A lot of what’s already been said already is good avdvice. Some I don’t agree with, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s “bad” advice.
The AMP is an amazing machine. Both simple and highly complex at the same time. That said, it’s north of £1500 and for that price you could almost just buy new brass, sell it once fired, and buy more. It would take a LONG time before your losses got to £1500, but that doesn’t make it a fabulous bit of kit.
The video mentioned about the timing “window” when annealing is, I’m guessing, that from Eric Cortina. He does a few, but I
think it’s this one:
It’s a very good video, as are many of his others, and highlights the need to not panic about getting your times “spot on”. I aim for the case to glow orange at the neck for just a second, then drop out of the heat. But that’s just me
There is no
need to quench. It won’t change the metallurgy in anyway, but it will mean you can handle your brass sooner than letting it air cool. But then again, you also need to dry it all over again now, so for me personally, I just let it air cool as I find it’s less faff.
Here is a great video about what’s happening during annealing -
It shows how you need to get the metal hit enough to “reset” the molecules, but that’s all. If you don’t get it hot enough, it’s ineffective. But equally, annealing a case twice makes literally no difference. The only thing you can do “wrong” is leave the case is the heat for FAR too long. Then you’ll be melting it, but it’ll take longer than you might imagine to get there.
As far as flame annealing goes there is absolutely nothing wrong with spinning the case over a hot flame. Essentially that’s all gas annealing machines do anyway. But what we are aiming for as reloaders, as was already said, is consistency. And doing it with a drill and a hand held blow torch is neither efficient or consistent, but it’s still possible, and I would suggest probably the cheapest method!
Equally you can build these machines with enough DIY skill and some components. It will cost you, but probably not a great deal. More so in time than finances.
What I WOULDN'T suggest, is holding the case with your fingers. I doubt your skin will thank you for it. The case needs to be getting to about 600-750 degrees, and since it’s about a 2.5” long piece of conducting metal, you’ll know about it! Judging how well annealed your cases are, based on the degree of melted skin, is probably not the best idea. But again - that’s just me!
For all of the above reasons, I sell the Ugly Annealer.
For £200 it’s great bang-for-buck and I suggest is a good balance between cost and consistency. Will you get better results with an AMP? Possibly, but not proveably. Is it cheaper with a drill and a blow torch? Absolutely, but probably not consistent and very much more time consuming.
Everything in reloading is a balance, and for me, the Ugly Annealer strikes a good balance all round. But
that’s just me 
I'll get the VAT back in it 
