Annealing rookie

[Longshot4]

For the first time I annealed a bunch if 222s and K Hornets. I used a propane torch with a tip that speeded the flame to about half inch. I placed the cases in a deep well socket in a drill motor. The hornet cases heated up quick in about 3 sec. The 222s took about 6-7 sec. I was wondering if I heated up a case too long what would happen if any thing? Any idea?

 

[mehavey]

You'd burn out the zinc in the alloy and the color would change from bronze to quite pinkish/orange.
Very distinct, and quite Dead.

What did you use to determine temperature?

 

[chiefr]

You can really screw up your brass if you heat up too much. My advice would be to watch many of the You-tube videos to get some idea of the process. There are some out there that show in great detail the color change and when to stop. Good luck.

 

[mete]

My old Norma book [they should know something about annealing !!! ] says put them in a tray add water up to near the shoulder, heat to red, tip over into the water ! Quick, simple effective ! No rocket science , no machinery !

 

[loic]

If the mouth get red I ts too much heat.

 

[wogpotter]

Temperature indicating sticks or lacquers are a great tool, I suggest you get one from your local welding supply place instead of guesstimating. Ideally the liquid in around 500~600 degrees seem to be the best. Paint a dot or 20 on the very edge of the shoulder & when it turns clear you're done.
Another, less accurate way it so dim the lights & watch the flame, not the brass. When the flame first shows a color change you're done.

 

[RC20]

Red is too hot. Way too hot.

Best I saw was a guy that put the dot of detector inside the case mouth and flipped it out when that turned.

So far I have not seen anything fool proof. A lot of iffy approaches that purport to be science.

I think people do get it to work ok, just not anything exact.

I am using a drill and hoping for the best with assessment of color change.

I suspect if anything I am on the low end, if true then I am at least not ruing cases.

 

[jepp2]

My old Norma book [they should know something about annealing !!! ] says put them in a tray add water up to near the shoulder, heat to red, tip over into the water ! Quick, simple effective ! No rocket science , no machinery !

As mentioned, red it way too hot. If you don't measure temperature, you don't have any idea what you have. Temperature is critical.... (it is actually a time/temperature relationship, but since you DON'T want to anneal the case head)

I used to anneal the way suggested, 30 years ago

Problems include heating on one side of the case, no need to put the case head in water if you have a good process, and no temperature indication.

There are many excellent videos available to guide you. The case neck needs to reach 750 degrees F. With two opposing torches it takes my brass less than 4 seconds to properly anneal. I drop on to a cookie sheet and can pick them up by the head right after annealing without any heat to burn my fingers.

Annealing is a simple process once you determine how you want to do it.

 

[mehavey]

.....old Norma book [they should know something about annealing !!! ]
says put them in a tray add water up to near the shoulder, heat
to red,...

...and it's absolutely dead at that point.
(Incidentally, trying to apply even heat, circumferentially around a stationary
case using a handheld propane torch is nigh impossible. Moreover, tipping over
into the water does nothing more than roll the dice on tipping one or more
other cases over as well.)

Get a drill, a socket, and some Tempilaq.
Then it becomes 1, 2, 3 repeatable.

 

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I did a bunch of 460 S&W cases ( new Hornady that were splitting on the 1st belling... no factory annealing at all )

I used a propane torch, & a cake pan full of water, stacked my cases in, loose enough, that I didn't get much residual heat from one case to another, the water was about 1/2" from the case mouth on these straight ( no shoulder cases )

BTW... these were used for 45 Black Powder Magnum, so little danger over annealing them, so long as the bottom half of the case was in the water...

tried it with the lights off at 1st, but I could tell even a dull red was way too much heat... by trial & error, I got a system down, were I swirled the torch flame around the case mouth, for 7-10 seconds, then knocked it over... I changed the water each batch, as it got pretty warm, cooling the brass off, & while my 1st couple were really "dead" by 2nd & 3rd batch, mine looked like they should have from the factory...

 

[jmorris]

This has some photos that show flame color in relation to temp.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=545128&highlight=annealing

 

[res45]

A pretty good article on Annealing.

http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html