Annealing Question

[Former0302]

Quick question for the annealers out there about annealing and sticky bolts.

I'm shooting a 168gr SMK from a neck sized only / fire formed and annealed LC LR surplus brass with CCI BR primers and 42.5 gr of Varget. While not a completely underpowered load in LC brass, it shouldn't be that stiff of a load either.

Here's my annealing process.
- Use a butane blow torch, socket set and hand held power drill
- Use a metronome to get my timing consistent from shell to shell
- hold the neck in the flame at the tip of the light blue / hotter part
- hold it in for 8 seconds, drop on the counter of my reloading bench (no water quench, just air cool)

Was holding it in for less time, started at 5 seconds and worked my way up to 8 based on the color of the brass. At less than 8 seconds, it didn't show any difference with other types of brass. At 8 seconds it just starts to turn. Visually, the annealed brass looks the same as annealed mil surp brass I have.

Am I annealing too long?

 

[roggom]

Do not go by the surface color of the brass, but by the color as the brass heats. Short of using tempilac, do some annealing using the same technique you described. Darken the room and look at the color of the case mouth. It should only ever get to a warm red glow before you take the heat away. If it gets cherry red, you over did it.

I am no annealing expert, but do anneal my brass every 5-8 loads. I have been able to get 25 loads from Remington cases and 18 from Lapua with very little case splits and no stuck cases.