My first run with the Bench Source – does this look right?

[jlow]

This is the first batch of 308 Win brass that I did. Propped up in the middle is a representative case with the 650 and 400 degree Tempilaq. The instruction says to aim the torch at the middle of the shoulder which is what I did and I annealed the brass until as instructed to wait until the 650 Tempilaq “turn clear just below the shoulder area as the cartridge case indexes out of the flame”. The time for me was about 3 seconds which is right around the 3-3 ½ seconds they recommended. The whole thing went well and fast which is nice since hand annealing is one of the more labor intensive part of my reloading process only preceded by neck turning.

The only thing is the cases does not have that dark annealed look but I am guessing that is affected by the cleanliness of the brass i.e. as they say “The surface condition also plays a part in the looks of an annealed case”.

Would appreciate anyone with experience with the machine to comment/

 

[gotcha]

Hi Jlow, I don't have a machine........ Yet. But, for what its worth your tempilac is spot on. Various brass mfg's use different alloy ratios. Some add ingredients that others don't use. So, annealing coloration will vary from brand to brand. Some brass, Remington notabley, will show darker necks & gradually color disappears below the shoulder, Other brands like Lapua will show very little color change. More like a straw color when the tempilac indicator melts. I'm red/green color blind & have learned to rely on the tempilac. I use the 750* stuff & melt to the shoulder/body junction or slightly below. Your 450* shows you've done no harm to the base. Measure your inner cone w/ a ruler & maintain the cone length. As the tanks release gas they cool & pressure will drop along w/ annealing heat. You're lookin' good!

 

[BigDMT]

I don't have that machine either, but in all my experiences, new brass never gets that "dark oily" color like when you re-anneal brass after 4-5 firings. New brass is always annealed at the factory before forming so the atoms haven't been worked a lot, thus they have minimal fusion. Some companies anneal before and after forming (Lapua) so the atoms are about as settled as they can be. Annealing new brass is pretty much wasting time IMO.

I would at least fire form and re-size new cases before thinking of annealing if you want to have really good brass to start with. I personally wait til after the first 3 firings of new brass before annealing. But that's just what works for me. What works for you may be different.

I see nothing wrong with the brass in your picture. That very slight discoloration is typical of new brass after annealing. Cleanliness of the brass definitely has an effect on the coloration too. Less oils. Judging by what I see in the picture and my experiences, you should be good to go

 

[Leaddog]

I SS clean my Lapua brass before annealing. My anneal time is 4 seconds according to the dial. Timing is a function of your flame distance and Tempilaq indications. I run the blue needle flame about 3/8" from the neck shoulder junction. Using 650 Tempilaq on the inside of the neck, I get a slight burn off as the case rotates out of the fire.

My case necks and shoulders have a shiny golden coppery look and a definite heat line on the case below the shoulder.

Don't worry about getting that gray annealed look. The only time I've seen that was when I was annealing some Remington cases for a friend that were tumbled in corn cob with case polish added.

Do you have spent primers in the brass in that photo? I always decap before SS cleaning.

One other thing.... After annealing use a piece of 0000 steel wool to the outside of the neck and a nylon brush to the inside. Annealing causes a slight grittiness to your brass that needs to be cleaned up. If you don't do it, you will be reminded when you start seating your bullets. Cleaning the outside of the neck just makes your neck friendlier to your die bushing. Enjoy!

 

[jlow]

Thanks guys for your input – much appreciated!! Will try to not worry too much about the color – it’s unfortunately in my Type A nature. ;D

To answer some of the questions, the brass is once fired Win 308 that has been cleaned with SS media and yes all of them were deprimed before SS media cleaning. I think the spent primers look is just the shadows. Now that I made the investment and considering how easy it is to anneal, I will likely anneal after every firing. I do use the 000 steel wool and nylon brush trick that I learned from you guys a few months ago.

 

[BigDMT]

Thanks guys for your input – much appreciated!! Will try to not worry too much about the color – it’s unfortunately in my Type A nature. ;D

To answer some of the questions, the brass is once fired Win 308 that has been cleaned with SS media and yes all of them were deprimed before SS media cleaning. I think the spent primers look is just the shadows. Now that I made the investment and considering how easy it is to anneal, I will likely anneal after every firing. I do use the 000 steel wool and nylon brush trick that I learned from you guys a few months ago.

Sounds like you'll always have great brass. Good luck

 

[686]

it looks like you neck sized them before you anealed them. i thought you were to aneal first.

 

[CoverDog]

They look good to me. Mine come out with that pinkish color on the neck and shoulder area also. I de-prime, tumble, anneal, size and then tumble again to remove Imperial Die Wax, prime and load.

Very happy with my Bench Source.

 

[jlow]

BigDMT - Thanks! That is the hope anyway....

I started to resize and bump that brass today and was happy to see that almost all except a few was dead on in terms of headspace. The headspace ES from 20 pieces resized thus far is 0.0015" with a SDEV of 0.0005" so pretty happy. As a comparion, the same pieces of brass out of the barrel before resizing had a range of 0.0050" and a SDEV of 0.0013"

The real test will be when all the prep is done and loaded up and I find out what my MV spread is.

686 – OK, good eye. Normally you would be correct – anneal before resize but in this case I did neck size first with my Redding Type S with a large bushing. The reason is because this brass came from a commercially loaded round and had not been check for neck thickness consistency. The resizing reshape the neck so that I could run them through my Redding case neck gauge to cull out the bad boys!

Thanks CoverDog!