Annealing Verification

[Fred Bohl]

Thank you all for your inputs. While these included some disagreements, all were useful to me. A quick summary of the take-aways:

1. There is too little data available in the public domain to clearly define what happens to the cartridge during what we call cartridge case annealing.

2. As a consequence of 1 above there is no consensus definition of what is a "correctly" annealed case.

3. There also is no simple way to test for the state of anneal to use for setting or verifying "home type" annealing processes.

 

[Hanbleceya]

New Lapua cases spring back ~1/2thou, and I believe most find this as useful to load results.
Just measure a seated neck OD, pull the bullet, then measure the spring back OD to see how much you have.
A comparative reference..

We won't know what spring back grip actually is until we come up with a tool to measure it. Far as I know, nobody has. So that's just where we are.

That's spot on. An AMP costs $1000 for a reason. I would trust it and do the measure thing.

 

[Hanbleceya]

It's not possible to get a big drop in hardness annealing at 750-900 for a couple seconds. To get dead soft the neck would have to be heated until it was bright red. Please no stupid comments.

Very well, then... it's just hard not to say at least...very well, then.

 

[Hanbleceya]

It's not possible to get a big drop in hardness annealing at 750-900 for a couple seconds. To get dead soft the neck would have to be heated until it was bright red. Please no stupid comments.

Very well, then...

On a separate matter, There is a thread in this forum on "Annealing a wet case." jussayin

All I’m saying is that the numbers tested out by AMP correspond to a fully annealed state, red hot or not. That also jibes with the state of necks that were tested from the factory in an old PS article.

 

[Hanbleceya]

Very well, then...

If the necks had been turned, different AMP setting...

 

[ppaul]

I'm somewhat surprised that no one talks about how the case feels after annealing. There is a tacky feel to the brass if you spin it between your fingers. I honestly have no idea what causes this. For me it happens before any color appears on the case. Thought I'd throw this out and see if this can be explained.

Paul