Anieling?

Especially on higher pressure cases like the .338 that are prone to neck splits, annealing prolongs life. Couple nice machines on the market that do a good job and do it consistently. Goggle up 'case annealing machines'......

Annealing brass cases is a touchy task. Too soft and the projectile to neck tension is too light and the case won't hold the bullet properly. Too little and the neck is too brittle so it cracks eventually.

All bottleneck cases benefit from annealing after repeated reloads and some straight walled pistol cses as well.

I'm not fond of the heat 'em in a pan of water and upset 'em because you need to heat the entire neck evenly and temperature is critical..... and of course you never want to get the base hot. It has to stay hard.

Search 'annealing cases' on this site for some good, informative threads. I based my decision on an annealing machine from post on this site....
 
I have 14 firings on my 338 Lapua cases. I anneal every 1 or 2 firings. All were stout loads with 300 gr bullets. I started with a Ken Light machine but now use a Bench Source machine and find it to be the cats meow of annealers.

Jeff
 
Broz said:
I have 14 firings on my 338 Lapua cases. I anneal every 1 or 2 firings. All were stout loads with 300 gr bullets. I started with a Ken Light machine but now use a Bench Source machine and find it to be the cats meow of annealers.

Jeff
Click to expand...

Jeff....

Bet it's not Hornady brass...........:D:D
 
Bob the nailer said:
I use this tip for a propane torch, sold by Todd Kinder at the woodchuck den. look up annealing on his page.


http://www.woodchuckden.com/catalog/catalog.pdf
Click to expand...

For kicks and grins, I did and it states basically nothing and it costs 45 bucks. So tell us just what 'it' is in as much as you have one. If it's a specialized tip for a Bernz Torch and the tip-in-the-pan method, it's still very hit and miss annealing, whereas a machine with true indexing and dwell time gives consistent results.

Consistent results are exactly what you want when annealing cases. Over annealing and a soft neck is a time bomb.
 
I used this: Home Page along with 750°F templac inside the neck. As soon as it melted/changed color I dropped the case in a pan of water.

Didn't take much time, as for how well the results worked, I'm going to shoot some of the bullets tomorrow if the weather holds up.
 
I use Tempilaq on the shoulder of the case to give me and indication of the temperature (475 degrees). Then I use a case holder which rotates in a drill and is easy to pop over. It is beter to rotate to get an even spread of the heat. The flame is held only at the neck area. You can make it from a bolt socket with a bolt going through from the inside and then you just lock it in a electric drill. I would take the seconds that it take for the first case with the Tempilaq to reach the required temparature. I then use the same amount of seconds on each case thereafter. Once the time is up, I drop it in water next to me. Do not over-heat the case as this might ruine it.
 
The "woodchuck den" annealing tip will provide a circular "ring" of flames around the section of the case you want to anneal (neck/shoulder). Once installed on the propane torch simply light and run from shoulder to neck for about 20 seconds then quench in water. I found much smoother and consistant bullet seating and better accuracy of my loads, I like the tool and only anneal about 50 rounds per batch.
 
Bought one of the Woodchuck Den tips. You need to check flame pattern or ask if he(Todd) did. One of mine was angling down too much on body.
 
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