annealing cases

[sabbatus]

i am sure this has been covered before but i couldnt find it.  what temp do you anneal cases to properly soften them.  i see many ideas out there but i want to use a temp for uniformity.  thanks

[LaOtto222]

I am going to answer this with out benefit of my resources in my shop - I am work. Hornady makes an annealing kit. In this kit is a heat sensitive paste along with instructions and 3 different sized spinners. The melt temperature is 472 degrees - I think. You put the paste on the shoulder of the case and when it melts, you have reached annealing temperature and you drop it into a bucket of water. The neck probably gets a little hotter than that. I have noticed when it is done this way, you get a stain on the neck and shoulder, not unlike the stain you get on new brass in the same area. Basically I do not use the paste any more, I watch for the staining and then drop it into the water as quickly as the stain (discoloration) reaches the shoulder. It has worked like a charm for me. 

[Daniel]

I was reading an article in Rifle magazine last night on the subject of annealing. The author, and I can't remember who it was right now, said that proper annealing takes place somewhere between 700 and 800 degrees. For that reason he uses Tempilaq with a rating of 750 degrees to indicate when the correct temp is reached.

I haven't done any annealing myself. Recently, however, I sent a batch of brass to this guy:

http://www.djsbrass.com/

He annealed the brass and ultrasonically cleaned it. It came back looking like brand new inside and out.

If I ever get into annealing my own brass I'm thinking about buying this annealing machine. It's made in my home town:

http://www.bench-source.com/id81.html

[LaOtto222]

I am home now and I checked the Tempilaq (temperature sensitive paste) that came with the Hornady annealing kit (#041220), it is 475 F or 246 C. Hornady makes brass and anneals it. They SHOULD know what it takes, but you never know.

I am curious how you would measure the temperature of the brass. It heats up pretty quick and by the time you see it reach temperature with a probe, I would think it would be too late and you would over heat it, and be slow to boot. As soon as it reaches temperature you want to dump it into water pretty quickly so the case does not heat up, just the neck and shoulder area. I guess you could experiment a little and anticipate the temperature rise.

 

[sabbatus]

i was actually looking into using the tempilac paste.   i can do without all the frilly shell holders and such,   just wasnt sure of the temp rating.   looks to me to be plenty accurate, and your right about a probe of some sort giving a misreading to to the speed at which the brass would heat up

[Badnews Bob]

There is a good article about this in the new issue of handloader mag, Give it a read.

[Daniel]

There is a good article about this in the new issue of handloader mag, Give it a read.

I believe that's the article I was talking about. I get both magazines and get them confused sometimes.

[Daniel]

I found this article on annealing by Ken Howell. He says 660-665 degrees at the mouth of the case is the correct temperature. He wrote the book "Designing and Forming Custom Cartridges" which is an excellent book and one I'm proud to own.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/annealing.html