What do you consider the perfect anneal?

[CatShooter]

CatShooter: can a properly annealed case be "annealed" again after only one firing? I read how many "anneal after each firing" . my impression is that annealing restructures the "latticework or whatever" of brass after it changes. Does one firing produce enough change to warrant the process? Thanks.

I do not anneal after each firing. I anneal before the first firing (if I can), and then every 3-ish, or when I do something traumatic, like neck turn or size up or down a calibre or more. Bench guys will anneal after each firing to keep the neck hold on the bullet as close to the same as possible.

IF you anneal, it does not last forever, it needs to be done from time to time... a SAAMI neck that is on the large size will need annealing fairly often, whereas a no turn necked case with ~2 thou clearance will not be worked as much and can last much longer (from a pending brittleness point of view), until needing to be annealed.

 

[amlevin]

Some swear by Tempilac and others swear at it. I don't touch the stuff myself. I prefer to just use a heat crayon. I anneal using the socket/cordless drill method. I hold the case in the flame until I see the color change begin (not glow, just brass color line that moves down the case), remove the case from the flame and quickly touch the spinning case with a 750 degree heat crayon (Tempil-stik). If it leaves a smear of crayon on the case I know I have the right amount of flame time. I anneal a couple of cases more, using the "metronome in my head" for flame time, then check again with the crayon. When I have consistent results, usually 3-4 cases, I just anneal the rest in my bin.

All I can say is that I have both Winchester and Lapua .308 cases that have dozens and dozens of loading cycles and no split necks, etc. Can't complain about accuracy either. Primer pockets usually are loose on the Winchester cases when hitting the 30-40 load cycle times and the Lapua's just keep on going and going.

 

[JAnderson94]

Are you guys just letting the cases cool to ambient temp? Or, do you quench in water while you anneal? Pros or Cons to either method?

 

[CatShooter]

Are you guys just letting the cases cool to ambient temp? Or, do you quench in water while you anneal? Pros or Cons to either method?

Almost everyone lets them air cool.

There is no advantage to "quenching" them, and if you do, then they are full of water and you have to heat them again to dry them out

 

[JAnderson94]

Are you guys just letting the cases cool to ambient temp? Or, do you quench in water while you anneal? Pros or Cons to either method?

Almost everyone lets them air cool.

There is no advantage to "quenching" them, and if you do, then they are full of water and you have to heat them again to dry them out

alright, thanks! I was wondering because I've heard that quenching can freeze the molecules in place after heating steel for say. I wasn't sure if brass was similar to that or not. Hence my question

 

[CatShooter]

Are you guys just letting the cases cool to ambient temp? Or, do you quench in water while you anneal? Pros or Cons to either method?

Almost everyone lets them air cool.

There is no advantage to "quenching" them, and if you do, then they are full of water and you have to heat them again to dry them out

alright, thanks! I was wondering because I've heard that quenching can freeze the molecules in place after heating steel for say. I wasn't sure if brass was similar to that or not. Hence my question

Steel is totally different.

Brass is not the same - the hardness when annealed is the same, whether you air cool it or water quench it.