brass annealing machine

[Fedwell]

I have to Agree with Stump Grinder and Axl I am 79 3/4 years old, Been reloading for about 50 yrs and i never even Heard of Brass Annealing until i started reading this Forum. Unless you are A Bench Rest Shooter or some other Competion Spend your $$ on Components instead of one more Expensive or possibly dangerous step in the reloading process. Just my Humble opinion.

 

[Jeffrey Van Zandt]

I've used an Anealeez for several years. It's one of the first models. I've done thousands on it ranging from 223-45-70 brass and I've had nothin but great results from it

I went to a bulk tank with splitter hoses and the washer system for all the different cases cal for set up works quick and easy.

 

[Jeffrey Van Zandt]

I have to Agree with Stump Grinder and Axl I am 79 3/4 years old, Been reloading for about 50 yrs and i never even Heard of Brass Annealing until i started reading this Forum. Unless you are A Bench Rest Shooter or some other Competion Spend your $$ on Components instead of one more Expensive or possibly dangerous step in the reloading process. Just my Humble opinion.

well keeps each round case the same and when shooting out to 1000- 1200 yards ever little bit helps have also been reloading 50+ years now and it will make your brass gases last a bit longer and when one shoots 1000-2000 rounds a summer I find it a must

 

[truck driver]

I'm in over my head on this thread, but I watched a guy on YT (has a very active channel; don't know about his technical cred). He used a drill with a spark plug socket and spun them in the flame of a gas torch to color, then dropped them in water. It seemed pretty fast. Not sure how many you do at a sitting. Curious to hear comments from more experienced members here.

I have been using a battery powered drill and deep well socket to hold the brass and a Map gas torch since I first experienced case necks splitting.
Just spin the case neck in the flame for about five seconds and it's done. I do this in low light semi dark room so I can watch the brass turn color and not over heat it and then drop it on a soft towel . No water is necessary to cool the brass and brass work hardens so you are not tempering the case since doesn't affect brass the same as it does steel.

 

[iflyskyhigh]

Mikes Reloading Bench Annealer. Great product. Fairly priced for the quality you are getting. It's light years ahead of the Annealez Machine in build quality and really doesn't cost that much more. Comes with everything you need to do every caliber you will shoot. Nothing extra to buy.

Great customer service as well. Had mine about year and half. One of the motors went out. Emailed Mike. Called me within minutes. Did a little trouble shooting to isolate the problem. Had a new motor to me in a couple days. Free of charge.

It's a great machine if you are doing large amounts of brass.

I make my own 300 BO and annealing really is the finally key step if you go this route. And I shoot a lot of 300 B.O.

I have to Agree with Stump Grinder and Axl I am 79 3/4 years old, Been reloading for about 50 yrs and i never even Heard of Brass Annealing until i started reading this Forum. Unless you are A Bench Rest Shooter or some other Competion Spend your $$ on Components instead of one more Expensive or possibly dangerous step in the reloading process. Just my Humble opinion.

These "I've been doing it this way for 150 years and I'm not changing" comments always make me smile.

I'm always learning and open to new information. And more importantly I'm open to being wrong, something more of us could use a little more of. Makes a person better at everything they do. With that in mind this is said with no ill will or claimed expertise. Just observations.

Just like most other reloading equipment, once you have the initial investment made it will last a very long time and cost little to operate. Propane is cheap. At least for now.

There is a reason that the factory anneals it's brass before loading. Maybe not the same reason we do, but never the less, they wouldn't do it if it didn't matter.

Annealing does make a difference. It leads to much more consistent neck tension and longer case life. These are just facts. Maybe you can argue that constant neck tension and longer case life isn't necessary for your application which is fine. But, consistent neck tension leads to lower SD's and ES's, and less bullet runout (all other things equal and considered). AND the longer you stretch the yardage out, the more difference that stuff makes. Never say never, but I had very little luck getting single digit SD's, and ES's in the low teens until I started annealing.

Again, you probably don't need to anneal every piece of brass that comes across your bench. Depends on the application. But to make a blanket "it's not necessary comment" isn't accurate.

I don't anneal my bulk 223/5.56 brass. I don't care about case life, and I'm not shooting more than a couple hundred yards. It would probably be a waste of time for me for this application.

I do anneal my nice LC 5.56 brass, mostly because I care about case life, but it does produce a little better results in my AR's and bolt guns out to 500 yards or so. Probably not a ton of difference, but again it's more about keeping the cases going.

I also anneal every piece of LC 308 match brass every time. And it for sure makes a difference. Both in accuracy at range and case life.

 

[Warbird2006]

Find someone in your town who has AMP, buy the insert for your cartridge and pay the guy a small fee for annealing service. It goes very fast.

 

[jellyjam]

Does most everyone agree that they seen little to no improvement or worth of annealing there brass ?

One of the guys I shoot benchrest with annealed his 6.5 x 47 Lapua brass before each reloading finally retired that brass after 49 reloads so their is that aspect of brass longevity

 

[jellyjam]

One of the guys I shoot benchrest with annealed his 6.5 x 47 Lapua brass before each reloading finally retired that brass after 49 reloads so their is that aspect of brass longevity

And he has the annealez

 

[264 Win Mag Man]

I don't have an annealer yet but I am going to buy a Fluxeon Annie annealer. Looks to be a very good unit and not the most expensive and doesn't use gas.

 

[Huntz]

Why do we anneal?Some say to stop the neck form splitting.I do it to get even neck tension.When I first started annealing I just did the stand the brass in a pan with water up to the point on the side where you want the annealing to stop,I heated the cases until I could see a light blue color change ,It seemed to work fine.Then I read an article about using a candle to neck anneal.I tried that and it also worked,but had the side effect of getting soot on the case that had to be removed.The candle method was to hold the case with your bare fingers with the neck in the flame while you rolled it back in forth between your thumb and fore finger.When the case got too hot to hold"A very short time" you were done.So I thought whats the difference if I just use a butane torch instead of a candle?So i tried it and it also works great.Being a cheap guy,thats the method I use and it works as fast as the annealing machines and costs a whole lot less.

 

[Blkrflguy]

I looked and researched for a few months. Looking at anything from $220ish -$1,400. In the end, I didn't need something I could land a aircraft on, just something that was very repeatable and simple that didn't cost too much. I settled with the Annealeez and couldn't be happier. I like the fact I can load up 100+ cases and know as along as I have enough propane I could walk off and leave it if I wanted. (Not that I would). But it beats HAVING TO SIT THERE and hand feed every 10 cases. I can drop powder, seat bullets, or do something else while my cases get annealed.
Also, the reason we anneal in the first place is two fold. #1, after you resize your cases 3+times, you'll notice brass starts to get work hardened. This makes it more difficult to bump the shoulder consistently. Annealing realigns the molecules in the brass allowing the brass to become softer again and making it easier to resize consistently. Consistency is the name of the game in reloading.
#2 is neck tension. If you shoot over a chrono (and you should if you're reloading) you'll notice your ES will be lower. Again, consistency.

 

[Timnterra]

There's a reason why people see no improvement by annealing brass. It's because they are doing it wrong and have no way of knowing that they are doing it wrong. This video explains why most annealing methods (other than AMP) fail and how to make just about everything work, other than salt bath (cannot get hot enough).

 

[BigJake54]

IMHO, Variable speed drill, deep wall socket, propane torch, bucket of water. Deep wall socket is a heat sink. I drop my annealed cases into the water and stick the socket into the water after each case. I have maintained data on this and have reloaded my .308 cases 1.2 million times without a case failure. (Just kidding on the number of reloads, but I have lost count). I am open to other methods, but really can't afford anything else now that I am retired.

 

[Les in Wyoming]

Maybe I am missing something. But unless you are doing thousands of rounds, why not use a torch and turn them by hand for 4 seconds? If you do it in low light, they are done as soon as you begin to see slight orange. I would guess that is how you set up an annealer anyway. I suppose if you are doing thousands of rounds on a continual basis, or if you are selling refurbished brass, my question is silly. But for a typical shooter, there is nothing like the price of free.