Oldbloke wrote:This is how I anneal. But do it in the semi dark. Stop when brass turns blueish. Red hot is too hot. And 5-6 seconds works for me too.
No requirement to drop in water. I drop them on a damp cloth.
https://youtu.be/4AJHLafHKCY
Whenever I see a post that expounds a method such as this, I will keep posting this.
"I am always concerned that "the cheap way" is promoted as being as good as the results one might expect from an annealing machine and the use of some method of determining the actual temperature (Templac paste) achieved. If you don't know the temperature, you're wasting your time (and effort).
Whilst I agree that this article (
http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html ) essentially promotes the authors machine, the contents of the article are about the science of the process. Yes,
it is a science, and an exacting one at that. Read it, and perhaps do so a second time.
Would you use the same amount of flame thrower to prepare a 17 hornet as, say, a 303Br?
Unless you know the temperature, your p***ing into the wind.
You will learn also that quenching does absolutely nothing to the property of the brass, other than to cool it a bit quicker so that you can handle it comfortably.
If you consider annealing to be a useful exercise, then at least do it properly".
Anybody who wants to undertake the process of annealing MUST understand that it is a precise process, based in science, which requires very specific control measures.
Best solution?
Get together with some of your buddies, buy and share the use of an A.M.P induction machine.
And a parting comment: I have often read that some people believe that fresh "out of the box" brass has not been annealed, because there is no evidence of that lovely colouration one sees with the likes of Lapua brass. Horse s**t. Every piece of brass ever made goes through multiple stages of swaging, drawing, and so on during its somewhat stressful journey to finished item from a blank piece of metal. Some manufacturers end the process by polishing, prior to packaging hence no colouration. Lapua (and others) - why polish off evidence of beauty?