Annealing

[Floridawally]

Kind of new to annealing and do not want to buy one of those fancy annealing machines yet so I am using the drill with a spark plug socket and a Coleman torch. 308 brass. 1 and a half inch flame from the torch. No water quench. I do it in room with dim lighting. I am using a metronome app on my phone to keep the brass in the flame for 6 seconds. I hold the brass about a quarter inch from the second blue flame or about in the middle of the 1 and a half inch flame.

Can anyone tell me if I am doing this correctly? I don’t want to over anneal and destroy the brass, my rifle or my face, but at the same time I have read that if I don’t get the brass hot enough it won’t anneal and I would be spinning my wheels. Any advice on how to determine if the brass is properly annealed would be greatly appreciated.

[12bhunting]

I've only done it in the oven.

[Airgator0470]

If you're not using tempilaq to ensure you're hitting the right temp. you're wasting your time.

https://www.reloadingallday.com/post/what-is-annealing

[mapper]

Rotating sockets and flame on the neck shoulder junction works, you don't want to get brass red.
The only foolproof way I know of is using tempilaq heat paint.
Then you can verify your time.
Not all brass has the same makeup, so there will be a little differences between headstamps.

There have been posts on this on diffrent forums I have seen,
That said I use tempilaq and a annealing machine.

[Floridawally]

How about Tempilstik? Same kind of thing I think.

[WinterSoldier]

Ach! Junkwaffen.

Anneal what for what and why?

I've mostly annealed cases to fireform them to another caliber.. specifically from .303 British to .410 Enfield musket.

Oven annealing doesn't do much and it can't because you are evenly heating the whole case. If you took the whole case up to high enough temperature long enough in an oven you would soften the whole thing and ruin it.

For fireforming cartridge cases to another caliber, you soften whatever portion of the case needs to change its shape, then fire a light charge of powder with a load made of something like farina or grits. You need to take the area to be annealed up to a high enough temperature to see it turn red just a bit, and then immediately quench it. Both the heating and quenching are necessary not because I say so but because people who think they know what they are talking about say so, mainly that if you want brass to be annealed instead of turned to putty from being heated that hot, you have to quench.

Then there is neck annealing to prevent splitting... pretty much the same as above but focused more closely on the neck and shoulder.

A lot depends on what "strength" loads you will be using and the specific cartridge. My musket cases are only good for .303 Enfield conversions made for riot control in India. The .303 case head is too thick to fit an actual .410 shotgun. Used with the recommended load, they suffer very little stress and will last through many, many, firings. If you are annealing a high powered rifle round or especially a magnum round, the whole case deforms with each firing so much that while annealing may save the neck and shoulder awhile so you get some more firings, if you keep at it too long you will have case head separation instead. Annealing won't prevent that.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

BUT, I very much recommend that instead of taking this question to a bunch of internet commandos like us... scour the web for formal, correct, sources, not random opinions of random people. And/or better still find some published-printed sources. Pay real money for them. For some purposes to screw up might be safety-critical. For what I do I can get away with all kinds of technical malfeasance.

The only real bad life experience I can relay, is that if you ever anneal with molten lead, do NOT do what I did. If you forget to oil the case first, you have just soldered the outside of your case and will have a devil of a time removing the lead which adheres quite well to brass. In that instance the brass in question was the enormous .577/450 cartridge for the Martini Henry. You could have heard me cussing all of the way down to Slopchoppy. Second worse bad life experience is forgetting what I just did and grabbing an almost blazing hot piece of brass with my fingers. They heard me in CUBA on that one...

[Floridawally]

I'm annealing the shoulder and neck for more consistent bullet seating neck tension. Also to lengthen reloading life of the brass. Point well taken on the internet commandos.

[Airgator0470]

Ach! Junkwaffen.

Anneal what for what and why?

I've mostly annealed cases to fireform them to another caliber.. specifically from .303 British to .410 Enfield musket.

Consistent neck tension for brass with repeated firings as well as prolonging case life (avoiding split necks as you mentioned) are the reasons why. Cases with repeated sizing, even just neck sizing, can benefit from annealing.

It's not something I've had todo as my .223 and .308 brass supply remains unlimited at the moment.