Small volume annealing question

[dbduff]

Looking for best solution for small volume annealing effort. Home made or store bought?
Thanks for any helpful info.
D

 

[jimcasey01]

Cordless screwdriver and an appropriate socket, depending on caliber.
Cordless screwdriver $10.00 + tax @ Lowes or Home Depot
4 "aa" rechargeable bats $12.00
Bat charger $5-40.00 various places

Actually rechargeable bats and charger are not necessary, but you may turn necks later with the same screwdriver, and you will need a charger then.

 

[dbduff]

Kinda sorta figured that would be the suggestion. If you have gone this route do you use visual que or timer for flame exposure?
D

 

[jimcasey01]

Tempalaq to set time. Use scrap brass, 750 Tempaq, minimum time for Tempaq to start to change, I then use that as a guide and typically take off 1 second of time. My typical time is 11-12 sec depending on caliber. Tempalaq typically changes at 1 additional second of time. It is easier than it sounds. If flame is adjusted to the same length each session, then time will be identical. I use the lowest flame that will stay lit in my torch. The reasoning is that with a longer time, small differences in time are a smaller % of change.

Ebay has some little electronic timers in the range of $2.95-$5.00 total cost that are great. Downside is waiting 2-3 weeks for them to arrive....... from China.

 

[dbduff]

Thanks Jim- this is looking more manageable with each post. Appreciate you're taking the time to respond.
D

 

[jimcasey01]

Your welcome. Annealing is not a "black art" as some would have you believe. Actually pretty simple. Do not go by the color of the brass, but rather by the time. Additionally, if you watch very closely, you will see a subtle, rapid color change run down the side of the brass at about the 1 second remaining time.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Good suggestion with the electric screwdriver. I have never used Tempilaq. I just turn the lights off and heat the brass until it just barely starts to glow red, then remove it. That is where I set my time. Has always worked great for me. Neck tension and headspacing is very consistent and brass lasts a long time.

But I do that on a Vertex Annealing machine from Bench Source so the set-up is very easy and always perfectly consistent. If you are willing to spend the money on something like the Vertex or other high end annealing machine, you won't regret it. Turns the bothersome task of annealing into something half-way pleasurable

 

[dbduff]

Led slinger, Jim Casey- greatly appreciate straight forward advice re: annealing. Let you all know how it turns out.
D

 

[Marksman63]

I use my Iphone and Interval Timer App for timing. It's free

 

[Bugs]

+1 to Jim Casey's remarks above; I use a similar setup, turn the lights off in the garage and heat until the neck of the case just begins to turn red, all the while counting to myself (one-mississippi, two-mississippi etc. etc. ); turn the lights back on and continue doing the batch of cases while counting. I figure that, for the price of an automated, high volume anealling unit, I can buy two new barrels!

 

[Jefferson]

http://www .cartridgeanneal.com/

for the folks who just do a few Jefferson

 

[Ledd Slinger]

...I figure that, for the price of an automated, high volume anealling unit, I can buy two new barrels!

...and you'll still be annealing cases by hand one at a time...

 

[Silverfox]

...and you'll still be annealing cases by hand one at a time...

I am not a high-volume shooter, but I do accumulate a fairly large quantity of brass that needs annealing every couple of years--maybe 800 to 1,000 casings or more. I have 7 varmint rifles that get lots of field time and two rifles that do not get much field time. I have three .17 Remingtons, one .17 Tactical, and three .204 Rugers. The two rifles that don't see much field time are the .22-250 and a .243 and I don’t have the proper wheel for annealing those casings.

I spend a lot of time shooting prairie dogs in the summer and try to get out after coyotes in the fall and winter. With a variety of rifles and brass, I need to keep the brass separated by rifle and caliber at all times. I keep my fired brass in 25-count, 50-count or 100-count plastic containers and mark the containers as to how many times that batch of brass has been fired. When I have fired most of my brass 3 times and am getting down to the point where I am about out of brass for reloading and need to anneal my fired brass, I set up my Ken Light BC-1000 automatic annealing machine and anneal all of those casings in one setting. I have separate catch containers for the brass of each rifle. Once I start the annealing machine I anneal the brass for rifle 1 and catch it in one container. Then I anneal all the brass for rifle 2 and catch that in a separate container, etc.

I bought the BC-1000 annealer many, many, many years ago. It was a big investment, but I thought it was good investment and that thought has proven to be true. The BC-1000 does not have an automated feeding mechanism, so it has to be fed one casing at a time, but that, to me, is a simple process and since I don't anneal thousands and thousands of casings at a time, I do not consider that to be a problem.

Yes, the BC-1000 annealing machine did cost close to what one barrel would have cost, but I cannot see myself sitting around annealing one casing at a time using a power screwdriver until I have annealed 800 to 1,000+ casings. True, I have to feed them into the annealing rings one at a time, but that is sure a whole lot less time consuming than the power screwdriver route.

I guess it is a personal choice for all of us about how much we spend on the annealing process/machine we use. I spent my money on the BC-1000 and cried once and now I am smiling and whistling a happy tune when I anneal my casings. JMHO & YMMV

 

[DanConzo]

dbduff- There is a lot of discussion in the Reloading Section back in 12-18-12 and a couple of pictures that might give you some ideas.

 

[snakepit]

For timing go to www.a.bestmetronome.com click on Accessible option, select 60 beats per minute, click on START and turn your volume up.

 

[J-rod]

When I first started annealing, I used an AL shell holder I had made at work with an electric drill gutted, wired up to a power supply with a momentary button. The torch was on a pivot with a stop so it would always aim at the same spot. It "worked" but was not very fast or consistent.

I almost, and I mean almost bought a BenchSource...it's a very nice machine from all I have heard and seen. Then I happened to see this on youtube...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJFH-KBm55U

So thanks to Amazon, I made one myself. Now mine is no where near as nice and doesn't have the auto feeder...but another $10 motor and a chunk of UHMW or the like will fix that. Mine cost me $40 total and is not only consistent, but about as fast as you can go with one torch. I just loaded up some brass from my first annealing session, neck tension was very consistent throughout all of the pieces (used to have to cull some that were over/under annealed.

I have two little boys and a wife, still managed to hobble this thing together in three nights.