brass. I do quench but only because I have burnt my fingers too many times picking up hot cases to admire my handiwork. I also wet tumble so it's no problem drying the cases. If you are using tempilac (750F)it really needs to be painted on the inside of the neck. It is designed to indicate radiated heat not direct heat from the flame. If you get to the point where it is glowing you have gone too far. You really only need to use the templiac on the first few cases until you are happy you have the timing right. The "Hornady" method advise the use of something like 450F tempilac painted on just down from the shoulder. It is essential not to let the heat run too far down onto the body of the case. This is the way I'm doing it, painted tempilac inside neck of some old ppu cases and then heating with the case holder in the drill. I have a metrodome which I use to time the process on a couple of cases before annealing the good stuff. The reason I quench in water is for the simple reason of stopping heat spreading down the case were I don't want it. I was really surprised on all the conflicting info on the net, some downright dangerous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coyotemaster Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 The most efficient method I have found is to use a propane torch and roll the brass with my fingertips holding the base and looking for the color to indicate the change I want to see. As soon as the color change appears I drop it into a can of water. Quenching is probably unnecessary but old habits die hard. It isn't rocket science and it is assuredly better to "underanneal" than over. I anneal brass in the evening in a dark room and can easily see the brass change color. Cherry red is far too warm and by using the fingertip method I am assured the web is not damaged by too much heat. You can attain much more consistent neck tension through annealing and extend the life of the brass almost indefinetly. To gauge the color you want to see have a look at a factory annealed brass such as the .260 Rem or .17 Rem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewsher500 Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 i had 100 cases done for £10 not worth doing that myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coolhead Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Copper alloys harden through stress and age. It is due to its internal crystal structure changing. Full annealing of any copper alloy is achieved by heating to red heat and rapid quenching in water. This would completely ruin cases and most other applications. Partial re-crystalising is all that is required. There will be a knack to getting it just right. Link 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coyotemaster Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Copper alloys harden through stress and age. It is due to its internal crystal structure changing. Full annealing of any copper alloy is achieved by heating to red heat and rapid quenching in water. This would completely ruin cases and most other applications. Partial re-crystalising is all that is required. There will be a knack to getting it just right. Link 1 Nice site Coolhead there is a perfect picture of a .308 brass, and the color you need to see when finished at the bottom of the page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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