did I anneal too long or what else is going on?

[ButterBean]

There's a LOT of bad responses here!!! Most ALL are saying to over-anneal!
A slight glow in a darkened room is too much. Red glow is crazy too much!
Red glow dropped into water will, indeed give you the "dead soft annealed" condition you'd want if forming new cases from slugs of case metal alloy. You can get back to proper by working the brass several times. Size/deprime a few times to get the neck hardness back. May be a lot of work. How much is your brass worth?

What you need/seek is a slight blueish tint (oxide) around the shoulder. That indicates it's softened enough to form easily, but still elastic enough to grip the bullet. Look at new GI ammo brass.

Don't believe me? The info is widely available from many sources.

I disagree, a soft orange glow in a dark room is almost perfect

 

[Mike Matteson]

Annealing: That's why I am headed for a Annealing Made Prefect purchase. I started annealing back in the days of a pan of water and a torch. Stop cracking or splitting necks, and move into primer pockets loosen up after some many firing. For all the work that goes into a case, the cost of brass, and availability of brass anymore. Maybe reloaders don't weight, cut their case necks for thickness, work over the flash hole. fire forming the case. So annealing is cheap to extend the life of the brass, consistency of the neck. Save on time in my estimation and increase of accuracies to boot.

 

[ncboiler]

The AMP machine takes all the guess work out of it. It's a good investment if you do a lot of annealing.

 

[BKM]

This is incorrect information, He didn't say red he said " Faint Orange" which is the indication of a perfectly annealed case, He doesn't need to throw anything away and he doesn't need to buy a machine or quality brass, He's doing a fine job with what he has, No offense intended

No offense taken but ur absolutely wrong.
If the brass has been hot enough to see any glow whatsoever it's been too hot.
Will they shoot? They sure will.
Will they shoot little bitty groups?
Try it for urself then try some premium new brass that u haven't annealed and see which ones produce the best results.
I'm not trying to get u to trash ur brass for no reason I'm trying to save u a lot of frustration.
Suit urself.

 

[Joefrazell]

Too much lube, brass will be fine

 

[gator378]

Too much case lube when resizing. Load em, shoot them, and they'll blow back out.

That is also what I was thinking.

 

[ButterBean]

No offense taken but ur absolutely wrong.
If the brass has been hot enough to see any glow whatsoever it's been too hot.
Will they shoot? They sure will.
Will they shoot little bitty groups?
Try it for urself then try some premium new brass that u haven't annealed and see which ones produce the best results.
I'm not trying to get u to trash ur brass for no reason I'm trying to save u a lot of frustration.
Suit urself.

Once again I disagree, On what basis are you saying that I'm absolutely wrong, please enlighten me, What method are you using to anneal brass?

 

[Chuck32571]

Please see picture. I am getting this small dent on resizing my once fired brass which I also annealed. I used tempilac to time how long I should anneal but I also noticed some of the pieces of brass starting to faint glow orange so I think I went too long. I checked my die and there is nothing inside causing the dents when sizing and not all the pieces are doing this. Im thinking the case neck wall is collapsing because it is too soft. Are these no longer safe to use? This would be a total bummer as I did about 75 pieces this way. Thanks....

Your annealing plan sounds adequate. Those shoulder indentions is caused by excessive lube getting on the resizing die shoulder section or the case shoulder itself. Only lube the case body and inside the neck for the expander ball to pass through and the problem will go away.

 

[Critter Picker]

Please see picture. I am getting this small dent on resizing my once fired brass which I also annealed. I used tempilac to time how long I should anneal but I also noticed some of the pieces of brass starting to faint glow orange so I think I went too long. I checked my die and there is nothing inside causing the dents when sizing and not all the pieces are doing this. Im thinking the case neck wall is collapsing because it is too soft. Are these no longer safe to use? This would be a total bummer as I did about 75 pieces this way. Thanks....

Too much lube or plugged vent on die.

 

[7stw]

Annealing has some interesting pitfalls. Watching for the brass to glow, I believe, sets one up for driving zinc out of the alloy which makes the brass rather soft. There are temperature indicating paints one can use.

Advice:

1) Do a web search for annealing techniques.

2) Full length size and trim after annealling. That will result in more consistent neck tension.

Well said! I have just recently gotten into this as a serious regiment, and using a drill, a torch, and socket, I've gotten my times and process down pretty good. Some of the brass manufacturer's use different alloys, and the brass anneals differently, dis colors, and in the end changes your process. The "premium" brass seems to be much more easy to work with.
You are right about the zinc. Without it, you have no tension.

 

[7stw]

Some of you may laugh, but I have switched to STP. Put a little on a cloth, run your fingers through it, and roll your cases in your fingers. Believe me, a little dab will do ya. It cleans up great, and dosent build up in the dies.
I can hear the snickers now.
Not getting off of the OP's picture, it does appear to be lube dents, but if the brass is in fact over annealed, the resizer can actually crush the brass, and cause it to kink, when you attempt to resize, after annealing. I ran into that when I first started doing it, and realized I had gotten it TOO HOT. When you have hydraulics going on, and weak brass, kinks happen. All the best!

 

[BKM]

Once again I disagree, On what basis are you saying that I'm absolutely wrong, please enlighten me, What method are you using to anneal brass?

There are many good machines i suppose.
I anneal with a Bench Source.
When the brass has been too hot the neck tension is irregular.
Zinc begins to burn out of the brass when the temperature is too high.
The brass has to maintain a certain elasticity to hold the bullets consistently.
With the Bench Source it easy to watch this take place as the brass begins to heat up.
Try u some groups at long range (1000 or more) and see for urself.
All my rifles are magnums. I have to anneal between every firing.
Failure to do so will give a spike in velocity of approximately 25 fps
While that doesn't much matter at a couple hundred yds it's detrimental at a thousand and beyond.
The proof is on the targets.

 

[nvschütze]

I anneal my cases in the bright blue part of the central flame from a bernz-o-matic torch until I just see a very faint orange coloration begin to show in the neck/shoulder portion. I anneal in a darkened room so as to see the orange as soon as it shows-up. I use a deep socket welded to a shank that's been turned-down to fit a quarter-inch VSR drill. The socket is big enough to allow the case to slide right out when it's time. 14mm for .532" heads; 11mm for .473" heads.

 

[ButterBean]

There are many good machines i suppose.
I anneal with a Bench Source.
When the brass has been too hot the neck tension is irregular.
Zinc begins to burn out of the brass when the temperature is too high.
The brass has to maintain a certain elasticity to hold the bullets consistently.
With the Bench Source it easy to watch this take place as the brass begins to heat up.
Try u some groups at long range (1000 or more) and see for urself.
All my rifles are magnums. I have to anneal between every firing.
Failure to do so will give a spike in velocity of approximately 25 fps
While that doesn't much matter at a couple hundred yds it's detrimental at a thousand and beyond.
The proof is on the targets.

I agree with all of that but You didn't answer my question, but now I have a question for you, how do you know what your doing is correct, did you read it somewhere, is it in the bench source instructions or are you just guessing at it ?