annealing and neck cleanliness

[head2h2o]

How clean do the inside of the necks have to be to anneal? Or does it not matter? I tumble in walnut until shinny, blow off with an air hose to remove loose residue and generally reload. I have considered running a nylon cleaning brush through the neck as well, but this is not part of my standard practice. So again, how clean do they need to be. Do I need to go to the point of stainless media tumbling.

Also looking for input on particular annealing machines that you prefer. From 223 to 300RUM would be ideal. Been looking at the ballistic edge products.

 

[black_ump]

Re: annealing and neck cleanliness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbRdJqyFDGY&feature=related

 

[flashhole]

Re: annealing and neck cleanliness

There are much better videos on the internet dealing with annealing than that one. Also, there is no need to wet quench a piece of brass when annealing. All the water does is make the brass wet.

To answer your questions, I will anneal the brass after tumbling but don't find it necessary to brush the necks for annealing. I do clean the inside of the necks prior to sizing and will have it chucked in a drill to do so.

 

[alf]

Re: annealing and neck cleanliness

I just tumble, anneal, and don't bother brushing the insides at all.

 

[vman]

Re: annealing and neck cleanliness

I have a process, but then again im pretty anal.

Decap with Lee universal decapper, ultrasonic clean cases until golden and sparkly, anneal wet cases.

 

[josephberry]

Re: annealing and neck cleanliness

so many opinions on degree of heat? any experts on the subject?

 

[head2h2o]

Re: annealing and neck cleanliness

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jdberry</div><div class="ubbcode-body">so many opinions on degree of heat? any experts on the subject? </div></div>


I wouldn't mind knowing the answer to this as well.

It sounds like that as long as I tumble the cases, then I should be good to go.

 

[DocB]

Re: annealing and neck cleanliness

Good day,

You may wish to get rid of any oxidation after annealing by using 4-0 steel wool on the inside of the case neck. Seems to make the seating pressure more consistent.

HTH,
DocB

 

[vman]

Re: annealing and neck cleanliness

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jdberry</div><div class="ubbcode-body">so many opinions on degree of heat? any experts on the subject? </div></div>

I think too many people rely on a glow of the brass itself to tell them the cases has become soft.

This is not needed

 

[josephberry]

Re: annealing and neck cleanliness

what color glow? blue, orange, red?

 

[vman]

Re: annealing and neck cleanliness

I mean you should not rely on the brass to glow... this usually indicates its too hot.

The only situation I could think of in which the neck is glowing red and the case is still safe to fire, is if the cases were submerged the whole time.

This would prevent the cases getting soft where it hurts and causing case-head seperation. But a colapsed shoulder during sizing would not suprise me.

The surface of the brass changes color slightly when annealing occurs, to some this is evidence in a bluish, shiny type of surface color. This is what you want. Sometimes even a very faint golden, reddish tinge is also deemed by some to be what to aim for.

I think there is room for many different descriptions of the same thing. It can be very subjective and everyones eyes and brains work differently.

You will pick up the subtleties over time.

 

[EWP]

Re: annealing and neck cleanliness

If the brass glows red or any shade of it then you got the brass to hot/soft, max temp is about ~675-685* and anything above this and you loose any spring back in the brass and bullet tension suffers greatly because of this.

You can use Tempilaq indicator paint to get very close to this or just using some test brass in the dark and adjusting the temp until the brass just starts to glow and then back off until any sign of glowing disappears will be about perfect.

ETA: I use the bench Source annealer and love it, it take all the work out of getting consistent results from any size case with little adjustment.