Thread: Brass Annealing

Finally got all the bits together and spent the day in the shed.
Came out pretty well.

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Nice work

If "all your own handiwork" impressive..................Annealing gives me problems .But I don't understand what the "42"is an indication of.

Please clarify.

Originally Posted by Kiwi Sapper

If "all your own handiwork" impressive..................Annealing gives me problems .But I don't understand what the "42"is an indication of.

Please clarify.

The 42 is the speed setting which is adjustable depending on what Cal you are doing.
Got the idea off YouTube and sourced all parts from AliExpress took today to make.

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Originally Posted by 25 /08 IMP

The 42 is the speed setting which is adjustable depending on what Cal you are doing...............

Okaaaaaaay

But everything needs a constant. Let's work with this...how many seconds does it take for a marked point on your "drum" to rotate 360 degrees at a setting of "42"?

Or have you access to some resource which tells you how long to heat the brass? This is where the skill / knowledge lies, without even allowing for the vagaries of how much heat is being put on the brass by the "torch".

I ask because, I use a manual method reforming 24 gauge brass to .577 /450 Martini Henry in Lee dies.and I count one thousand and one, one thousand and two etc and to date have used 10 to 13 counts coupled with observation of the colour inside of the case. But from failure rates on reforming brass in dies I suspect that I am not allowing enough time.

Further, to me, it seems that brass is brass and the annealing heat time should be the same for all brass, not different for calibers.

Wotcha fink?

Originally Posted by Kiwi Sapper

Okaaaaaaay

But everything needs a constant. Let's work with this...how many seconds does it take for a marked point on your "drum" to rotate 360 degrees at a setting of "42"?

Or have you access to some resource which tells you how long to heat the brass? This is where the skill / knowledge lies, without even allowing for the vagaries of how much heat is being put on the brass by the "torch".

I ask because, I use a manual method reforming 24 gauge brass to .577 /450 Martini Henry in Lee dies.and I count one thousand and one, one thousand and two etc and to date have used 10 to 13 counts coupled with observation of the colour inside of the case. But from failure rates on reforming brass in dies I suspect that I am not allowing enough time.

Further, to me, it seems that brass is brass and the annealing heat time should be the same for all brass, not different for calibers.

Wotcha fink?

I have only just finished this so are yet to do much playing with it to work out times etc.
You can get a product called temperlaque which changes colour with heat to give you an idea.
I was thinkingsmaller cases will need less time as they rotate faster which gives them more time in the flame so may need less time on the timer. That was my thoughts.


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Originally Posted by Kiwi Sapper

Okaaaaaaay

But everything needs a constant. Let's work with this...how many seconds does it take for a marked point on your "drum" to rotate 360 degrees at a setting of "42"?

Or have you access to some resource which tells you how long to heat the brass? This is where the skill / knowledge lies, without even allowing for the vagaries of how much heat is being put on the brass by the "torch".

I ask because, I use a manual method reforming 24 gauge brass to .577 /450 Martini Henry in Lee dies.and I count one thousand and one, one thousand and two etc and to date have used 10 to 13 counts coupled with observation of the colour inside of the case. But from failure rates on reforming brass in dies I suspect that I am not allowing enough time.

Further, to me, it seems that brass is brass and the annealing heat time should be the same for all brass, not different for calibers.

Wotcha fink?

I have been using the very basic method of a sitting the case in a tube socket and spinning in a battery drill, holding it in the flame, i count also. I anneal various size cases from 223 to 28 Nosler, in my experience the smaller the case the quicker the neck/shoulder heats up to the required temp, the larger the case the longer it takes.

Its not hard to see the colour change, work with some old brass first and practice, you will under anneal and over anneal until you get a feel for it, basically if you start to see flame come out from the inside of the neck thats a tad too far and its the brass eroding away, I stop just before I get to that point. Seems to work.

A machine like that of Neils has to help keep the timing consistent.