Annealing - What Works Well

[Certaindeaf]

My primers fall out after the first reloading so uh..

lol

 

[Stomper]

My primers fall out after the first reloading so uh..

lol

You obviously annealed the wrong end!

 

[CLT65]

I've had issues recently with split necks on ammo that's sat for a while, ever since I started wet tumbling. I know a lot of folks say that stainless pin tumbling cannot make your brass brittle, I'm starting to wonder. I've had it happen on several calibers in recent times, where it wasn't a problem before.

Either way, I've decided that all bottleneck brass that I load, that has a chance of sitting a while before shooting, will get annealed before loading. It's pretty quick and easy, much easier than breaking down 1,000 rounds because half of them have split necks.

I do it the low-tech way. I look at those nice machines and would love to have one, but just can't justify the expense. If you develop a good eye and perfect timing, you can very effectively anneal with nothing but a propane torch. I just set up the torch in fairly low light, set the flame just where I want it, and spin the brass between my thumb and finger with the neck and shoulder in the flame. I watch for the color to change to just below the neck, but before it starts to glow, then drop the brass into a bucket of water. I don't think the water is really necessary, just makes it easier.

With lots of practice you can get really good. Some people say that you can't properly anneal without a machine, but I disagree. With lots of practice you can get excellent timing and consistency. It goes really fast too. I just did a whole bucket full of .223 brass yesterday; didn't take me long at all. About halfway through I was getting bored and tired of it, wishing I had an automatic machine, but from watching the videos of the machines, I really don't think I'm very much slower at all.

 

[jfeller]

A whole new world, thanks for adding to my today I learned file!

 

[Certaindeaf]

I've had issues recently with split necks on ammo that's sat for a while, ever since I started wet tumbling. I know a lot of folks say that stainless pin tumbling cannot make your brass brittle, I'm starting to wonder. I've had it happen on several calibers in recent times, where it wasn't a problem before.

Either way, I've decided that all bottleneck brass that I load, that has a chance of sitting a while before shooting, will get annealed before loading. It's pretty quick and easy, much easier than breaking down 1,000 rounds because half of them have split necks.

I do it the low-tech way. I look at those nice machines and would love to have one, but just can't justify the expense. If you develop a good eye and perfect timing, you can very effectively anneal with nothing but a propane torch. I just set up the torch in fairly low light, set the flame just where I want it, and spin the brass between my thumb and finger with the neck and shoulder in the flame. I watch for the color to change to just below the neck, but before it starts to glow, then drop the brass into a bucket of water. I don't think the water is really necessary, just makes it easier.

With lots of practice you can get really good. Some people say that you can't properly anneal without a machine, but I disagree. With lots of practice you can get excellent timing and consistency. It goes really fast too. I just did a whole bucket full of .223 brass yesterday; didn't take me long at all. About halfway through I was getting bored and tired of it, wishing I had an automatic machine, but from watching the videos of the machines, I really don't think I'm very much slower at all.

View attachment 674391

View attachment 674391

I've always heard that pin tumbling can peen harden brass.. good work.

 

[Stomper]

I've had issues recently with split necks on ammo that's sat for a while, ever since I started wet tumbling. I know a lot of folks say that stainless pin tumbling cannot make your brass brittle, I'm starting to wonder. I've had it happen on several calibers in recent times, where it wasn't a problem before.

Either way, I've decided that all bottleneck brass that I load, that has a chance of sitting a while before shooting, will get annealed before loading. It's pretty quick and easy, much easier than breaking down 1,000 rounds because half of them have split necks.

I do it the low-tech way. I look at those nice machines and would love to have one, but just can't justify the expense. If you develop a good eye and perfect timing, you can very effectively anneal with nothing but a propane torch. I just set up the torch in fairly low light, set the flame just where I want it, and spin the brass between my thumb and finger with the neck and shoulder in the flame. I watch for the color to change to just below the neck, but before it starts to glow, then drop the brass into a bucket of water. I don't think the water is really necessary, just makes it easier.

With lots of practice you can get really good. Some people say that you can't properly anneal without a machine, but I disagree. With lots of practice you can get excellent timing and consistency. It goes really fast too. I just did a whole bucket full of .223 brass yesterday; didn't take me long at all. About halfway through I was getting bored and tired of it, wishing I had an automatic machine, but from watching the videos of the machines, I really don't think I'm very much slower at all.

View attachment 674391

That Annealeez machine in my video is something like $250 shipped.... quite reasonable, IMHO.

 

[CLT65]

That is reasonable, looks like a great machine. Unfortunately for me personally, it's still out of my price range at this time, especially since what I use now is free and works fine. One of these days though, something like that would be really nice to have.

 

[Snip]

I've had issues recently with split necks on ammo that's sat for a while, ever since I started wet tumbling. I know a lot of folks say that stainless pin tumbling cannot make your brass brittle, I'm starting to wonder. I've had it happen on several calibers in recent times, where it wasn't a problem before.

Either way, I've decided that all bottleneck brass that I load, that has a chance of sitting a while before shooting, will get annealed before loading. It's pretty quick and easy, much easier than breaking down 1,000 rounds because half of them have split necks.

I do it the low-tech way. I look at those nice machines and would love to have one, but just can't justify the expense. If you develop a good eye and perfect timing, you can very effectively anneal with nothing but a propane torch. I just set up the torch in fairly low light, set the flame just where I want it, and spin the brass between my thumb and finger with the neck and shoulder in the flame. I watch for the color to change to just below the neck, but before it starts to glow, then drop the brass into a bucket of water. I don't think the water is really necessary, just makes it easier.

With lots of practice you can get really good. Some people say that you can't properly anneal without a machine, but I disagree. With lots of practice you can get excellent timing and consistency. It goes really fast too. I just did a whole bucket full of .223 brass yesterday; didn't take me long at all. About halfway through I was getting bored and tired of it, wishing I had an automatic machine, but from watching the videos of the machines, I really don't think I'm very much slower at all.

View attachment 674391

The problem with age is that my eyes aren't that good and my timing is awful. For me, I'd much rather have some time of machine so I can get consistent and repeatable results.

 

[Snip]

That Anealeze machine is looking better and better.

 

[DizzyJ]

I never needed to anneal any of my brass until I needed to.

Once I needed to and realized it, I went with a Berger ballistician's recommendation and got the AMP annealer. Yeah it's an expensive route but man is it ever quick and consistent! Over the past 2-3 years I've annealed thousands of cases of .223, 308 and 6.5 creedmoor.

SDs are better, bullet seating depth is more consistent, sizing is easier and I've seen a big decrease in group size on certain occasions.

Set up and clean up are almost non-existent too.