Neck annealing loaded cartridges? [357/44 Bain and Davis]

[Elric]

Well, this thing called snow is getting in the way of my bird hunting. I have some formed 357/44 B&D cases, and they ALWAYS have blowby on the empty cases, and carbon on the Encore barrel's breech. So I'd think it is a lead pipe cinch that the formed cases are too stiff and need to be annealed.

So instead of breaking down the FTX loaded rounds, I'll just empty them the fun way. Bit expensive, but say la vee.

Once I have the fired cases, I'll deprime them and get a shallow water-filled pan [filled to just below shoulder of 357/44], put the cases in, and whip out my trusty Turbo-Torch.

Any advice on neck-annealing?

PS. Just foolin' on annealing loaded rounds... Click bait...

 

[popper]

Pencil neck them?

 

[Elric]

I've also seen someone use a deep socket on a cordless drill, all he did was drop the case in the socket, do a slow speed, and torch the neck until it changed color. Then a simple tip down of the socket to unload the annealed case, stuff in another, repeat as needed...

 

[fiver]

that works about as good as the pan full of water.
the key to annealing is temperature and controlling it.

sort of red, kind of red, a dull red, darkened room, shaded lights, basement window, watch for the green flash.
meh,, just buy some tempilaq it's like 7$

 

[Gary]

There's a reason an anneal'r costs so much. Do it wrong and you could ruin your brass.

The Science of Cartridge Brass Annealing

Want to know how annealing brass works? We examine the science here.

bisonballistics.com

 

[Elric]

There's a reason an anneal'r costs so much. Do it wrong and you could ruin your brass.

Did you ever consider about releasing an annealer to the public that could somehow anneal too far down the case body? I bet they have religiously lab tested their annealing units and have tried their best to idiot proof them. Imagine the 1960s, the load development and gunsmithing that went on... Lawyers would decend like in Hitchcock's The Birds if someone tried that today.

Always a timely warning, look for potential risks, assess them based on probability and severity, then develop controls to mitigate or eliminate the risk...

 

[fiver]

our whole hobby is a count your fingers, double check the numbers game.
just cause I do it like that... right?

 

[RicinYakima]

Annealing, really stress releaving, is not hard. But it is not simple either. When you want it easy and simple that the problems begin.

 

[Gary]

I like the Ron Popeil method for my Annealing; "set it and forget it".

 

[Spindrift]

Has anyone tried to anneal necks by dipping them in molten lead? It should be fairly easy to get consistent results, and maybe less risk of overdoing it.
Never annealed a case myself, I have an ample supply of range brass for almost all my cartridges (I mostly stick to the «boring» ones )

 

[RicinYakima]

Very bad idea. This was the "thing" in the 1970's but you had to dip in virgin unicorn tears to keep the lead from sticking to the case. Never worked for anyone I talked to. If the alloy is hot enough to anneal, it is hot enough to solder to the brass.

 

[Intheshop]

Just the way I do it;

Drill motor goes in a sniveling bench vise,lathe turned case holder gets chucked up. The torch is placed so that when the vise is turned to a "stop" which is simply a clamp acting on a convenient spot hitting the vise.

Case goes in holder,turn vise to present the very slow turning case into the flame,count to say,5 seconds(which obviously is crucial,and needs to be established) ,then turn the vise back to "start" so the case can be plucked out,with a welding gloved hand. I drop into water but,you can throw'm on a towel.

Get the lighting and torch head setting is critical. Easy peasy.

The advantage is there's a constant in that,the torch ain't moving as is the space. Looking at commercial machines you notice this same approach...... move the case,not the torch.

 

[Gary]

If I didn't already have this:

I'd have this:

 

[RBHarter]

Tried the lead routine . I can't count the number of time solder wouldn't stick to something really clean but lead stuck to 9/10 whether they were clean , dirty , or lubed from sizing with STP .

I use a roll and water drop method now . Makes me happy , does what it needs to on the brass and if I over do it well better on the bench than in the barrel .

 

[Brad]

I too tried the lead dip method and also had problems with lead as heading to cases.

I rarely anneal anymore, life is too short for that kind of thing.

 

[Gary]

To me Annealing is a pleasure, nothing going on except the whirring of the tiny drive motor and then every 4~5 seconds the sound of metal on metal as a properly anneal'd case drops into the catch pan. Annealing is a pleasure, not a cliche.

 

[Rick]

I've found annealing to be purely an art form. I've got the BC-1000 which is an excellent machine but even with that for correctly annealed brass it takes a bit of experience to set the torches just right and adjust the flames correctly. Both of those things change with different size brass. Once properly set though It'll do hundreds of cases an hour and every case is correctly annealed and all are uniformly annealed.

 

[Elric]

I rarely anneal anymore, life is too short for that kind of thing.

I wish my cases would obturate...



Before anyone thinks my loads are super mag-i-num with compressed Bullseye, ain't so. They drop out normally, primers are fine, but the exterior of the cases are all sooty...

 

[Gary]

Either to light a load OR the case neck needs annealing. For whatever reason it seems the case isn't sealing to the bore when fired.

 

[Rick]

Either to light a load OR the case neck needs annealing. For whatever reason it seems the case isn't sealing to the bore when fired.

Yep, could also be a large chamber or some combination of all of the above.