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$300.00 Annealers information please pros cons

The Ugly is the berries for high volume applications. Very adjustable to accommodate all length and diameters of cartridges. Annealing results are very consistent. From 204 Ruger and BR to 338 Lapua it’s been slick.

Rimmed cases feed kinda iffy. I bought the optional hornet adapter setup for 17 Hornet and while it worked, it did jam several times. A buddy is bringing over his 225 Win and 220 Swift brass so it’ll be interesting to see how that stuff feeds thru the hopper.
 
I bought the base model AGS and it is great, no frills, it just anneals brass. If I recall it was a tad under $200 and it has a very small footprint, like 6” x 6”, so it’s takes up very little bench space. The fellow that ownsthe company could not be any easier to get along with. I’ve used the AMP annealer and it was great also, however it’s like $1300 more $’s and its footprint is huge.
 
Recently got the BurstFire and like it. It has an adapter for free, little metal ramp attached with a magnet, to push out small cases, like my 20 Vartarg (same as 221 FB). It works most of the time, sometimes with the ramp the cases falls instead of catching on the wheel, so it doesn't get annealed, which sucks, because if I stack a bunch in the hopper, and some just fall past the wheel and are not annealed, it's hard to find them in the "finished" pile. I leaned it back at an angle and that helped. I think it would only be an issue when using that little ramp, otherwise a 223 case runs through fine.
 
The ol’ rotary screw driver, Sinclair case holder, and 10 seconds (or so) on the propane torch. Never did me wrong!
 
I've got the Ugly Annealer haven't used it very much. It seems to have a very consistent variable speed motor and does a fine job of annealing.
 
I think there are many shooters who want to anneal but are confused by all the bs mis-information on techniques, so they figure if they buy a machine then it will sort of auto do it for them..which is not the case. I have only owned a benchmark years back and yeah, you can set the angle of the dangle for a particular case but everytime you turn the gas back on you have to adjust the flame, which means you have to adjust the timer and which means a bunch of fiddling to get it set up. Then you have to re-cycle the hot cases. Meanwhile I am already past 30# hand annealing! ( excluding electronic annealers).
 
I was tempted several years ago to build my own using the FREE DIY plans for the vertical torch type...before they were produced and sold commercially, considered salt bath but that DID kinda scared the ...out of me if a tiny bit of water ever got introduced.
I was satisfied with the drill/torch method for a long time I guess....then wanted to go automated maybe for a touch more accuracy.
Checked out the AGS and others, tried to buy a used Girauard then a newer Anealeze fell into my lap for really cheap. so no decision needed at that point.
I would recommend it to anyone, even at new full price, I'm sure the cookie cutter similar ones work fine as well as the rotating plate type.
I did get the small wheels for 6bra brass and made a little flame deflector out of roof flashing to keep the flame off the wheel except for when actually using it.....just a precaution.
I feel as long as you are annealing in some fashion as consistently as possible is a good thing but of course lots of really good shooters don't anneal at all.
 
BondJamesBond said:
I feel as long as you are annealing in some fashion as consistently as possible is a good thing but of course lots of really good shooters don't anneal at all.
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Yeah prs guys with gas guns! With my 6br my brass will only last 1/3 as long as it should if I never anneal.
 
Tesoro said:
I think there are many shooters who want to anneal but are confused by all the bs mis-information on techniques, so they figure if they buy a machine then it will sort of auto do it for them..which is not the case. I have only owned a benchmark years back and yeah, you can set the angle of the dangle for a particular case but everytime you turn the gas back on you have to adjust the flame, which means you have to adjust the timer and which means a bunch of fiddling to get it set up. Then you have to re-cycle the hot cases. Meanwhile I am already past 30# hand annealing! ( excluding electronic annealers).
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this has not been my experience with the Ugly annealer. It's like the Ronco Rotisserie Gold. Set it and forget it.
 
Dimner said:
this has not been my experience with the Ugly annealer. It's like the Ronco Rotisserie Gold. Set it and forget it.
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I looked at a video of it in action. Looks like it works well for bulk processing. 1/2 the price of my old benchsource which required hand feeding.
 
Dimner said:
yeah, hand feeding, no thank you. If I had to hand feed... it's either the torch and a socket or an AMP
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^^^^^This
I felt a gravity feed flame type or I would stick with a drill and torch
I got into shooting to play with cool rifles, pistols, revolvers etc. like @DiffEQ said.
Hmmmm. A Colt Python, Dan Wesson or a annealer!
Plus I guarantee my groups at 600 won't shrink if I moved on from my Annealeze (now next on my to do list is start sorting primers...that may improve my groups, can't wait to start testing that)
 
IMO, Annealing brass is only for 1 purpose, to soften brass from work Harding, it may incase accuracy. but it's mainly to prolong brass life, yes, I think it does help in all aspects of reloading rifle brass, different methods of annealing are what they are, I try to keep it simple, the KISS method, I have tried using the socket method for a short time, but after I purchased the AGS annealer I can do my annealing more precise! and prefer this type of annealing can't say anything more!
 
South Paw Sammy said:
As the title says I’m looking at annealers in the $300.00 price range and this has probably been covered before.
Does anyone have experience with any of the three below?

Burst Fire, Ugly Annealer, or Annealezze(don’t know if I spelled it right)

And if you do would you list the pros and cons of each.

And I already know the buy once cry once thought process but right now $300.00 is my budget.

Any advise or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank yall.
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I sold my Anealeze and went this way:


I was never confident my cases were being heated to a high enough temperature to truly anneal them with the Annealeze, but was afraid to slow it down more for fear of damaging the drive wheels. I believe my consistency is much improved now, because you can set the heating time to the second. I line the cases up on my cast iron table saw table, which acts as a "heat sink". This allows me to heat the necks and shoulders, and not worry about the heat migrating to the base.
 
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