Annealing........

[Lumpy Grits]

That's way to hot
Gary

[Willy]

That's way to hot
Gary

Heheh, yea, had to hold it in there a while to get the pic...tough to hold a heavy DSLR in one hand and a drill in another, look through the viewfinder and actually get the case into the flame

I was heating mine until I got a color change on the brass but read that you need to just get it to start glowing red before removing the heat. There is a definite difference in softness between the two methods.

[Willy]

That's way to hot
Gary

Lumpy,

So before today I annealed in a lighted room and removed the heat once the case changed to a blue color. It took about 7-10 seconds.

Then I read that you should turn off the lights and heat until the case just started getting red. I did that with some cases and it took about 10 seconds on average to see that change.

Squeezing the cases, and they are WW so they are kinda soft anyway, the later cases are definitely softer.

So on a straight walled case, how soft of a neck is too soft? The discoloration from heat only extends about a 1/2 to 3/4" from the end so the base of the case was not overheated. Will they work harden again or should I toss them?

[Old Jim]

Willy,

On 45-70 cases, I like the blue color to extend about 3/4 to 1". If you didn't get them past a dull red color, then you are good to go. Cases should be clean before putting them to the flame, as any fouling/crud on the outside will be burnt on and difficult to remove.

And everybody likes a bright, shiney case .

Jim

[Lumpy Grits]

What I have been doing(just started annealing,BTW)is to hold the spinning case with the inner flame tip about 1/2" or so from the case, and about 1/4"-3/8" from the case mouth. Then I do a 5 count(1 "mike", 2 "mike" etc.). This seems to give me the "shading" I was looking for.
I then let them cool in a Sagebrush drying rack with a fan blowing on them. So far this seems to be working for me in both .45-70 and .45-90.
Gary

[Opencountry]

Gary,

I'll bet you notice more consistant tension when seating the bullet after annealing. I anneal my Norma cases that I use for pp loading each time. It makes a big difference in neck/bullet tension, which I believe really helps accuracy. It also gives a better gas seal on the chamber wall when they're annealed.

Robert

[Lumpy Grits]

Yes, to both.
Gary

[13Echo]

Pretty picture but that is way too much heat for annealing brass.

Jerry Liles

[chaneylake]

do you need to anneal if you are slip fitting bullets?

[Lumpy Grits]

do you need to anneal if you are slip fitting bullets?

I wouldn't see the need to anneal if your not sizing at all.
But, again I don't "slip fit". I found my best groups w/GG bullets is using .0015"-.0002" NT.
Gary