A way to do it I’ve never seen before.
I had always heard the easiest way to do it was to set up your brass in a pan of water and torch them until they glow, then tip them into the water with the torch nozzle. Interesting that he says if they glow red the cases get TOO soft.
I still think I’d like to try the pan method, but I’ll be more careful when heating as not to over-anneal the brass.
Annealing is a good way to extend brass life as it keeps the brass flexible to the stresses of firing and re-forming to prevent splitting. Of course you still need to trim your cases to proper length and Head Separation.
(I generally just look for the bright line in the case, and when I see it, I scrap the brass).
Reloading is fun!
Another method you may find useful.
http://carteach0.blogspot.com/2009/06/annealing-case-necks-simple-and-safe.html
I thought that the point of annealing was to heat it up and allow it to cool slowly rather than quench it. If I ever get into annealing, I want one of these.
http://youtu.be/BGTb4y48Hsc
Looks simple enough that even I couldn’t screw it up.
@Sean
Different metals have different properties, the annealing process for ferrous metals is heating and slow cooling, non ferrous metals use the quenching method. And, as with everything there are many many variables and those rules are general.
Personally, I think the issue of annealing has been way overadvertised for many years. At least for “in-spec” firearms.
In my properly sized (fluted) chamber, I have gotten 15 or more reloads from .308 brass from every commercial manufacturer. Although I don’t sort them by headstamp, I DO sort them by number of loadings, and trim all of them as needed.
For me, it is more important to know what your rifle will run reliably. I started reloading for my 91 (don’t hate) back in 1981. Going by the experts advice, I used small-base dies for the semi.
Experimenting further, I used a standard resizing die. Since that introduced no problems, I tried a neck-sizer only. I’m still using the neck-sizer with zero malfunctions, and since I am introducing less “working” of the cases, they last longer.
If you need to anneal, you might have a problem.
I will say that when I was young, I had two rifles that confounded me. Both in the mid 1970’s. The first was an 1891 Mauser in 7.65 x 53. The only ammunition available was from Norma. Quality right? I also bought the dies from Redding but never got the chance to use them. 1/3 of the cases came out with obvious head separation. Many had to be “dug” out. Annealing?…No…headspace?…yes.
I gave it away and bought a Ljungman 6.5 x 55. This was my first foray into evil black (walnut) rifles. Again, Norma ammo was the only thing locally available. (pre-internet) My first trip to the range lasted 3 shots. On the third shot, the rifle barked, and the bottom of the magazine flew 20 feet downrange, scattering the remaining rounds at my feet, and a solid mask of soot on my face. I sold it soon after.
I can’t blame Norma for this. In all of my years, I have nothing but respect for their product. It was the worn out guns! No amount of annealing would have altered my situation.
Several years ago, I set out to prove a point to my friends. Scrounging the field after a day of shooting, I took home +/- 200 .45ACP Wolf, boxer primed, steel cases. DO NOT RELOAD THESE!!! Well, I did reload them. I used lube, even in my carbide resizer die, after tumbling and decapping. I then reloaded them as normal, with a medium charge of Unique pushing a 200gr CSWC. (keep in mind that I did this as an experiment) The first case that failed had been loaded by me 4 times. It caused no problems. It loaded, fired to the point of aim, and ejected flawlessly. It also had a split that ran from the case mouth to the web. THIS was a work hardening issue, not a chamber issue. While these cases could technically be annealed, I doubt that you’d see much benefit. I shot the rest of them and left the cases on the ground to rust into earthy sustenance.
Annealing, like most of what you read on boards, is not a cure-all. It is called for in a very few specific instances.
Also, WildRiver is 100% correct regarding ferrous vs. non-ferrous.
Also again, DON’T RELOAD STEEL CASES without intellectual curiousity. It’s on you.