Thread: Do you need a fancy machine to anneal?

Get some 750 Tempilaq or the crayons that are used for welding.
Has to be on the neck and out of the flame to get a True reading
Brass will start to change its grain at about 450 from memory and anneal well at 650 BUT in needs to be held for some time and that heat radiates down the case obviously.
IMO the temp is 650F, and the graph above shows that near enough the point, going to 750 briefly speeds the process without heatsoak.
If the case is dull and not shiny after your are finished - too much.
If you can squash the neck by hand then too much.
The beauty of machine setups is that once you hit the magic setup, it's repeatable.
I've never had much luck by hand and have enough brass that wearing it out isn't really a concern right now.
Moulten lead is apparently the way to go by hand.
Dip the neck in until you can't hold the base in your bare fingers and dunk in water. Fingers have a pretty good and narrow temp range
Others say to not quench the hot brass and let it air cool.. Depends on your brand of snake oil you drink I spose?