Annealing my own brass,... look ok?

[Lefty Trigger]

Have a batch of .243 brass that is ready for 5th reload cycle so I though I would try to anneal my own to extend their life. Also if it went wrong that's ok to. They look good to me, run them in a low speed drill moved into flame when color band started dropped in pan of water.

 

[Drolds72]

They look good! If you think you got the time correct, set a metronome app on your phone to beep every x seconds for better consistency.

 

[JFrank]

Have a batch of .243 brass that is ready for 5th reload cycle so I though I would try to anneal my own to extend their life. Also if it went wrong that's ok to. They look good to me, run them in a low speed drill moved into flame when color band started dropped in pan of water.View attachment 1058315

How many in the batch?

 

[jr600yd]

Dropping them in water is a waste of time. All you get is wet brass. Lay a damp towel on the bench and drop the brass on that. They’ll cool quickly.

 

[JFrank]

Dropping them in water is a waste of time. All you get is wet brass. Lay a damp towel on the bench and drop the brass on that. They’ll cool quickly.

Do not use micro fiber cloth unless totally wet as it will melt to the brass '
Ask me how I know that...

 

[riflewoman]

Do not use micro fiber cloth unless totally wet as it will melt to the brass '
Ask me how I know that...

Not just micro fiber, any synthetic can melt.

As for dropping them in water or not, it depends on many factors. Remember, annealing, grain refinement and grain growth are temp AND temperature dependent. The brass has to be at or above the critical temperature (where grain recrystallization occurs) for a set amount of time. If you’re higher than that, the recrystallization time is very short. But with all that heat the grains continue to grow. To stop that you cool quickly by quenching. Air cooling might not be fast enough.

 

[JFrank]

Not just micro fiber, any synthetic can melt.

As for dropping them in water or not, it depends on many factors. Remember, annealing, grain refinement and grain growth are temp AND temperature dependent. The brass has to be at or above the critical temperature (where grain recrystallization occurs) for a set amount of time. If you’re higher than that, the recrystallization time is very short. But with all that heat the grains continue to grow. To stop that you cool quickly by quenching. Air cooling might not be fast enough.

RW
What would you recommend for an average old Novice like me.
Wet towel or bucket of water?
J
Or did you just tell me that?

 

[Lefty Trigger]

How many in the batch?

About 150 or so.

 

[JFrank]

About 150 or so.

Now that you have a batch annealed will you note the difference in seating pressure and groups size compared to un annealed brass?
Just curious
J

 

[riflewoman]

RW
What would you recommend for an average old Novice like me.
Wet towel or bucket of water?
J
Or did you just tell me that?

With a bucket of water the cooling will be consistent.

 

[47WillysGuy]

I drop/cool my cases on a cookie sheet.

 

[morpheus]

Quenching is for steel, not brass (a non-ferrous metal). We've been through this before...

 

[riflewoman]

Quenching is for steel, not brass. We've been through this before...

It isn’t a quench. It’s a rapid cooling to stop grain growth. The process of annealing is a time at temperature function. At 700F brass will anneal but it takes a few minutes for the grains to re-crystallize. At 900F it’s pretty much over in a second. But at 900-700 the grains grow. If you drop it in water the growth stops instantly.

 

[Rodney]

Your annealing looks good. I do it the same way, torch and a drill. For my factory guns it extends the life of my brass and makes bullet seating easier which is what I was after. For my competition guns I use a friends amp annealer. I feel it's more consistent which is important to me in competition. With practice, I feel a decent job can be done with the torch and drill method. I've had no issues thus far and I don't drop them in water, but to each there own. Good luck with your shooting, and your annealing process. Just another process to master with this reloading thing.

 

[Lefty Trigger]

Now that you have a batch annealed will you note the difference in seating pressure and groups size compared to un annealed brass?
Just curious
J

I was thinking that it was getting harder to pull the expander back through and seating was stiff so I decided to try to anneal these cases to see if it would extend their usefulness. I will be loading a batch up in the next couple of day to see if it improved the reloading process.

 

[boltfluter]

I was thinking that it was getting harder to pull the expander back through and seating was stiff so I decided to try to anneal these cases to see if it would extend their usefulness. I will be loading a batch up in the next couple of day to see if it improved the reloading process.

Lefty,

Looking forward to your report. Visually they look very good. Nice job.

Paul

 

[Raythemanroe]

This is how we do it in the back woods you see:

Ray

 

[Webster]

Not just micro fiber, any synthetic can melt.

As for dropping them in water or not, it depends on many factors. Remember, annealing, grain refinement and grain growth are temp AND temperature dependent. The brass has to be at or above the critical temperature (where grain recrystallization occurs) for a set amount of time. If you’re higher than that, the recrystallization time is very short. But with all that heat the grains continue to grow. To stop that you cool quickly by quenching. Air cooling might not be fast enough.

When you remove the heat the case drops from 750F to about 500F in seconds. Should be below critical temp before it hits the water. I don't think 800-900F for a tenth of a second creates recrytalization. From some metallography work I did on cases about 8 yrs ago I don't believe the brass ever gets hot enough for sufficient time for recrystallization. Your going from room temp to about 750F or higher in about 5 seconds then removing the heat source. As soon as the case hits 750F you begin the cooling. In other words you are at the very lower end of the annealing temp range for a fraction of a second then cooling starts at a very rapid speed. I have a bunch of published charts showing time, temp, cold work, hardness and grain size. Hesitated to put them on the website because they are complicated and no-one likes to see real data. Will attach later.

 

[pirate ammo]

Do not use micro fiber cloth unless totally wet as it will melt to the brass '
Ask me how I know that...

sounds like you learn stuff about the same way I do,,WHOA that didn't work,,

 

[krink85]

When you remove the heat the case drops from 750F to about 500F in seconds. Should be below critical temp before it hits the water. I don't think 800-900F for a tenth of a second creates recrytalization. From some metallography work I did on cases about 8 yrs ago I don't believe the brass ever gets hot enough for sufficient time for recrystallization. Your going from room temp to about 750F or higher in about 5 seconds then removing the heat source. As soon as the case hits 750F you begin the cooling. In other words you are at the very lower end of the annealing temp range for a fraction of a second then cooling starts at a very rapid speed. I have a bunch of published charts showing time, temp, cold work, hardness and grain size. Hesitated to put them on the website because they are complicated and no-one likes to see real data. Will attach later.

I would love to read that data