Brass Case Annealing

[JEBar]

I have a friend who is getting ready to begin annealing his bottleneck brass .... until he raised the question, I'd never heard of it ....

Link to an informational article ====> https://gearlocker.nz/understanding-brass-annealing/

Link to the equipment he's considering buying ====> http://ballisticrecreations.ca/

information from folks familiar with the positives and negatives; along with, recommendations would be appreciated

[BigAl52]

Ive done it Jim but Im not sure why you would do it for general shooting purposes. I did it with 45-100 cases in BPCR because it would hold the bullet better in the neck of the case. I didnt buy anything to do it. Propane torch and a pan with water in it. Heat the neck cherry red and tip the case over in the water. Never have done it for any of the other cases I reload for just didnt see the need.

[JEBar]

its my understanding that annealing cases lengthens their useful life .... it recently hit home to me just how much reloading brass has gone up .... as but one example, my last order for 300 WBY brass basically cost $1 each ....

the equipment needed :

a Salt Bath Annealing Kit sells for $80 + shipping & tax

on Amazon Prime a Lee Precision Melter sells for $35.99

total cost around $120

one wouldn't have to prolong the the life of high dollar brass to more than cover the cost .... question, do you only need to anneal bottle neck brass

[BigAl52]

I cant answer that and if I did I would only be guessing. But really are you shooting that 300 Weatherby that much to worry about the brass issue. Seems to me that gun has one purpose shooting big game and Im thinking your not shooting that many animals to wear out the brass.

[Squatch]

Brass work hardens as it's sized and shot. Annealing simply softens it up again so it doesn't get brittle. Everything I've read about it says to do it the way BigAl did.

[JEBar]

if I could only keep one rifle, it would take some thought but I'd be hard pressed to not choose the 300 .... I've had extensive work done to and its felt recoil is on part with our Model 94 30-30 .... I keep a minimum of 100 Nosler 180 gr Ballistic Tips loaded and ready to go at all time .... I very seldom go to a range without taking it along ....

[ESquared]

After I finish wet tumbling and rinsing my pistol brass, I might put them in a basket in the oven for a few minutes at 350, then turn the oven off and pull them out.

Would there be any harm if they sat at 350 for longer than that? I'm not saying I got involved with something else and forgot about them for a half hour or so, but what if did, sometime in the future...

[Ojaileveraction]

After I finish wet tumbling and rinsing my pistol brass, I might put them in a basket in the oven for a few minutes at 350, then turn the oven off and pull them out.

Would there be any harm if they sat at 350 for longer than that? I'm not saying I got involved with something else and forgot about them for a half hour or so, but what if did, sometime in the future...

I've never done that either but, if I did put my cleaned 30-30 cases in the oven until my wife said something, I would not worry about it.
Oven are not very good at keeping a consistent temp and 350 is metallurgicaly no very hot.
Tim

[ESquared]

Thanks, Tim. They did kind of lose their shiny brass finish, but now it's kind of an old world patina. I'll watch them closely when I size them...

[Mags]

.
Patina? What was used in the wet?

Thanks, Tim. They did kind of lose their shiny brass finish, but now it's kind of an old world patina. I'll watch them closely when I size them...

[ESquared]

.
Patina? What was used in the wet?

Steel tumbling pins, hot water, Dawn and lemon juice. By "patina," I just mean dull, not shiny. Not green, in other words.

[Mistered]

I told ES I experienced the same thing - IE brass discoloring from drying in the oven.
I use Dawn & lemon juice in my wet solution.
All I can think is some sort of weird 'electrolysis' taking place.

[ESquared]

Since these cases are now so recognizable, it'll be interesting to see if the shiny brass finish reappears when I tumble them again. It's not a bad look, just not a "new" look.

[Mags]

.
was the patina very faintly pinkish?
which version of Dawn?

.
Patina? What was used in the wet?

Steel tumbling pins, hot water, Dawn and lemon juice. By "patina," I just mean dull, not shiny. Not green, in other words.

[wingnut]

information from folks familiar with the positives and negatives; along with, recommendations would be appreciated

See:
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthrea ... #Post47871

[Mistered]

it'll be interesting to see if the shiny brass finish reappears when I tumble them again.

Oh they will come back bright and shiny! Air dry this time around however and they should stay that way.

[wingnut]

More salt:

https://forum.nosler.com/viewtopic.php? ... 264e2f4dbc

[Firefly]

As a number of respondents have stated when cases have been reloaded a number of times the case necks become harder, this has two results firstly the neck tension holding the bullet in place becomes weaker and secondly the case has a tendency to split when fired.
The solution is to anneal the case, however only the neck must be heated, if the base becomes too hot the case is weakened to the point of becoming very dangerous to use.
The simple way to do this is to stand the cases in a shallow tray of water approx half case depth, heat the case mouths using a propane torch then either tumble the cases into the water or just leave to cool, it make no difference to the result. Brass heated and quenched shows no difference in hardness from brass heated and air-cooled.
The problem is how much to heat the case mouths, glowing red is to hot, the brass needs to be heated to around 400 deg c at this temp a very slight colour change will be visible, using a propane torch with a flame temp of between 1000 & 2000 deg c this can be achieved in about 5 seconds.
An alternative is to hold the base of the case in the fingers and rotate the mouth in the propane flame for 3 or 4 seconds then quench or just set down on its base to cool. The second method does work but with short cases burnt fingers are common. As I note I reload a lot and have not split a case in years.