Thread: DIY Annealing

So... DIY annealing.... anyone care to share their tips and tricks? Seems a fair bit of contradictory info on the web as to best method. Was thinking of doing the blow torch and drill method as I only have a small number to do. Really want to maximize the case life of my norma 280 brass as its expensive but obviously dont want to cook it! Dont have enough to justify sending it off to be done.

For a cheap setup...
- Deprime without resizing.
- Stand up in a row in a longish tray of water (or in a circular tray on a lazy Susan) ~2/3 of case bodies submerged.
- Move blowtorch along from neck to neck.
-Only THEN resize.

Only real danger is accidentally annealing cartridge bases and you are safe this way from doing that.
As for annealing differences between cartridges (you know, those hypnotic machines on youtube that do it precisely the same way for each case), I understand the case necks are either annealed or they are not, and with the water method you can safely give them a good blast to the neck and shoulder.
They will cool rapid-ish if standing in water, but speed of cooling does not affect annealing, either you got the neck hot enough to soften it (read: undo the work hardening from repeated re-sizings) or you didn't.

I use the deep socket method, no dramas. different brass goes at different temps. You may need to sacrifice one to get the timing. I use about 10 secs for 308 type cases but only 6 secs for .222 and strangely 270 Win

Best tip ... do it in a dull room so you can better see the colour change

Candle....................................... that seems to work for me


case annealing the easy way

Have thought about it but never got around to doing it, how often are you guys annealing?

Every sunday I's a kneel down on da pew😀😨

There was an article about this method of annealing in an issue of the now defunct Precision Shooting magazine, about 15 years or more back. It was written by a man named Fred Barker, who is/was a keen long range benchrest shooter, and a metallurgist by profession. So one would expect him to have a few clues about annealing. He reckoned the flame of a candle or a wick and kerosene is hot enough to take case necks back to about factory temper, but cannot take them back to dead soft, which is a good thing. There is no chance of softening the case heads when you are twirling the cases in the flame with your bare fingers and thumb - you'd drop the case long before that happened!

Socket method works well mounted in a drill in the vice
Do it with the light off. You will notice the slight yellow/blue change in colour. That's when you need to stop.
Angle the drill so you can flick them out while still turning with a screwdriver so that they land in a metal tin.
You can then do it rapidly

Cheers guys, looks like a few different techniques!

Originally Posted by mikee

Candle....................................... that seems to work for me


case annealing the easy way

Great informative video, but he still went ahead and resized before annealing.

Originally Posted by redrover

There was an article about this method of annealing in an issue of the now defunct Precision Shooting magazine, about 15 years or more back. It was written by a man named Fred Barker, who is/was a keen long range benchrest shooter, and a metallurgist by profession. So one would expect him to have a few clues about annealing. He reckoned the flame of a candle or a wick and kerosene is hot enough to take case necks back to about factory temper, but cannot take them back to dead soft, which is a good thing. There is no chance of softening the case heads when you are twirling the cases in the flame with your bare fingers and thumb - you'd drop the case long before that happened!

And its simple like me, no faffing about with extra stuff to buy.

https://loaddata.com/articles/PDF/Be...cs%2021-LR.pdf

Much as you dislike the option of spending too much money on the process, I would urge you (and everybody else who does not yet understand the process) to read this https://www.accurateshooter.com/tech...les/annealing/
Then bookmark it so you can read it again!
It is an exacting process and if done properly will achieve the desired outcome. If not, it will achieve nothing, in that no correction has taken place, or worse, destruction of the case, which can not be undone. And you have no way of knowing!

I had a Ken Light machine but moved on to the NZ made AMP. No setting up, no naked flame/s, perfection every time.
If the cost seems to be too much, get some of your buddies together and buy one as a co-operative. Each to use as they need, and only necessary to buy the collets that each person has need of. Above all, understand what the process is and the possible dangerous outcomes.

I have pretty much finished building my DIY machine, based of Skips design on YouTube. It has cost me about $180 with almost $100 of that being the propane torch and hose. I initially planned on using those small disposable propane bottles they come with but have changed to LPG to get more consistent pressure from a larger bottle and way cheaper. I also ended up buying 750F Tempilaq which was about $70 on NZ (couldn’t be bothered dealing with shipping etc. from Brownells).

I think this has turned out to be a consistent and hassle free method. There were are few teething problems whilst building it though!!!!

Originally Posted by mikee

And its simple like me, no faffing about with extra stuff to buy.

https://loaddata.com/articles/PDF/Be...cs%2021-LR.pdf

Yes.

Be like Fred. Fred does simple. I like Fred.

Originally Posted by mikee

Candle....................................... that seems to work for me


case annealing the easy way

Originally Posted by mikee

And its simple like me, no faffing about with extra stuff to buy.

https://loaddata.com/articles/PDF/Be...cs%2021-LR.pdf

Originally Posted by Mauser308

Doesn't even look like it changed the composition or hardness of the case, there wasn't any marking or sign that the critical temp to anneal was reached. Be interesting to have a look at that, I wouldn't have thought that there is enough heat in a candle to do the job.

Have to agree with Mauser308 here. As for the link to John Barness's article about Fred Barker, the retired metallurgist. Well, Barker may well be right but I've seen too many balls ups by electrical and chemical engineers at Kinleith Pulp and Paper Mills to know that having a professional degree is no guarantee that they always get it right.