Annealing

[Big Daddy Badger]

Originally Posted by Dick284

Looks like they make a 752 degree F, Tempilstik.

http://www.tempil.com/products/tempilstik-original/


Ought to fit the bill nicely.

I dunno about look for color, as stated in the article, that might be too much heat.

Yup...heres hoping.

[Dick284]

Originally Posted by pesky672

Yup...heres hoping.

The only fly I possibly see is, time for them to order the sticks in and possibly a minimum order, but even if you have to buy 10 sticks, I'm sure 8 of them would sell like crazy on the buy sell forum.

[DaleJ]

Acklands should be able to get these for you in reasonable quantities. Markal were in stock at Gregg Distributors. These are not markers. Temp is indicated by stick melting. I would suggest you get a 400F and 700F and you go with the minimum temp that does the required job. When annealing case necks and shoulders the 400F melts and the 700 stays solid. When the sticks melt they have passed their rated temp.

[skinnykid]

I've been looking at the possibilty of annealing some of my brass... What if you have access to a Fluke laser temp gun? If it has the range, why not? I'd say that'd be far more accurate than feeling the heat in your fingertips or expensive nail polish...

[silver]

Originally Posted by skinnykid

I've been looking at the possibilty of annealing some of my brass... What if you have access to a Fluke laser temp gun? If it has the range, why not? I'd say that'd be far more accurate than feeling the heat in your fingertips or expensive nail polish...

I have a laser temp gun, I have thought about it, the problem would be time. With material as thin as brass, as soon as you pulled the brass out of the heat, it would cool off so fast it would be hard to get an accurate temp. If you want to try this, go ahead and try it, your temp gun might put you in the ball park, but your colour change would be more accurate. There wouldnt be much point in measuring each one, once you got the time/temp figured out, the time needed to heat should be sufficient. Good luck.

[gitrdun]

I used to have an infrared camera and I still have my infrared gun, pretty high tech. But I anneal in the garage with the lights off and simply watch for the colour change to that rainbow colour pattern that travels down the shoulder. Seems to work well as the necks are suitably soft and the remaining length of the case isn't affected. So far, after approximately 400 casings done, all is fine. I'm all for high tech, but sometimes we do overthink stuff. All of my annealed cases responded very well and have shown no issues whatsoever.

[skidderman]

For those that do anneal, do you do it every time you reload the same case?

[gitrdun]

Originally Posted by skidderman

For those that do anneal, do you do it every time you reload the same case?

Not I. I try to keep records on how many reloads before they appear to be work hardened. I've read that some hard core benchrest shooters anneal after every shoot. For my part, I still have to work at my job every once in a while. Annealing after every shoot is still out of my relm. And I don't think that it's necessary. For my personall shooting agenda, I'd say that after every 3 firings ought to work well.

[Big Daddy Badger]

Originally Posted by skinnykid

I've been looking at the possibilty of annealing some of my brass... What if you have access to a Fluke laser temp gun? If it has the range, why not? I'd say that'd be far more accurate than feeling the heat in your fingertips or expensive nail polish...

The problem with those laser themometers is that they sometimes don't give accurate readings when trained on reflective surfaces.
They hate shiny or painted metal.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by skidderman

For those that do anneal, do you do it every time you reload the same case?

Most times I find about every 5 times works well, but I had some brass /rifle combinations that needed every second or even after every firing .
Cat

[skinnykid]

Originally Posted by silver

I have a laser temp gun, I have thought about it, the problem would be time. With material as thin as brass, as soon as you pulled the brass out of the heat, it would cool off so fast it would be hard to get an accurate temp. If you want to try this, go ahead and try it, your temp gun might put you in the ball park, but your colour change would be more accurate. There wouldnt be much point in measuring each one, once you got the time/temp figured out, the time needed to heat should be sufficient. Good luck.

I was thinking about that too... I was playing with the idea of building a jig or stand to hold the temp gun, put a band of tape around the trigger to keep it on.

The problem with those laser themometers is that they sometimes don't give accurate readings when trained on reflective surfaces.
They hate shiny or painted metal.

I thought about that as well, I figure it'll be ok since the brass is fairly dull (not tumbled yet). I'd anneal for my first step in the reloading process so that I have consistant results upon completition...

I have a pile of 7mm RM brass that I'm going to retire and I think this is the perfect opportunity to experiment a bit

[wally338]

I used the cat method for my first try it works well with win brass.

[silver]

Originally Posted by skidderman

For those that do anneal, do you do it every time you reload the same case?

I would think that would depend on the brass/load/die fit. If your brass is not stretching every time it is being sized, I wouldnt worry about it. If your brass stretches 5 to 10 thou each time, you are working the brass a lot. At that point annealing should be considered.

I had a combo that stretched brass that bad and found a neck sizing die that eliminated the stretch. When I buy a rifle/cartridge combo, I also buy dies and 100 brass. These days I take 20 brass and do my load development with just those 20. I believe if I am making mistakes with my brass handling/treatment it will show up much sooner and only involve those 20. Life expectancy of the brass should more predictable.

The only brass that has split on the neck was 45 colt that was sized with a carbide die. I believe the die was overworking the brass. I think the new double ring dies might be the way to go.

Having said all that, I have never annealed brass nor seen the need except for the 45 colt. If my record keeping was better I could give better numbers on brass life, some day maybe.