Does my annealed brass need the pretty blue Lapua color?

[timotheius]

I just recently began annealing my brass and am wondering if I am doing something wrong because I am not getting that nice blueish color on my brass that you commonly see on new Lapua brass. In fact, my brass really doesn't change color at all. I am using a timed induction heater to heat the brass (not an AMP, but the DIY version), and have applied the green tempilaq (750 degrees) right where the shoulder meets the body of the case. I heat the brass until the tempilaq begins turning black, so in theory it should be reliably heating the neck and shoulders to 750. But there is no color change on the brass, which has me second guessing myself. Maybe this is because my induction heater doesn't use an open flame? I'm using hornady brass and Barnes brand brass so far. Is the color change in the brass irrelevant as long as the tempilaq is turning the right color?

 

[59FLH]

The annealing temp of 260 Brass AKA Cartridge Brass is 800F - 1400F, some will debate 1100F as a max. You may want to consider the fact you may not be getting it hot enough.

I just recently started annealing my brass cases to prolong their life, I used the 750 Tempilaq also, my experience lead me to the conclusion that my brass is more consistent heated a bit hotter then the 750 Tempilaq indicates. Heated right to the 750F threshold (and perhaps a few degrees below) caused inconsistency in neck sizing and seating. I was at the opaque stage on the outside of my case neck/shoulder with a time of 1.4 seconds, the brass behaves better at 1.6 . Your mileage may vary.

 

[timotheius]

Okay, I'll experiment with heating it a little hotter

 

[cohunt]

It doesn't need to be blue though.

I've found that super clean brass (wet pin tumbler) changes color more than just wiped off brass. I've also found that after it sits and gets a little overall :tarnish" that the blue color seems to show up a bit more.

ALL brass must be annealed in order to form it into a bottleneck case, but you don't see that blue color on all factory brass.

 

[Rardoin]

You can't judge the state of softening by the appearance of the neck. It is not a reliable method of determining the state of annealing.

 

[Deputy819]

I use the Salt Bath method and keep the annealing temp @ 525-530 C (977-986 F) and don't 'feel' any inconsistency when seating bullets.