Decided to give annealing a shot, thing of it is I am cheep and wanted to see if it would help my group consistency. Mind you I'm not an expert by any means, just got into loading about 6 years ago and watched my dad do it my entire life. So just trying to see if this would help my group sizes for hunting rifles. I'm hear for constructive criticism. I can't figure out if I can upload a video but here is a picture of the set up. I'm not sure if you can go by look but do the cases look ok? I pulled each case around 9 seconds just as the neck and shoulder turned a slight color.
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First shot at annealing.
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dfanonymous
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Sounds about right. To dial it in, maybe turn any light you have off and check the glow against more dark ambient lighting. That's because annealed correctly and over heated can really be is a second or 2 difference. Imo
This is what I do for initial set up. Lights off. Sacrificial piece of brass. Time it till it turns red then back off time so the good ones are done right before full red. If you watch the flame you'll notice a subtle difference right before they turn red.
Right when the whole neck turns cherry red. With Lapua brass batch I got, I was able to tell by the color and extent of the color past the shoulder with my drill & socket method. Not all brass is this easily discernible, but if you take them all to a very brief point where the necks go full red you should be good.
I've tested anneal times and there is a couple second margin. In before the AMP egg heads!
Unless you use templaq you probably won't definitely know. Some of my brass leaves pretty anneal lines and some doesn't.
In theory under doing it would keep it stiffer over doing it would make it softer. If you over do it too much you will wreck the metal makeup of the brass. Cortina has a video where he shows different anneal times and seating pressure results. I'll see if I can find it.
dfanonymous
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As was said, you know it's done when it's cherry red. It's a dull light on the brass. Hence why the lights off.
Once that's done, that is the temp that softens the brass, which is what you're looking for more elasticity of the neck. After annealing, running the neck on a mandrel will be your next step for neck consistency.
I'm trying to not use the phrase "neck tension" because even though I know what people mean, I don't want the "interference" people to start getting on they keyboards with their pitch forks.
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Sdvldog1371
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The problem is, you will never know. You can try and use your primitive eyeball and best judgment. You can try to use tempilaq. Your problem is going to be keeping the flame consistent and keeping the timing consistent. Without having testing equipment you'll only ever be giving it a best guess.
You need to devise a way to hold the very tip of the inner cone of the flame at the neck shoulder junction while rotating the case at a consistent speed. With the lights off you will see the neck barely begin to glow, if the flame changes color....you just changed the alloy by burning away the zinc. So, it's a pretty delicate balance between not annealed and over annealed.
Annealing is about reaching a certain temperature and holding it a certain time.
It can be done with a flame, it's just not super precise with non-commercial equipment.
It's why I went to an AMP, my OCD doesn't let me accept my best guess as a good enough. I want to know, not assume and not think.
You need to devise a way to hold the very tip of the inner cone of the flame at the neck shoulder junction while rotating the case at a consistent speed. With the lights off you will see the neck barely begin to glow, if the flame changes color....you just changed the alloy by burning away the zinc. So, it's a pretty delicate balance between not annealed and over annealed.
Annealing is about reaching a certain temperature and holding it a certain time.
It can be done with a flame, it's just not super precise with non-commercial equipment.
It's why I went to an AMP, my OCD doesn't let me accept my best guess as a good enough. I want to know, not assume and not think.
I and several friends have tested annealed vs not annealed on several calibers and have found zero difference on target with up to 14 reloads on brass. This has also been stated by several people I trust on this site which is why we started experimenting. It doesn't hurt to try for yourself.
