Hand vs machine annealing

[Tesoro]

I drug out my Ruger #1B a few weeks ago and started looking over the brass I had for it. Out of 120 pieces of Remington brass (6mm Remington) I found 16 pieces to have split necks. Got out the propane torch turned out the lights, spun the brass in my fingers until the necks glowed cherry red & dropped them onto a screen. Hope I saved them.
Unfortunately that method doesn't work well with my 6.5 Grendel.

In your fingers?!!

 

[Herzo]

In your fingers?!!

You can do it with .308 and longer cases, .223 and the like not so much.

 

[Tesoro]

You can do it with .308 and longer cases, .223 and the like not so much.

I guess if you dont have bankers hands!!

 

[Killick]

Easily controllable...that's the key. From .223 to .338L.

 

[wkdickinson]

I just sold my Annealeez and am playing with this now:

It's to early to really have formed any conclusions, but it certainly is effective at uniformly heating the cases, once you get the coils formed, correctly sized and at the correct height, so you are heating to just below the shoulder. My goal in annealing is uniform shoulder bump and neck tension, more so than concern over neck cracking, but that is a consideration as well.

 

[PatMiles]

WOW, after reading this thread I sure do appreciate my AMP!

 

[DJSBRS]

I have been annealing for about five years now , as it was brought to my attention that it would make my cases last longer , and be more consistent , regarding interference fit , ( Neck Tension )....It also has made my "Bump" more consistent , to the point that I can control shoulder bump to within .001 on the majority of my brass
Not every piece , but the majority , by about 98% . I can live with that .
I now have over thirty reloads on my roughly 350 practice Brass , and the only issue has been gradually expanding primer pockets , where I then use the Ginex primers , till they go over-sized for them . The more consistent your cases , the more consistent the scores . Less than stellar S/D's run around 7-1/2 to 8 , and average is around 4 - 6 , so I know the problem is not the brass , or the load , but the loose nut behind the trigger .

.It also has made my "Bump" more consistent , to the point that I can control shoulder bump to within .001 on the majority of my brass
Not every piece , but the majority , by about 98% . I can live with that .

Take those pieces that didn't respond to your bump requirement and re-anneal them again at the shoulder wall junction, then resize and hold in the resizing die for 10 seconds. Then check bump again, you will find that they will relax and conform to your die setting.

DJ

DJ's Brass Service
205-461-4680

 

[D-4297]

.It also has made my "Bump" more consistent , to the point that I can control shoulder bump to within .001 on the majority of my brass
Not every piece , but the majority , by about 98% . I can live with that .

Take those pieces that didn't respond to your bump requirement and re-anneal them again at the shoulder wall junction, then resize and hold in the resizing die for 10 seconds. Then check bump again, you will find that they will relax and conform to your die setting.

DJ

DJ's Brass Service
205-461-4680

Good thought . I'll give it a try . Seems to be a solid solution .

 

[DiRTY DOG]

Annealing yields more consistent shoulder bump for me, plus my trimmer indexes off the sized shoulder so I get more consistent trim lengths. And seating bullets feels perfectly consistent and buttery smooth. I did it by hand for years with a drill/torch, a lot of work. The Ugly works great.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

I am right along side of you!! I used to have a bench-source and sold it. I bought a 18$ mini potters wheel on Amazon and an alum case holder and added a ss spring off an coleman cooler. I can do easy 100 cases in 20-25min depending on torch tip. This is 6br so I like to use a small tip and take a few extra seconds. I heat until neck gets deep cherry glow and cut off before it gets the yellow flame.

I do batches of 200 to 500 at a time, id honestly take up drinking as a sport if I had to sit there one case at a time.

 

[justinp61]

If I were a high volume shooter I'd look at something automated. Normally I do batches of 50, that my loading batch size, so I use a torch, drill and a metronome app on my phone.