H2O dropping annealed brass ?

[Old Corps 8541]

After reading the instructions on my annealer I have a question. It says to drop the just annealed cases in water. I do this with my cast bullets to harden them a bit , BUT all the internet videos I've watched just has the brass air cooling ?? Seams quenching in water defeats the purpose ??

 

[spife7980]

Quenching does nothing to brass but make it cooler to the touch quick but wet.

You should be annealing the necks fast enough that heat migration down into the case head isn’t an issue. If you are taking so long to anneal the necks that you are also getting the case head too hot then you need to fix your set up or process, not add a bucket of water.

 

[lash]

There’s a pretty solid chance that the instructions from the manufacturer of a tool should carry more weight in your decision making process than the opinions of “content creators” on the interwebs. Prolly doesn’t matter whether you water cool or not but if you trusted them enough to buy their annealer….

Or maybe, just maybe, the instructions from the manufacture are that way because they are legally cautious about potential lawsuits from greedy assholes who might “burn themselves” on the hot brass and want money from papa corporation.

 

[Rover31]

H2O drop is not needed

 

[Rocketmandb]

After reading the instructions on my annealer I have a question. It says to drop the just annealed cases in water. I do this with my cast bullets to harden them a bit , BUT all the internet videos I've watched just has the brass air cooling ?? Seams quenching in water defeats the purpose ??

I don't quench because:
- I don't want to deal with getting a container of water by my annealer - not that it's a big thing, but it's unnecessary
- I don't want to wait for the brass to dry

Can you quench? Yes, but why?

There’s a pretty solid chance that the instructions from the manufacturer of a tool should carry more weight in your decision making process than the opinions of “content creators” on the interwebs. Prolly doesn’t matter whether you water cool or not but if you trusted them enough to buy their annealer….

The annealer manuals I've read mention nothing about quenching. In fact, the only manual I've seen that mentions it is AMP's - which specifically says NOT to quench. So, who would I believe? Probably the manufacturers of the most advanced annealer in the market.

 

[hafejd30]

No quench here

Annealing 10+ years with a benchsource

 

[Rocketvapor]

Which manufacturer says to water quench?
Mine might, didn't read the instructions

 

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

It's a valuable step...if you want wet brass. Otherwise, your technique would have to be really horrible that water dropping would be necessary.
I never water drop (except when I'm casting lead).

 

[Juma]

Once you remove the heat source where is the issue. Only in the minds of crazy so called experts. 2C.

 

[308pirate]

Quenching does nothing to harden brass because brass doesn't have the austenite to martensite transition phase that ferrous metals do. So drop your hot brass in water or not, it doesn't matter.

I DGAF what any annealer maker has to say on the matter. This is basic metallurgical science that has been known for over 100 years.

 

[Doom]

Quenching in H2O is to cool the brass to prevent the lower (head) portion of the case from getting too soft from heat conducted from the neck/shoulder area. Whether it is necessary or not depends on how much heat is applied to get the neck/shoulder to temperature. Heating too slowly increases the potential for base softening.

 

[lash]

Quenching in H2O is to cool the brass to prevent the lower (head) portion of the case from getting too soft from heat conducted from the neck/shoulder area. Whether it is necessary or not depends on how much heat is applied to get the neck/shoulder to temperature. Heating too slowly increases the potential for base softening.

Do the math. That’s pretty much BS.

 

[spife7980]

Do the math. That’s pretty much BS.

I used my 450 *down the case body* to find out if I had too much heat migration from a normal anneal, I figured out its only useful for prevention if youre an absolute idiot and try to melt a case.

 

[Doom]

Do the math. That’s pretty much BS.

Don't attack me, I'm just telling you the reason that it is done. When I anneal I hold the base in my finger, rotate in a flame for ~ 5sec and then drop on a wet towel.

I used my 450 *down the case body* to find out if I had too much heat migration from a normal anneal, I figured out its only useful for prevention if youre an absolute idiot and try to melt a case.

When I first started to anneal I purposely overheated a cartridge to soften base. It was fairly easy to get the case to soften but you had to take some time heating the shoulder/neck. More than the typical 5-6 seconds that it typically takes. I did my test with 308 cases.

 

[338dude]

After reading the instructions on my annealer I have a question. It says to drop the just annealed cases in water. I do this with my cast bullets to harden them a bit , BUT all the internet videos I've watched just has the brass air cooling ?? Seams quenching in water defeats the purpose ??

Nope

 

[SharpShooterSER]

no quenching is needed, as someone said earlier, its not ferrous metal that we are heating. you then have to dry your brass. when I was experimenting for my cases and checked them with Vickers scale, if done properly in terms of figuring out the timing (with Tempilaq 750) base was never softened at all - same readings before and after the process.

 

[lash]

Don't attack me, I'm just telling you the reason that it is done. When I anneal I hold the base in my finger, rotate in a flame for ~ 5sec and then drop on a wet towel.


When I first started to anneal I purposely overheated a cartridge to soften base. It was fairly easy to get the case to soften but you had to take some time heating the shoulder/neck. More than the typical 5-6 seconds that it typically takes. I did my test with 308 cases.

I wasn’t attacking you. I was pointing out that it’s an incorrect reason and only done if you don’t understand what is going on.

Or if, as said above, you are cooking the shit out of your brass. In which case, you’re still doing it wrong.

Nothing personal.

 

[Haney]

There’s a pretty solid chance that the instructions from the manufacturer of a tool should carry more weight in your decision making process than the opinions of “content creators” on the interwebs. Prolly doesn’t matter whether you water cool or not but if you trusted them enough to buy their annealer….

Well said . We have one guy here that has assigned himself as first responder , many times just spitting out bullshit to have something to say .

 

[supercorndogs]

There’s a pretty solid chance that the instructions from the manufacturer of a tool should carry more weight in your decision making process than the opinions of “content creators” on the interwebs. Prolly doesn’t matter whether you water cool or not but if you trusted them enough to buy their annealer….

Does that mean if I buy an AMP I have to believe its the only way to anneal brass?

I never read the instructions on my machine. I already knew how to anneal before I bought one.

 

[308pirate]

Or you can become educated on the metallurgy of brass and other copper alloys and make your own decision. Legitimate, scholarly information on the subject is freely available. I don't need to listen to the people who make annealers to know what to do.

You seem intelligent so you shouldn't need to rely on what some rando says without cross checking it.

Other people are irretrievably stupid and beyond hope so they stay at the lowest common denominator.

There’s a pretty solid chance that the instructions from the manufacturer of a tool should carry more weight in your decision making process than the opinions of “content creators” on the interwebs. Prolly doesn’t matter whether you water cool or not but if you trusted them enough to buy the

 

[Holliday]

If an annealing machine came with instructions that said I must water-cool the brass, I would pretty much figure they were dropped on their head one too many times as a child and ignore that.

I design and sell products for a living. That does not make me a metallurgist, even though my parts are made out of metal. I defer to experts for that, who say with brass it is useless.

That’s said, having worked with my hands most of my life I do not always have the proper fear around hot metal parts that I should have. Fortunately, my hands are pretty damn tough and I have a reasonably high pain threshold.

If your reason for dropping the brass in water is to keep from burning your hands. That is a perfectly legitimate reason, in my opinion. Just make sure you get them dry afterwards

 

[Schütze]

Well said . We have one guy here that has assigned himself as first responder , many times just spitting out bullshit to have something to say .

Any chance it ever occurred to you that you are THAT guy?

 

[GreenGO Juan]

If you haven’t figured it out, he is literally playing a role.

 

[Pbgt]

After reading the instructions on my annealer I have a question. It says to drop the just annealed cases in water. I do this with my cast bullets to harden them a bit , BUT all the internet videos I've watched just has the brass air cooling ?? Seams quenching in water defeats the purpose ??

Hello, I have never cast boolits...are they 100% lead? second dumb question, quenching in water hardens them, all the way thru or just the outside surface? thx.

 

[Doom]

Casting alloys are lead, tin, and antimony. Depending on the mix some alloys will harden by quenching. I'm not familiar enough with the hardening characteristics on the depth of hardening to comment.

You might find this a good source. https://castbulletassoc.org/default.aspx