Hey guys,

I was annealing a batch of brass today and thought I’d run a little experiment to determine the appearance of different brands of brass when properly annealed.  The photo is the before and after annealing results of brand new Remington, Winchester and Starline.  Although listed as .45-90, the head of the Starline case to the right is actually stamped 45-2.6

As noted, 750° Tempilaq solution was used inside the case necks to determine the correct heating duration and temperature to ensure the necks were not over heated.  I have done a good bit of annealing and experimenting since purchasing a Bench Source annealer and have formed some opinions.  One is that many shooters over anneal, which is generally not a dangerous situation as long as the head area does not get too hot and soften.  But it can shorten the life of the brass and have other negative results.  Note the subdued color changes of the necks.  The vivid bright rainbow of colors seen in many photos of annealed brass is not evident but you can see the color change.

For more info on annealing case necks, see the following article: (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Wayne

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James - on my machine I find that ~3.5s in the flame is plenty to anneal a 40-65 case neck. Am thinking your 15-20s is pretty long to be in the flame.

All the brass in the photo were only in the flame approximately 3 to 3.5 sec.  I would venture to say from experience that anything longer than 4 seconds will result in over heating the necks.

Wayne

I think the amount of time would depend on how many torches were used, the size of the flame and where the case is placed in the flame.
Wayne, interesting note in your article about dropping them in water vs. just letting them cool on a towel or something.  I always used to drop my cases in a small bucket of water but this last time, I just dropped them on a folded towel.  I did not have the same uniform feel when I seated the bullets in the case.    Go figure!!  Bob

I know! I've read that too so that's why I skipped the water the last time but I felt that it wasn't the same.  When I drop in water, I put them in a drying rack.  I've oftened wondered about the oxide that forms on a case as you can feel that the case is a little rougher.  Wonder if that has anything to do with the bullet seating?  I like to make my loads about three weeks before a shoot so that the bullet takes a set in the case although I have shot some good scores with old ammunition and just shot a great group with my 45-70 when getting rid of my last 12 loads of the season.  Now, what was that due to?  Maybe the alloy has age hardened or softened or Bob