Brass o matic vs Ken light.

[benjamin199]

I am looking at getting a case annealer. For those of you with experience with one or both, I am looking for the pros and cons of the two listed above. Which one do you prefer and why?
Thanks for your input.
Ben

 

[longrange223]

i've got a brass o matic & love it,easy to use & set up,great instructions,no case holder to change when you change calibers,never used a ken light but i really like the brass o matic

 

[1shot]

I have a Ken Light, and it surely must be the Cadillac of the annealers. Simple, fast, easy.
I hope this helps,
Lloyd

 

[rayjay]

On another annealing thread on of the forum members told of using a lead casting pot and molten lead to anneal cases. After a lot of thought I decided to try this method and really like it. You can easily and accurately control the temperature of the lead and therefore the temp of the case. No hard to remove tempilac etc. If the lead is 650 degrees [ the temp I used ] then the case neck and shoulder won't be any hotter than that.

All you have to figure out is the length of time to leave the shoulder in the molten lead. On my 30BR cases I used 5 seconds and then a water quench. 2 or 3 seconds dunk would cause lead to remain inside the case. With a 5 second dunk it was no problem.

The annealing color looked great and the bullet seating in the annealed cases was amazingly smooth whereas before it was a fight to get the bullets in and to a consistent depth.

 

[HPMike800]

Ray:
How interesting. There's no lead left on the cases at all? I'm surprised you don't have to use a bond breaker of some kind.
Mike

 

[rayjay]

There is a 'collar' of lead on the outside of the case when you take it out of the molten lead . After the water quench it wipes right off and is thrown back in the pot.

 

[tackdriver]

rayjay- You mentioned that there is a lead 'collar' on the outside of the case which is easily wiped off. Is this the same thing that happens on the inside of the case? Do you use a wire or nylon brush to remove it? I too find this method interesting.
Rod

 

[Fred Bohl]

The collar forms at the location on the case were the case temperature is at the point that the alloy solidifies,for pure lead this would be 621 deg. F) and it will form both inside and outside.

 

[rayjay]

Rod,
I wear welding gloves while doing the annealing. I hold the case by the rim and dunk it in the molten lead - thousand one to thousand 5. I then dunk the case in some water for a few seconds. I then remove it from the water and remove the collar of lead with by hand [ still in the glove of course ]. It truly comes right off with no effort. On a few cases there would be a very tiny spider web of lead sorta adhered to the neck. This too would wipe off but needing a little more pressure with the thumb nail [ still in the glove ].

Once I figured out the correct amount of time to hold the case in the molten lead I had no more issues with significant lead remaining inside the case. A few times a small amount would remain but it was not adhered to the case and would come right out by gently tapping the case mouth on the work bench.

I also did not make any effort to clean out the baked on powder residue inside the case. This did cause some crud to form on top of the molten lead but it is easily cleaned off.

 

[tackdriver]

rayjay- Thanks for answering my questions. You were very helpful. I will give it a try.
Rod

 

[Cochran]

rayjay

I think your lead needs to be a little hotter. If your getting a 'collar' around your cases you can be getting one on the inside. I had my lead get too cold and had some plugs inside some cases that I couldnt get out.Could result in a dangerous situation if you dont catch it. I look inside all my cases with a bright light.

I try to keep it about 750 degrees. I get no collar just some tiny streaks or 'spider webbing'. Most of it falls off in the water bucket. The rest wipes off easy. Dont clean your cases first. The streaks wipe off alot easier if theres some soot on the necks from firing. Cases polished with scotchbrite are hard to get the lead off of. I use a nylon brush to get any flakes out of the inside.

Like I said before. It works for me but dont do it. You'll burn your house down or die from lead poisoning and blame me.

Jeff

 

[1shot]

Just as an added note for those looking at the Ken Light or the Brass-o-matic, as opposed to the molten lead method. I have never used either the lead method, not the brass-o-matic, although I did watch their video clip. The point I'm trying to make is, it takes me longer to fill the case hub with water and pre-heat the hub, than it does to anneal 200 cases. I check the temp. of the neck with a temp. stick,,available at any welding supply store) I have two of these, one that melts at 650 deg. the other at 700deg. If the 650 melts and the 700 doesn't, I'm where I need to be. Seriously, the way I do my set-up takes 7-10 min. Annealing 200 pieces of brass less than 5. And all this with no lead fumes, or burned fingers.
I hope this helps,
Lloyd

 

[longrange223]

i have a brass o matic & if i don't change case size all i have to do is set up the torches & run em,100 cases in less than 5 minutes,if i change to a taller case it only takes about 10 minutes to reset everything,it's really pretty slick,used to anneal the old way with a torch with cases in a pan of water & the new way is much betternever used a ken light but with either it or the brass o matic i don't think you can go wrong,guess it depends on how often you're gonna use it,i split the cost with a friend so it didn't hurt so much!

 

[benjamin199]

Thanks for all of your input. One more quick question does the brass o matic have any sort of heat sink for the case head like the Ken Light does?

 

[longrange223]

no heat sink to speak of,the cartridge rests on a heat resistant plastic plate that is supposed to absorb the heat not letting the case head get too hot to my understanding,they probably explain it better on the zephyr manuf home page

 

[rayjay]

The molten lead set up costs less than $100 and it will do a lot more than anneal cases.