Complete annealing?

[Varmint Hunter]

Except it isn't actually faith. There is science that explains it as long as you take the time to find the actual science (not take the word of random people on the internet).

What requires faith is that I am doing a sufficient enough job of annealing that it is actually achieving the goal of uniformly softening the necks.

Am I bringing the necks to a sufficient temperature?
Am I keeping the necks at a sufficient temperature long enough?
Am I not overheating the neck/shoulder junction?

I follow the recommended method of flame annealing using the principal of applying heat in a darkened room and timing the process so that the necks just start getting red and then dropping out. That is a rather unscientific method and it's impossible to know just how well it's working. Flame annealing is questionable, IMO, but I still do it.

It would be nice to have a high-quality induction annealing machine, but I don't anneal enough cases to justify the cost.

 

[Hugger-4641]

I haven't tried it yet, but I've been told that this works. I don't plan on doing any annealing for a bit as I have enough virgin brass to last for good while, but I may try this next year:

Amazon.com

 

[ntsqd]

Much of the commonly known aspects of annealing are from processing ferrous alloys because most annealing work done, particularly in the garage/hobby area, is on ferrous metals. The thing is that each family of metals will have their own, unique annealing process. It happens that aluminum and copper anneal in remarkably similar processes, but steel does not. Must use the process that applies to the metal in question or the result will not be what you expect and can be exactly the opposite of the goal.

If you really must know the temperature reached, and a FLIR IR camera isn't in the budget then consider these indicator paints:

Tempilaq Advanced-Liquid Temperature Indicator

Tempilaq Advanced is an accurate temperature indicating liquid that verifies the achievement of a specific temperature. It leaves a visible mark that dries fast prior to heating then liquefies at the stated temperature. The easy to mix formula can be applied on both horizontal and vertical...

markal.com