Annealing brass

[Alfred Crouch]

Can brass be annealed by putting it in the stove oven?

[joe0121]

No. You only anneal the shoulder not the entire case. No way to do just the shoulder in the oven. Plus it might piss your wife off. Mine was none to pleased when one of her measuring spoons was pressed into service to measure out duracoat.

[jimbires]

never heat the case head . using an oven will heat the whole case . Jim

[TikkaShooters]

NO.

heating the entire case will chemically alter the case head which could result in total case failure.

Only anneal the case neck and shoulder. There's some great info about annealing at www.6mmbr.com

[Alfred Crouch]

Thanks. Soooooo .... it is just the shoulders that need annealing. ... the oven certainly wouldn't do that. Pretty obvious I had no clue about annealing isn't it? It is great that the "not knowing" can ask questions here and get guidance and advice from those who have "already been there and done that" and are willing to share the knowledge and experience.

I will soon venture into another area I have never visited .... fire forming brass ... My 22-250 AI rifle should soon be ready. I am anxiously to to get it going.

Wives just do not understand the importance of this hunting and guns thing do they?

[johnnyk]

Alfred,
I'm no expert at any of this stuff but this is what I do for annealing. There are "nay-sayers" that say this won't work but it works great for me and my brass.

I start out with a 14mm deep-well socket and drop a 4" carriage bolt through it and lock it down with a nut.



I then put this in my battery drill and slowly rotate the case as I hold it in front of a propane torch. I usually just count 1001, 1002, 1003....anywhere from 8-10 seconds, depending on the case (one brand may be thiner than another). I usually do this in the man cave with the blinds drawn for the nuance and romance....just kidding...so I can see the case tip start to turn color. I never let it get anywhere near cherry red and once I perceive a color change I drop it in a Tuperware bowl with water I have snuck out of the kitchen.



This seems to work rather well for me and I anneal .243, 6.5-284, .25-06, 7mmRM and .300WM. The short action cartridges don't have enough case sticking out of the socket so I drop a alumuinum sleeve in the socket first. This makes it ride higher and I can heat the top .75" of the case.

Hope this helps! JohnnyK.

[J E Custom]

Originally Posted by Alfred Crouch

Thanks. Soooooo .... it is just the shoulders that need annealing. ... the oven certainly wouldn't do that. Pretty obvious I had no clue about annealing isn't it? It is great that the "not knowing" can ask questions here and get guidance and advice from those who have "already been there and done that" and are willing to share the knowledge and experience.

I will soon venture into another area I have never visited .... fire forming brass ... My 22-250 AI rifle should soon be ready. I am anxiously to to get it going.

Wives just do not understand the importance of this hunting and guns thing do they?

Alfred. It is easy and requires very little equipment.

There are a lot of post on this and a lot of machines available if you wont to spend the money.

I still use the old fashion method and it works fine.

All you need is a cake pan and a propane torch.

Pour some water in the pan until it comes within 1/4" of the shoulder neck junction with the case
standing on the case head.

Place 15 or 20 cases in the pan standing up with primers removed (Leave your self plenty of
room between the cases).

Next light the torch and hold it 2 or 3 inches directly over the brass and heat it up until it changes
color (Don't over heat it).

Using the other hand take a pencil or dowel and tip the case over in the water as soon as it changes
color. Be careful to tip the cases away from the untreated cases.

Try using some old worn out cases first until you get the hang of it. As I said it is not hard and
will give excellent results if done right.

What you are looking for is a color change just past the shoulder neck junction. If you look at some
cases that have not been polished they show what the annealing should look like when finished.

Hope this helps.

J E CUSTOM