Need brass annealing advice

[vortech347]

I have the Mike's reloading bench annealer and it works great.

It's more expensive than the Anneeleze but you don't have to buy any extra parts to go from .223 to magnum cartridges.

Mike answers questions qucikly if you ask, too.

 

[dgkypke]

I have been reloading for 52 years and annealing has been one of the biggest improvements to SDs and ESs that I have made. Consistency is the key to good numbers. I researched all the annealers on the market at the time I decided to purchase. Salt Bath has its followers but liquid salt at 932F did not appeal to me and dropping your precision brass into water was also undesirable then they have to be dried. more time plus water in a cartridge case is never a good thing.
Also the Salt is extremely corrosive. The Lee lead pots rust. Last you have to anneal your cartridges one at a time plus time them to be consistent.
The AMP II is a awesome unit but very expensive and again you do one at a time.
So I started looking at flame annealers (that is what factories use) and decided that one of these with a magazine to hold 50 cases might be the way to go. At the time I looked at Annealize and Mike's Reloading units. I chose Mikes for $399 at the time. It is robust and easy to operate take a scrap piece of brass and paint some templiq inside the case neck line up the flame to the neck shoulder junction and adjust the time to melt the templiq and you are good to go. I anneal every time I reload and it has improved my numbers by a lot.
You don't have to watch it run and it will do 50 cases while you do something else. I don't leave the room but you don't have to babysit it. I do use a bulk tank so the flame stays consistent. It certainly is as safe as SBA and requires much less input from the operator.
Current prices are Annealize is $275 and Mikes is $449.
Just my two cents worth.
Henry

**** good info, Mate! Thank you!

 

[Paulstarr]

I bought the Anneal-eez and it is very good and easy to work. I anneal after every shooting and have close to 12-15 shootings on my 6.5 Hornady brass. I'm not a big fan of the Hornady brass, but I've had to can only a handful of the brass

I use an AMP machine,I agree it is expensive,in the UK it retails at £1500 but the anneal temp.is precise when using an induction heater.The work done by Alex Finlay at AMP on the programs for
the machine is impressive.I would strongly recommend the AMP.
The other thing that may be useful is to lube the inside of the neck with Mica powders, as using ulrasonic cleaners and annealing machines can make the inside of the neck very dry for bullet seating.

 

[30dirty]

one more up for annealezz

 

[Roninco]

This is an excellent thread and b being a mechanical engineer it has my attention. I have used the Annealize for three years now and have no issues as long as you have it set up properly. I do have one question. AT what point in the reloading process, do you perform the annealing?? Immediately after cleaning the brass but before resizing or just before priming ( after resizing ). From a technical standpoint I would'nt necessarily call this "annealing" as there is no carbon in Brass to cause work hardening, but i more appropriately call this "conditioning". Anyone have more thoughts on this subject??

From previous posts on this site, annealing can be done before of after cleaning and best done before other brass prep.

 

[HockeyDad]

one more up for annealezz

Hahahaha, I went to Amazon, and punched in "annealezz", and look at the first item that popped up:

 

[Sockeye66]

Hahahaha, I went to Amazon, and punched in "annealezz", and look at the first item that popped up:

View attachment 250276

Might work for lubing inside of case necks lol.

 

[Mike Matteson]

I had put the funding away to get a AMP. Yesterday I purchase a Vertex Case Neck Annealing Machine. I watch a film on annealing with the Vertex Machine and it sold me. I feel that I can get adaptor to go to a larger propane tank and a Y branch. It has a timing system on it. You can get Tempilaq temperature Indication at 650F from Midway to check your heat timing. I really feel it simple, and you only have place the case in the holer as it turns. It drops out after being annealed. Where the flame is at the case turns during the annealing process so it's even all the way around. It's only a few second per case. The placing the case and removing it was the sticking point with the AMP having to be done for each case. The cost wasn't the problem for me. I try to look twice before buying sometime. Not all of it works out, but that life.

 

[HockeyDad]

Might work for lubing inside of case necks lol.

You might be on to something. I mean someone had to be the first person to think of using brake cleaner for getting carbon out of barrels during cleaning, right?

 

[catamountsierra]

My process, more or less, as I have settled on it at this point.

Deprime
Neck brush
Primer pockets
Anneal 6 seconds
Quench
Neck brush
Clean primer pockets
Datum 1.8005
Size FL-Type S 0.004 holder, .312 bushing
Trim/chamfer 610 micrometer
Wipe off lube/neck brush
Prime
Charge
Seat 168ABLR 1.83, 165TGK 1.94 on 0.004 holder

I am, of course, still learning, so explaining why you do something different is always appreciated.

Point is, anneal before sizing so that any spring back during sizing is minimized. It seems to make sizing easier and more consistent, and consistent sizing of the neck is a big part of consistent neck tension.

 

[Mike Matteson]

They say you don't need to Quench your brass after annealing.

 

[catamountsierra]

They say you don't need to Quench your brass after annealing.

I don't think the quench is critical, but I figure I might as well if I need to rinse any traces of salt off the brass. The only advantage in terms of the actual annealing is that it would stop the flow of heat from the case neck/shoulder into the body of the case, but since the mass of that area is low in comparison, there isn't that much heat stored in there to flow into the body. I probably wouldn't bother if I was using a different method.

 

[Mike Matteson]

If you are using Salt system, then I would say you are right. I would do the same.

 

[tumbleweed7mmstw]

Hahahaha, I went to Amazon, and punched in "annealezz", and look at the first item that popped up:

View attachment 250276

I can't thank all of you guys enough. What a tremendous benefit I got from all of your experiences and advice. I was able to look into various machines and processes. Special thanks to "whatnext/ID"; "Dosh/AZ"; "sedancowboy/MT" and
most of all for the belly laugh I got from "jmarion88" and his research on Amazon.
I learned a lot from that published review and annalizes of annealing brass that "whatnext/ID' posted on page 2 of this thread. That is the most in-depth article I've seen on correct annealing of rifle brass. Don't let the title of the annalizes deter you from reviewing it. And if any of you missed it, here is a link to it.
https://www.ampannealing.com/articles/52/salt-bath-annealing--does-it-work-/
I choose the Bench-Source Vertex Case Neck Annealing machine and I think I got the last one in the country, found it in-stock at Brownell's. They also had the Tempilaq. If I were only going to anneal 5.56/.223 up 30.06 I might have chosen the Annealezz with its brass hooper and auto case feed. I really like how the Bench-Source works and the adjustment system for the 2 torches.
Here is a video that sold me on it and thanks to you all again. Keep your powder dry.