Annealing brass????????????

[Triggerhappy]

Does anyone anneal their brass? I have tried it on some older 308 brass that has been fired 6 times and was getting brittle. I tried the pan method and did not like it. Then I tried putting the torch in a vice and using my cordless drill to turn the brass in a socket adapter in the flame. It seemed to work o.k. but the head of the case got very hot after heating it for about 8-10 sec. and burned the living Sh!t out of my fingers when checking if it was hot. I was just getting it hot enough to turn polished brass blue down about a 1/4" below the shoulder. I guess my question is how do you know that the lower portion of the case is not getting too hot?

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

It doesn't turn purple/silver/blue, like the neck?

Get a campher/deburr tool holder that you can chuck in a drill and spin the cases that way.

Chris

 

[Queequeg]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

Check out this thread,
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...rue#Post1120785

 

[Winchester 69]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

Just drop the brass when it is too hot hold. It'll be annealed just fine. OTOH, your fingers may not hold out. Right now you're annealing a couple, three seconds too long.

 

[Triggerhappy]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

Thanks for the help guys. I think I am getting a better grasp on the whole thing.

 

[Pirate-69]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

I use a sharpen pencil or a toothpick to hold the brass via the flashhole. I purchase a thermal pencil that melts at 715F and timed how long it takes to get the neck to that temperature. I then dump it in a bucket of water. The time will vary by the intensity of the flame. If I recall correctly, it takes about 5-6 seconds at that temperature to anneal the brass. Gives a nice color change 1/4 " down on the case. It takes hours if the temperatue only reaches 650F or so.

 

[Fisheng]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

Is it okay to anneal after sizing or should I be doing it prior to sizing ?

 

[USMCj]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

You should anneal before sizing.

 

[denton]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

You'd have laughed at my first attempt at annealing using the pan method... didn't work out so well.

The posters who recommend heating the mouth of the case and then dropping it into water are using the method that works best for me. I use my wife's gas range and hold the case in bare fingers at the head. (Anybody ever notice that a case's mouth and neck are on one end, and it's head on the other? Confusing mental image...)

Getting the mouth end of the case up to temperature anneals the brass. Dropping it in water keeps the heat from getting on down toward the base, where it would make the brass too soft.

It will help you get longer brass life and more uniform neck tension.

 

[7mmRM]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

I use my RCBS case mate with the appropriate size primer pocket uniforming tool to spin the case. I first heat cases in the dark to get an average time of direct heat needed. Record data. From there on out I use the recorded data(heat time) and rock on. No water for any of the steps..........

 

[Queequeg]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 7mmRM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I use my RCBS case mate with the appropriate size primer pocket uniforming tool to spin the case. I first heat cases in the dark to get an average time of direct heat needed. Record data. From there on out I use the recorded data(heat time) and rock on. No water for any of the steps.......... </div></div>

I've used a similar method though I attached a 5/8" socket (or any that just allows the case head to fit), foil taped to the outside chamfer tool, which is placed on a 3" extension, and then into the RCBS case prep machine. This lets me place the case into the socket for a gentle spin that is easily removed and is also high enough to avoid fumbling with the flame or crowding the rest of the machine. 5-6 seconds, an inch from the pencil point of the blue flame, and I can pick the cases out of the socket with my bare fingers. The socket acts as a heat sink, but the telling indicater is that the base of the case is just warm, (not so hot to be untouchable) thus unlikely to be affected by the process at the neck and shoulder. I take each case from the socket (case holder) and drop it into a bucket of water, though I now believe it is unnecessary. Then I dyr them in the sun, clean, lube and resize, and trim, chamfer and reload.

For an added touch the annealing coloring can be polished off with 0000 steel wool. I gentky chuck the cases into my cordless drill and spin the necks through the wool pinched in my hand. They come out shinier than new!

 

[ChadTRG42]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

Just get the Hornady annealing kit for $40. It works great, and comes with the temperature paint.

 

[BLAWTON]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

You will get in trouble if you use water to quench them....

 

[Queequeg]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You will get in trouble if you use water to quench them.... </div></div>

From the government?

 

[OFIS]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

i always thought the same thing. not too up on my metallurgy but i thought fast cooling was what you do to make metal harder after working it with heat...seems like that would be counter-productive for making the metal softer? no?

 

[Queequeg]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

No. Brass only hardens from work, not heat or cooling. Steel gains hardness (tempering) by being quenched or loses it by being heated and allowed to cool slowly. This is very general of course, as different steel alloys will gain or lose temper at varying rates. Thus the type of liquid one might choose to use as a quench, as well as its temperature, might be better suited for a specific tempering requirement. It's complicated and something of a black art (African American, sorry). Anyway, there is no ill affect to wetting brass when cleaning it and certainly no harm dropping a freshly annealed case into water,

Bottom line is, the bath just isn't necessary when annealed correctly, with a heat sink, and not overcooked in the first place.

There is a lot of good writing on this subject, one needn't plunge blindly.

 

[billyburl2]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

Quenching acts the opposite on brass, as opposed to steel.

 

[RussW1911]

Re: Annealing brass????????????

NAG, we have been over this topic extensively a while back. There is no ill effect quenching brass in water after annealing.

QueeQueg is dead on. Although it is not required, quenching has been used to stop the travel of heat down the body of the case for YEARS.

I quench most of the time, after testing the hardness of the brass after using both methods, there was virtually zero difference. I would have to do some hunting to find the notes on it.

My testing was all on my 45-70 brass, but I see no difference in which method should be employed.