Salt Bath Annealing Practical Experiment

[MudMarine]

I would like to share a two part study I just finished.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ch-lv7Em-Gqh_kyGz7nIi6Klj4BqtyRw/view?ths=true

****. Someone just got scienced! Nice experiment.

 

[epoletna]

Thanks for doing the experiment and for writing it up for all of us to see.

I am inclined to think the SBA is actually more consistent than flame annealing, but there will be people on both sides of that debate. I used to flame anneal by standing cases in a pan of water, heating until the flame began to change color, then using the torch to tip the case into the water.

My understanding of the theory behind annealing brass is that it has to be quenched -- just the opposite of steel, which is heated and cooled slowly to soften. But at least one of the videos on Youtube of SBA make it look like the person is heating in the bath, then not quenching, or quenching after a few seconds, so the brass has begun to cool.
I'm not sure how this works out.

At the end of the day, what I want from annealing is to make case necks consistent, not necessarily to make them last three or four loadings longer. I have not got my SBA up and running yet. It will be interesting to see if there is any difference in shot-to-shot consistency.

 

[Matt F]

Thanks for doing the experiment and for writing it up for all of us to see.

I am inclined to think the SBA is actually more consistent than flame annealing, but there will be people on both sides of that debate. I used to flame anneal by standing cases in a pan of water, heating until the flame began to change color, then using the torch to tip the case into the water.

My understanding of the theory behind annealing brass is that it has to be quenched -- just the opposite of steel, which is heated and cooled slowly to soften. But at least one of the videos on Youtube of SBA make it look like the person is heating in the bath, then not quenching, or quenching after a few seconds, so the brass has begun to cool.
I'm not sure how this works out.

At the end of the day, what I want from annealing is to make case necks consistent, not necessarily to make them last three or four loadings longer. I have not got my SBA up and running yet. It will be interesting to see if there is any difference in shot-to-shot consistency.

Quenching brass has zero effect on the resulting hardness after heat treating.
It only results in wet brass that you then need to dry out before continuing your reloading.
The reason you have to drop the brass into water with salt bath is to dissolve the salt residue which builds up on the case after you remove it.

 

[crkckr]

Thank you for doing the tests and taking the trouble to document your findings. As much as I'd like to get the flame annealer, the cost is far out of my reach, so I had planned on getting a SBA. There are simply too many people using them and reporting good results for them to not work at all! I want to use the annealing for both case life and consistent neck tension. Every little bit helps!
Cheers,
crkckr