Annealing, First proper go.

[finnbear270]

Without having all the technical & mechanical equipment for hardness testing & all,
What are the regular annealers thoughts on just a visual, gave some spins on Tempilaq with some sacrificial brass after changing the torch nozzle (was a bit fierce).

 

[Alantoo]

You have gone further down the body with the heat than I do.

You are a welder...for stress relief annealing on cartridge brass try the soap system like you would when full annealing aluminium. The soap turns black at around 400˚C and takes out a lot of variation of position in the torch flame and efficiency creep. Soap is a better and more consistent telltale than the variable colour change of the oxide/tarnish layer in uncalibrated ambient light!

Alan

 

[finnbear270]

These are sacrificial, just ran em’ all thru for a better try at consistency, Maybe a need to tighten the flame up a bit, will try some dummy loadings & see what neck tension is like.

 

[Ronin]

Six seconds with neck only in hottest part of a small flame torch

Works for me temp line almost equivalent to new Lapua brass

 

[finnbear270]

Ta Andy.

 

[1066]

Not bad I would think and certainly not a problem but maybe a second or so longer than I do my brass.

 

[Totsy]

Alantoo, what do your cases look like with the soap blackened and then, once you’ve autsoled the soap off?

 

[Alantoo]

Alantoo, what do your cases look like with the soap blackened and then, once you’ve autsoled the soap off?

I rarely Autosol them unless I'm feeling in a particularly glitzy mood...I normally just deprime then anneal. The soap and heat marks come off with the citric acid pickle in the 2 x 8 minute zap in the Ultra Sonic cleaner.


They will come up shiny in seconds with Autosol if you want...



Alan

 

[Totsy]

Thanks for that Alan, my cases were already tumbled before the soap/heat so look a little different to yours. But I think I’ve got the colour change of the soap about right.

 

[finnbear270]

Might get to put a few winmag thru today, still on sacrificial stuff.

 

[takbok]

I rarely Autosol them unless I'm feeling in a particularly glitzy mood...I normally just deprime then anneal. The soap and heat marks come off with the citric acid pickle in the 2 x 8 minute zap in the Ultra Sonic cleaner.
View attachment 154175

They will come up shiny in seconds with Autosol if you want...

View attachment 154176

Alan

I like your lock stud mod! I'm going to copy it to save my fingers

 

[finnbear270]

Further to my first foray, I thought I would give all these cases a proper examination, best as can be carried out with Mk1 eyeball, Out of the fifty I found one split neck, So it seems any really weak cases would not survive annealing, I then decided to put them through a full length die, WOW!! ... I had to do a double take on the die being the correct one for the cases, the difference to putting multiple fired cases through was vast, The ease that was apparent means to me, That I am highly unlikely to ever see a stuck case again after annealing?

Now going to see how these cases take bullet seatings.
Your thoughts so far?

 

[fizzbangwhallop]

Before I got into molten salt annealing, I used to tape the blowtorch handle to the edge of the kitchen worktop just to the right of the window over the sink. Using the small, pencil flame nozzle pointing up at 45* and standing looking back towards the light I could see the blue colour change ‘dancing’ over the neck. As Ronin says above this was generally to a count of 5 or 6 with the flame at the base of the neck.

But..... the main thing that made it easy was one of the syringe action pick up tools, I can just set the case in the claw, the thin shaft makes it easy to twiddle a consistent spin and then simply drop the case into a tin tray. I originally had water in that but it’s not necessary.

One of these...

Flexible claw pick up tool 24" : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

Free delivery and returns on all eligible orders. Shop Flexible claw pick up tool 24".

www.amazon.co.uk

It’s lightweight, saves on having to re-charge drill batteries and rsi in your thumb/forefinger too

Cheers
Fizz

 

[finnbear270]

Using one of these, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=J826q2XYag0&usg=AOvVaw0-I-00FNPdwxUEvtq4-3tB

 

[Kevgun]

I Bought one of these

 

[finnbear270]

I Bought one of these

Not sure I'd find one of those for a couple hundred quid Kev!

 

[finnbear270]

40 survivors of case length check / case mouth de burring, ... Primer pocket check next.

 

[Totsy]

To hold the case in the flame I use the cartridge head holder from a Lee trim to length cutter chucked in my drill.

 

[fizzbangwhallop]

I Bought one of these

I looked into induction annealing several years ago and found this guy over in Poland on YouTube.....



He's got a few other vids on it there too...

There was no way I could justify the outlay in view of the relatively small number of cases I do each year..... from memory it was around the £700-£800 mark at the time.

cheers

fizz

 

[fizzbangwhallop]

To hold the case in the flame I use the cartridge head holder from a Lee trim to length cutter chucked in my drill.

I thought of that but knowing the time it takes to lock the case in place and then remove it after is why I went for the pick up claw.....

cheers
fizz