I built my own induction annealer for just a little over $200. Works great. You just have to adjust your timing. I’m glad you commented on that system. AMP is a great tool but too expensive for the average Joe.
When I started reloading 5 years ago I thought I had an unlimited supply of brass because I always picked up my brass for 20 years. Turns out when you reload, you shoot A LOT MORE! The 5,000 or so pieces I had are now going on their third firing so I started annealing them the hard way, one at a time. This video has convinced me that I need an annealer! Thanks for all you do and keep em coming!!
I hand aneil my brass and for the last 18 years or so. I use a quarter inch extension in my electric drill and use a 1/4 inch drive socket that the cases Just sit in without wobble. As a rule it takes four seconds per case, and I always have the blue tip of the flame almost touching the brass. Any further away it takes longer to Aneil. I like to target shoot and hunt, but I don’t expect to put 10 bullets into the same hole. I am happy with getting more than 10 reloads per brass.- - shoot safe and enjoy the sport.
Annealeez is my favorite for saving brass during a time where you can't afford to loose brass to split necks ect. My last batch of lapua 6.5/284 is up nearby $50 per 100. Keep good notes.
I have an AMP and glad I purchased it. Yes it was a boat load of money but since im in my late 20's my thought is it will pay for its self in brass life over my shooting career. I anneal my 450 bushmaster brass on it to prevent split necks. also it comes in handy when forming 25-06, 6.5 grendel and 256 win mag brass. I was never sold on annealing and bought the AMP anyway just for extended brass life. It turned me into a true believer when I processed a batch of 308 brass. Before annealing trimming on my RCBS powdered trim pro was a chore. After annealing I had to back off the spring tension as it was too aggressive and causing problems. This is what opened my eyes as to how hard our brass gets and how important annealing is. Obviously an AMP isnt for everyone but I encourage all non beginner reloaders to anneal.
Yeah, people can balk at the expense in reloading, but with ammo prices so freaking crazy it'll all pay itself off pretty quick. I barely shoot, honestly, but I've probably paid off my stuff in a few years.
I assembled the DIY annealer offered on YTube. It worked beautifully, for close to 1000 cases. Went to use it this weekend and was not the same. Seems like the induction device is acting up. It gets hot, not that hot though. After 9-10 seconds, I gave up. Then I remembered I had to return the first one to Amazon. They were great about the exchange, prompt, no questions asked. Maybe the quality is spotty. Maybe some get lucky and get a good one. I got two that did not hold up. I am going to purchase the Ugly Annealer. Looking at several videos I think this may be reasonably affordable and well built. It comes with all you need less torch for under 300.00. Thanks for all you do.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my EP integrations 2.0 annealer! Crazy easy to anneal right out of the box & anneals from the smallest of cartridges up to 50BMG without having to add or remove any parts & adjusts from cartridge to cartridge in seconds. I'd check it out.
I have done thousands cases with my Annealeez, works fine. Also your flame is way to short / low. IME with the feather (inner Fame) 1/4 to 3/16 from the brass about 6 seconds is what you will want with that brass.
Hey sir, love your vids! I especially love how I can’t get out of my head the picture of Lt. Jim Dangle from Reno 911 sitting there reloading ammo! You sound exactly like him!
I made my father promise to retire the salt annealing process. A drop of sweat reacts badly. Bought him an Annealeez. Very happy and my 76 yo father is good. The consistency with it is very consistent.
Shannon, There is an Australian company that makes an annealing machine comparable to the Annealeez called Kase Annealr, that have made a very good set of tutorials on how to setup their flame annealer. While their tutorials mostly pertain to setting up their machine, I'd like to point out in their flame alignment video, they recommend setting up the flame so that the tip of the inner flame is just touching the neck/shoulder junction. I believe this to be a more consistent way of setting up the flame, and should help you to alleviate the issue of your flame running away from your case. You're machine should be capable of speeding up to compensate for the extra heat being put into the case, so you don't ruin your brass. I'm not saying you need to try this, it is only a suggestion, but it might be worth a try. Good luck with the tinkering.
For my 300 Win Mag I was using the exact Coleman propane/torch setup you showed... And the little Lee case holder doodad, but I chucked it in my lathe and ran it at 120 rpm. But it was a tad slow so I dug around in all my sockets and figured out a 13 mm deep well fit 300WM just about perfect. No more fiddling with locking the case head in the Lee doodad. Not a lot of people have a lathe in their shop. So go to Lowe's or similar and get a socket adaptor for 1/4" impact to 3/8 drive sockets. And buy a cheap Chinesium socket that fits your case... Chuck it in your drill or impact and get to annealing.
While my Annealeez 2 doesn't cure split necks in my 6.5 Grendel, the brass lasts longer. All my 5.56 range brass goes thru annealing prior to trimming & reloading. I watched Erik Cortina's videos and came away with "it's not so critical that I need an AMP for my needs". I anneal everything and agree that neck tension is more consistent.
Great video. I built my own flame annealer last winter and have watched some of the same videos on building an induction annealer. While I like my flame annealer induction is the way I would personally like to go. When I run my flame annealer I run it so that the inner flame is just kissing the point where the neck and shoulder meet and run it till it gets a faint glow and it then drops into my garage sale purchased bread pan. Reese on the Range had some interesting videos on metallurgy when it comes to flame annealing and he makes it super simple to understand. Maybe someday I will have a job that will allow pay me enough for Amp Annealer money but right now I am happy with the flame. Great video thanks Johnny.
When I cut down 5.56 brass to make 300 blackout I anneal every cut case before I form/size the case. The factory annealed part of the case is cut off. The remaining brass isn't soft enough to rework without stressing it. I get consistent sizing and the brass remains at the length that I cut it down to. All I have to do is hit the case mouth with a tool to bevel the inside and outside case mouth edges. All I do to anneal is line up brass along my stainless kitchen sink rim and heat each case with a torch. When the case begins to show signs of turning red I knock the case into the sink and move to the next one. I can go through 200 cases in a short time with little effort. I found once fired LC 5.56, FC, and CBC brass are able to stay workable through 3 reloads before I need to anneal.
That's a great machine. I just bought one. I run it on 55 to anneal 6.8 SPC brass. The inner blue flame should just touch the case. I used the 750° Tempilaq to get the right timing. Mine is a Gen 3, but I bought the hose at Cabela's.
Really enjoyed this. I did exactly the same (in thought process) before I bought the AMP. I too watched the videos on their web site and decided that everything else represented too much compromise. Their research is extensive. Just processed 600.
lol, im sure they want you to have that EXACT feeling after watching their marketing materials. Given that many people don't anneal at all and have good results, the difference between the cheap and expensive annealer will be so minute its hilarious.
@@James28R In general, I would agree. However, I spent a career in direct sales and am the most "pitch" resistant person you will ever meet. I was convinced by the data. I can feel the difference when sizing and I can see it when I measure.
Four years ago, I got this Annealeez for my 75th B. D. and no use any other system to anneal my brass. Back in the late 60's to make my 222 Rem. brass from military 5.56 brass. Now I anneal 5.56 brass to make my 300 BLk OUT brass, 5.56 to make my 25-45 Sharps & 6.5 Grendale to make my 6mm ARC brass. 79 now, & still loading & shooting varmints. You make great video, love them, ..1SG., J J Huro Jr., USA RET.
If, like me, you want a nice induction annealer take a look at North East Texas Tactical channel for a $250 induction DIY setup. It isnt fully automated but it sure is simple and consistent and for 1/10th the price it does a great job.
Annealing black powder cartridges is a good idea as well. A softer neck will expand to seal the chamber more easily preventing blowback. If your BP cartridges are dirty out of the chamber, you might need an annealing.
Annealing alligns/realigns the molecules in the brass making it appear softer. Ive been reloading for 10 years or so n still dont know everything! and Ive been annealing for about half that time, looking for the consistancies between everyones methods, ask ten people n your gonna get ten different answers, Ive been using the drill/electric screwdriver n socket method for years! I just recently/ last christmas'24 got an Annealease machine and have yet to use it, just havnt been shooting as much, Ive got a bunch of brass sitting in my tumbler ,in my cabin, been busy with other things lately on the property, even built a few more AR's n have my own shooting range! been working on the cabin n shop n dealing withn the weather hear in the mountains of southern Oregon. I could just grab a propane bottle n do it my old way, but ive got plenty of brass, in multiple calibers, 308 bolt n auto n vaqrious othersn loaded sitting in my range bag.
Appreciate the encouragement. I have been thinking about it seriously for a good while. Watching a bunch of you guys. I just did not want to pay for machine. Thank you.
Lol I use the lee shell holder and map gas. 3.5 seconds and it works great for me. I’ll process 4-500 at a time. Since I started reloading (thanks to you) I haven’t bought any box ammo and only reload. I would rather buy once fired brass by the thousand and process it myself. I get better performance at a better price than buying match ammo. Not to mention my ammo is tuned to my barrel where box ammo isn’t. My groups show the difference. I decap, anneal, tumble wash with pins and then size, length, flash hole ream, swage (if needed), square the primer hole and de burr in and outer case mouth and they are ready to get washed again just to remove any lubricant. From there prime, powder, seat and crimp. If I’m loading for match I’ll pull the ones with the best concentricity (gauged of course) and use those for my heavier grain like 75g or even 68g HPBT. My groups get even smaller. If your group is sub moa at 100 yards, you’ll have an easier time holding 1.5 inch groups at 200 yards. Having the right barrel is key as well.
From what I could see your doing good , I do this after every firing it sure makes the brass easy to trim and by the way I use a drill motor and swap sockets per size of the case
I've used an Annealeeze for several years and switched to a Benchsource annealer. More better, easier to get it right once you play with it a little bit. I set my torches so the two center tongues of fire meet on the neck of the case. I do it about 4 seconds and that seems right but you may need to go a little slower depending on the brass.
I'm glad I came back and watched the rest of this. I just did some annealing attempts yesterday for the first time (socket and drill). They came out good but I was starting to worry about the finished color like we tend to do.. Then I got worried I was too far down the case, not enough time on the neck, etc. They came out just fine, just like you showed. Slight dulling of color 1/4-1/3 of the way down the case. I did well enough that I could compare 3-4x fired hornady annealed vs not and 2x fired adg annealed vs not. Major difference in the springback on the hornady, they definitely needed it. I went from about ten thou of variance to .001 variance across ten cases picked randomly from the fired bucket. Hornady is springy and hard to dial in to begin with, I'm going to anneal after fireforming/factory loads from now on. Adg, being nice and soft and thick like lapua, only cut the variance by about 25 percent. From maybe slightly outside my margin of error to possibly inside my margin of error on the pressure/timing of the die press.
A 1/16 drill bit upside down in a cordless drill in a vice also is a good low-budget move. Fits well in the primer hole. You can use a squeeze clamp to set the drill speed. Old school, but works fine.
I have long hoped you would start annealing all your brass as a part of your reloading process. I feel your SDs will be decreasing in the future, good stuff Shannon!
One thing I have to remind of is that I don't shoot to make an income, therefore I don't need to spend $$ on the best of the best equipment. I find a thing that suits my needs and that's what I use. I'm using the Annealeze and have had no issues with it, other that heavy ends precipitating out of the gas and clogging the burner nozzle which is no fault of Annealeze. I use a 750 deg F temp stick (Markal Thermomelt) to set it up and record my settings. I've done some studying on brass metallic annealing and seen the temp curves required to fully anneal without "cooking out" base metals. Form watching the video, Its hard to judge the amount of heat you were putting into the brass, but from my experience with that machine, you need more heat.
Add an adjustable regulator with a gauge to your 20# tank , leave torch valve full open and adjust your flame with the regulator. Then record the time and pressure , the digital timer is available on Amozon or Ebay and an easy install.
Set the flame so that the tip of the inner flame (the hottest part) is right at the neck-shoulder junction. 5.5 seconds in the flame was perfect for .308 brass. As Erik Cortina demonstrated, the time isn't as super critical as most people think and for that reason setting time in the flame using the timer on your phone or ipad should be sufficient.
KISS principle works for me: lee trimmer holder, torch, drill and Sound Brenner app to provide 6-7 second timing depending on caliber. Never had a split neck or a case head separation, and all my final loads have single digit SDs.
As far as the field expedient method, I just find a deep socket that perfectly fits the case I’m working with. Don’t have to worry about the case wobbling around.
i just use a torch and do it by hand. it will get too hot to hold if you are really screwing it up. it also has the benefit of drying them out after cleaning them so it does 2 things at once. ive probably done like 2k 308 and 223 cases like that and its something i just have done while sitting around
For the people that do it by hand with a tourch use tempilaq 700 degree it's like nail polish you put a little swipe on the inside of the case and when you heat it it will dissolve and your done it is very accurate it basically works like a timmer.
Talking about the 900F salt bath. What is the dip time for best annealing of 5.56x45 brass for you. What about the 6.5mm Grendel brass? Did you try Grendel cases in your salt bath annealer. The secret to the AMP New Zealand induction annealer is that they use tons of hardness data using their Vickers Micro-hardness tester. That rig is a few thousand dollars by itself, so they amortize the cost for owning and operating that lab level hardness tester by passing along the cost to their induction annealer price.
I have the V2 annealeez. I set mine up where I can just run the flame wide open and only adjust the speed for different cases. Makes it super easy to switch from 223 to 308 to 6.5 creedmoor etc. Just aim the torch and set the speed for whatever case I'm running.
I think that's what I'm going to try next. Seeing that flame change so much during the video was eye opening. I didn't notice it at all at the time! I think working under bright lights for the camera made it less obvious. If going wide open doesn't work for me, I might look for a different nozzle or something. I'm sure, if I look around, all of this has been talked about and figured out long ago.
I used to run an Annealeez. It's a great little machine. I switched to the AMP only because I shoot F-Class and everything is about consistency and doing the best you can on the reloading bench so on the line you know why a flyer occurs.
Even with the small wheels, I had very poor results on my Annealeze not burning up the wheels. I gave up on both 300 BO and 6mm ARC. Great for 223 though.
That's the complaint I keep running into. I tried to be careful and have the nozzle pointed slightly away from the machine. I saw a bunch of videos by a guy that added big fender washers as heat protectors for the wheels, but I haven't taken the time to watch them yet. Thanks for the info.
@@jeffnichols5176 crazy thing is he just sent me a email about that it’s a 4” exhaust clamp, I’m taking my gen 2 apart and going to set it up like the new one
Good stuff Johnny. I have that exact annealer. Adding an on/off and a volt meter does help. I anneal everything, every pass. The Annealeez is so fast and simple, why not? The real win with annealing is consistency in neck tension. The case life extension is just a good side effect IMHO. I dont feel Tempilaq is worth the money. Its easy to set by eye in the dark as you showed. One thing that Ive found to work well is to run from a 20# gas tank as it makes the torch more consistent. Also I set the torch with the tip of the flame on the shoulder of the case. The AMP folks are correct on the salt annealing. The salt bath just doesnt have enough high temp to raise the neck temp enough to actually anneal anything.
Easiest way to spin cases I've found is to decap them and put a decapping pin or small diameter drill in the drill. Just put the case on the pin at a moderate spin rate (I use a zip tie to control the drill speed) and put the drill in a vice. 4-5 seconds works for most bottle neck cases.
I use the lee hand trimmer that hooks to your drill and the shell holder that goes with it to hold the case and a propane torch like you said... I've just started messing with it and it does help tighten things up with your velocity numbers and makes sizing much more consistent. I've been waiting on this video ever since the livestream because I've been looking into annealing for a while and was looking at getting a machine because the way I'm doing it now takes forever. Great video as always keepem coming brother!!!
I use a socket set and put it in my wireless drill. I use the long sockets. I put the braas in the socket en let it turn in the flame off a cheap burner with disposable botle. I let the hot brass fall in an iron kitchen vegtable filter. So easy and not so hot as yours.
Shannon - Put a thermo couple on the outside of the where the case gets annealed and then youll have a way to gauge how hot each case gets. It would be a relative reading, but the nice things is that you could then dial in where you wanted it eash session. Just a thought. Great video. Thx!
@@ReelTimeCapt Direct flame on thermocouple will spike the temperature beyond measuring threshold not to mention it will probably damage it and how do you plan to attach it to brass while its spinning? Also TC is kind of slow to give you quick reading where 1/2 sec will make a difference. Try it with regular lighter, see how hot the flame is.
@@DimaProk - That is an excellent point and well taken. This would not be direct flame, but would be in the opposite side of the brass. However, you bring up a good point and that is the max temp that a TC has. Thank you for the feedback and candor in this. Best Regards
Been using my Gen2 Annealezz for about a year now. Works great, I use 55 on the speed and just kiss the brass with the blue flame. It runs about 5-6 seconds before pickup. Worth every cent and my brass is definitely more easy to size and I have almost no case splits.
Thank you very much for creating this video! I will be bookmarking this video (I may even download it.) Great video for anyone who wants to take reloading beyond just reloading a couple of their rifle cases from time to time.
Shannon (or Shawn..I can remember) got it, so as long as my PC lasts and it has power I'll have this video to refer to for myself or anyone I know who is considering annealing. Again, thanks a million!
Don’t worry about it getting bright cherry red and I mean bright! Brass is a single phase alloy so can’t be over annealed. Providing it’s just the neck that glows you’ll be fine. Over annealed= melted. Don’t waste your money on tempilaq! Annealing at 750f needs an hour on the annealing S curve. You actually need around 1050 degrees over a few seconds which is enough to cause the necks to glow brightly but short enough to prevent the lower part annealing.
You need the small wheel for 6.5 Grendel, 6 mm arc and I'm pretty sure 224 Valkyrie , I have tried using the medium wheels but just not enough brass hanging out, and the smalls really doesn't like to spin to good and that was with new wheel,, so i found annealing the dirty brass first. it did spin a lot better with the dirty brass then nice clean shiny brass. now 223 on the medium wheels was fine, but i on thinking about switching to EP 2.0 BRASS ANNEALER I anneal after every firing, i get long brass life and i have seen better groups on my worked up loads , which i had a harder time with be for annealing I find that i get the same release tension around the bullet
I`ve had my annealeeze for about five years. I`ve had good luck with it. I used a batch of 100 5.56/223 mixed cases a few years ago and got eleven reloads or twelve shots out of them before I felt like they were finally worn out. I only lost two of those 100 to split mouths. Elfster has a new annealer he sells that can do brass from 300blk to 50bmg without changing out any parts. It's pretty darn cool and about the same price as an annealeeze.
I finally started my annealing my brass because the necks had started work hardening and wouldn't hold a bullet. I never thought i had any accuracy issues that could be fixed with annealing. So, just recently I decided to anneal my 6br brass, until then I could only get about .4's to .6 inch 5 shot groups, which is not nearly as good as a 6BR should be. Once I annealed them my groups are now consistently in the .2's. I also noticed the feel of sizing and seating bullets is a lot more consistent too. Which I'm guessing is part of the reason for the increas in accuracy.
I used to stand my brass in a roasting tin with water in the bottom. Heat up the brass with a blow torch once the brass are red knock them over into the water.
They make a lacquer that paints onto the neck and turns a certain collar at a certain temperature and they make a range of different temperature lacquers. Tempalaq or similar name. At that point you can set your dwell time on your drum to a certain reference number and be pretty sure it’s annealing properly.
I tried several different variations of flame annealing and the results were universally inconsistent. Flame stability and consistency is just a constant problem. Induction is the only way that yields consistent results. The Annie annealer is what I got. It is just a basic unit with a cooling coil so that the power source is protected during high volume annealing. The small handheld induction units he discussed are fine for very low volumes but will easily overheat and burn up their power source if not allowed to cool frequently.
There are ways to get more consistent flames to help with that issue. The larger the fuel tank the better. Discharge rate to volume will drop the tank temp, and thus pressure. Different nozzle designs also can make a difference. Not saying it's perfect by any means, just things that can make a difference.
@@OddBallPerformance Yes, a grill tank helped, but truth is, there is simply no comparison between inductive and even the very best flame based results. Setup is slow and changes every time you use it. I can easily anneal 200 rounds with my manual inductive annealer in the time needed to set up and adjust it a flame based unit. Once you have used the alternative, you wont ever consider going back.
i love my anneilezz . i got the gen 2 . thought about the salt bath but went with the anneeilezz . many yrs ago when i was shooting bullseye a lot of the old guys would anneal the top 1/4 inch of 38 special cases . they said it helped the groups a lot . i tried it but the only thing i seen was less case mouth splits . but .38 wadcutters crimped over the top of the wadcutter would split cases very fast . great video ! people need to know this ! this will help you a ton when adjusting the torch head to the case neck . get a wingnut and replace the nut on the adjuster with it . no more wrench !
That's what was going through my head the whole time...WHY ISN'T THIS A WINGNUT?! lol I guess it is because it really needs to be very tight to hold that slippery tube. Do you have any issues getting it tight enough?
@@JohnnysReloadingBench not realy . but i found a wingnut with large wings on it . another mood is to use one of the u bolts that holds steel cable . they say it is way better than what comes with the unit . i never tried it myself . oh , and keep the lower wheel clean . the wheel with the blues stuff on it . if it gets dirty the brass will not turn right . acetone is what they say to use to clean it .
Hard to beat a propane torch mounted in a vice with a 5/8" -3/8" drive deep well socket mounted in a cordless drill with a 3/8" - 1/4" hex adapter spinning. You have a bucket of cold water nearby to dump them in after a second or so of heating.
I have to agree. It's easy and worth it. In the last couple years I've picked up rifles chambered in cartridges you can't find when times are good. Few things are quite as aggravating as losing cases after one or two firings when you took the time to make impossible to find brass out of hard to find brass. Passed up a 250 Savage a while ago, wish I'd grabbed it as I have tons of 22-250 available to make into 250 Savage.
I've reloaded for decades and only started annealing in the last year - when I finally got serious with the CheyTac calibers. I have to agree that the salt bath looks very dangerous. I've purchased an AMP. My first experience was with .338 LM cases and boy that was some lesson. I really discovered that the cases after annealing are so soft that they like sticking to dies. Almost like bread dough. I broke a case remover trying to get one out. Since then, I've switched to Imperial Sizing Wax to lubricate the cases after annealing. Anything else and they stick - HARD!
I bet the custom chamber he's using is pretty tight and his necks don't get much of a workout during firing and resizing. It's a much different world in a commercial grade chamber with a giant neck, followed by a commercial grade die that sizes the piss out of the brass.
We anneal Copper and nickel plates at work go through few time in process to make what plate size customer want and hardness of plates or coils of metal. All gos through heat then through water and acid clean the metals. Not into it yet for myself for reloading still think about it .
On my 45/70, I get bulges down on the lower part of the case that makes chambering difficult. I've never split a case mouth that I can remember. I've been reloading some of my brass for over 20 years, admittedly I'm not a high volume shooter of 45/70.
Induction is the knee's of the bee. Also, induction option is a Fluxeon Little Anne. I built my own induction annealer with a timer that anneals down to .1 second. So its nice and consistent Temps on the tmepilaq, I wouldn't start at less than 750. I put 750 on the body of the case. If you are flame annealing putting tempilaq on the outside just ends up with burnt tempilaq. I use 1150°F on my shoulder junction to set up my machine. It could likely go a bit longer. I'd say a vast majority of people don't anneal long enough. In my experience you kinda want to see that neck and shoulder glow and then turn the heat off.
Get some 750 tempilaq. Then you can set time perfectly. I usually do 2 or 3 cases and save one in case I want to check it later to see if everything is still running correctly. I also use the tempilaq inside the case mouth. Then clean, size, trim and clean again only if needed.
Nice video. I keep researching annealing. I do think that EC might not be right on the over annealing meaning that I do think that you can overheat the brass and ruin it sooner than his video indicated. I am actually a fan of his. Some people actually ruin a piece of brass and back off which is not so bright. It does not hurt to double anneal. If you re-anneal the brass that is already annealed, it will not over anneal. Providing when you anneal it again it has cooled down. So, one could work their way up to the proper anneal and anything that may have been under annealed could be re-annealed. With a single flame and the right distance from the torch somewhere around 4 seconds should do the job on most brass. Very small calibers maybe less, very large maybe a little more. Reloading is a constant learning process.
I have the induction annealing method off ebay and there is a video on here that shows you how to set up a on/off repeat timer as I've been reloading for a few years now I find I have 2 different setups. One for precision and one for mass production. I want my processes as automated as possible for consistency and time savings. If I could do it over again I would have bought annealeez rather then doing every case by hand, one at a time takes forever. Just my 2 cents
Others have commented but you need the inner light blue flame tip just touching the neck towards the shoulder. Melting wheels on these is a real thing..sometimes from improper flame setup but more often from conduction and convection. If you want hit me up and I’ll send you a solution to this. Annealeez thermal shields full kit - finally! th-cam.com/video/hecs4UTrR5I/w-d-xo.html
Brass prices alone make it worth it, especially for my grendel brass I would start seeing cracks at 4X brass so I always anneal 6.5 after third firing 👍 Great vid brother !!!
I do not anneal using the Lee collet die followed by the Redding Body die, resizing 3/1000 every reload. There ie spring back after 3 firings so need to push shoulders back a little more each time to maintain the 3/1000. Because I only Lee neck die size they are not work hardened, so my brass last longer without the need to anneal. I get about 10 firings from each case. My case failures are typically the primer pocket, having only a couple split cases over the years. I have great accuracy and shoot competitively in my league shooting fantastic groups. I have great success as long as I push the back the shoulders 3/1000. This does not work with if push the shoulders back using a full length die or bushing die, poor groups three shootings. It is understandable to me, as the Lee Collet Die works the brass only a fraction of a typical die. Last week with my 6.5 Creedmoor at 1000 yards I shot a 7” and 9” (5 shot) groups on a bipod. I measure each piece of brass many times during the reloading process making sure every piece of brass is exactly the same after sizing. I absolutely hate annealing and have found a reloading process where I do not need to anneal. Problem, just bought a 6.8 Western and Lee does not yet make a collet and Redding does not make a body die. So, I have no choice but to anneal.
Thank you for a great video again. The marking is not important because as you said would change with gas setup and also changes with brass. I found different cases needs different settings for annealing. I made my own annealer and i use the flame always max setting and if needed I adjust the distance of the torch instead of the size of the flame. But this is easy in my case because I only reload 223 and 308.
Check out the Annie annealer. I’m thinking about building one. Just waiting to sell some spare gear I have laying around then I’m going to put together an Annie kit
Ugly Annealer is an alternative to AnnealEz, all metal parts, very well built, made in New Zealand but you have to order from Amazon in the US market. Ugly Annealer has all metal parts and very well built.. EP2 is a great option as well with a different design, I’d didn’t like guide rod stays hot throughout the brass annealing process, well made and American made.
Please, please, please build the induction annealer!?! The idea of using a press to do it I also thought of. I was thinking of modifying a crimping die to contain the element somehow. Having a switch on the press that activates when the ram is at the top of the stroke. Only problem is I’m a dunce when it comes to wiring! So I have all the components but wouldn’t know how to wire in the timer or the switch. I know you have the smarts to do it so please do and show how all the wiring is done. Kindest regards from Australia, Superdude70.
Shoot a couple of Straight wall cases 45-70 and 38-50 Hepburn The Hepburn is formed from 303 British and I have a 375h&h expander in a lee Universal decaping die you bring it from arround .310 to arround .373 in one pass That’s is working the brass alot so i anneal before and after forming I’m shooting black powder so i do not size my brass the projectiles can be seated with you thumb however I use a die just for consistency So once fire formed im not working the brass much at all I still anneal just the case mouth every so often but probably don’t even need to do that You could literally get 50 or more shots per case if you look after it unlike modern smokeless Cartridges
Coming from the blacksmith world, you want to anneal in a dark(er) room, and when the brass turns a dull red drop it immediately into a tub of water. This may be a touch too soft for cartridge cases though.
That was how I used this; I would set it to drop the case just as a faint glow appeared, but I didn't water quench. My sizing became easier and more consistent, and I rarely split case necks anymore.
@@veteranironoutdoors8320 no need to, I’m not wetting my brass after annealing. When I anneal brass it’s time to load it not wait for it to dry again. I promise I know what I’m doing with brass and reloading my trophies prove that. Annealeez comes with a metal pan for it to drop into not a water bucket.
@@6creeder688 im talking apples and you are talking oranges. Im speaking about brass in the material sense. You are speaking brass as in formed cartridge brass.
I built my own induction annealer for just a little over $200. Works great. You just have to adjust your timing. I’m glad you commented on that system. AMP is a great tool but too expensive for the average Joe.
JRB is my favorite channel bar none on TH-cam.
When I started reloading 5 years ago I thought I had an unlimited supply of brass because I always picked up my brass for 20 years. Turns out when you reload, you shoot A LOT MORE!
The 5,000 or so pieces I had are now going on their third firing so I started annealing them the hard way, one at a time. This video has convinced me that I need an annealer! Thanks for all you do and keep em coming!!
100%
Oof. I only have 400 total and I'm very ready to buy one if I get a deal. Crazy what a difference it makes after 3-4 firing, eh?
I love my ep integrations annealer. Very good price for what you get.
I hand aneil my brass and for the last 18 years or so. I use a quarter inch extension in my electric drill and use a 1/4 inch drive socket that the cases Just sit in without wobble. As a rule it takes four seconds per case, and I always have the blue tip of the flame almost touching the brass. Any further away it takes longer to Aneil. I like to target shoot and hunt, but I don’t expect to put 10 bullets into the same hole. I am happy with getting more than 10 reloads per brass.- - shoot safe and enjoy the sport.
I've started annealing after every range session, after cleaning the brass. I've noticed more consistent neck tension when seating projectiles.
I now anneal after each competition too. havent had time to shoot outside of that in the last 14 months or so.
Annealeez is my favorite for saving brass during a time where you can't afford to loose brass to split necks ect. My last batch of lapua 6.5/284 is up nearby $50 per 100. Keep good notes.
"keep good notes" +1
I paid 125 for Laura 6.5x284 4 years ago bought 400 rods. So it's up 50 now
The Annealeez really was awesome. It is much quicker than my AMP, even with the AMP mate and case feed.
I use the Annealeez
notes r king
I have an AMP and glad I purchased it. Yes it was a boat load of money but since im in my late 20's my thought is it will pay for its self in brass life over my shooting career. I anneal my 450 bushmaster brass on it to prevent split necks. also it comes in handy when forming 25-06, 6.5 grendel and 256 win mag brass. I was never sold on annealing and bought the AMP anyway just for extended brass life. It turned me into a true believer when I processed a batch of 308 brass. Before annealing trimming on my RCBS powdered trim pro was a chore. After annealing I had to back off the spring tension as it was too aggressive and causing problems. This is what opened my eyes as to how hard our brass gets and how important annealing is. Obviously an AMP isnt for everyone but I encourage all non beginner reloaders to anneal.
Yeah, people can balk at the expense in reloading, but with ammo prices so freaking crazy it'll all pay itself off pretty quick. I barely shoot, honestly, but I've probably paid off my stuff in a few years.
I have an " annealeez " and have no complaints....... It may not be the best or most expensive but it works great !!
I assembled the DIY annealer offered on YTube. It worked beautifully, for close to 1000 cases. Went to use it this weekend and was not the same. Seems like the induction device is acting up. It gets hot, not that hot though. After 9-10 seconds, I gave up. Then I remembered I had to return the first one to Amazon. They were great about the exchange, prompt, no questions asked.
Maybe the quality is spotty. Maybe some get lucky and get a good one. I got two that did not hold up. I am going to purchase the Ugly Annealer. Looking at several videos I think this may be reasonably affordable and well built. It comes with all you need less torch for under 300.00. Thanks for all you do.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my EP integrations 2.0 annealer! Crazy easy to anneal right out of the box & anneals from the smallest of cartridges up to 50BMG without having to add or remove any parts & adjusts from cartridge to cartridge in seconds. I'd check it out.
Whoever made this product had a pretty good sense of humor.
I have an Annealeez Gen 3, so far it's been great. As far as 300BO brass I anneal it after cutting down 5.56 brass before forming to 300BO.
I have done thousands cases with my Annealeez, works fine.
Also your flame is way to short / low. IME with the feather (inner Fame) 1/4 to 3/16 from the brass about 6 seconds is what you will want with that brass.
Hey sir, love your vids! I especially love how I can’t get out of my head the picture of Lt. Jim Dangle from Reno 911 sitting there reloading ammo! You sound exactly like him!
I made my father promise to retire the salt annealing process. A drop of sweat reacts badly. Bought him an Annealeez. Very happy and my 76 yo father is good. The consistency with it is very consistent.
Shannon, There is an Australian company that makes an annealing machine comparable to the Annealeez called Kase Annealr, that have made a very good set of tutorials on how to setup their flame annealer. While their tutorials mostly pertain to setting up their machine, I'd like to point out in their flame alignment video, they recommend setting up the flame so that the tip of the inner flame is just touching the neck/shoulder junction. I believe this to be a more consistent way of setting up the flame, and should help you to alleviate the issue of your flame running away from your case. You're machine should be capable of speeding up to compensate for the extra heat being put into the case, so you don't ruin your brass. I'm not saying you need to try this, it is only a suggestion, but it might be worth a try. Good luck with the tinkering.
Should switch to Induction technology. Gas becoming outdated.
th-cam.com/video/Bs5J5nZrKdw/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/channels/E-sacz5aoQz-CJHrwPcklA.html
For my 300 Win Mag I was using the exact Coleman propane/torch setup you showed... And the little Lee case holder doodad, but I chucked it in my lathe and ran it at 120 rpm. But it was a tad slow so I dug around in all my sockets and figured out a 13 mm deep well fit 300WM just about perfect. No more fiddling with locking the case head in the Lee doodad.
Not a lot of people have a lathe in their shop. So go to Lowe's or similar and get a socket adaptor for 1/4" impact to 3/8 drive sockets. And buy a cheap Chinesium socket that fits your case... Chuck it in your drill or impact and get to annealing.
While my Annealeez 2 doesn't cure split necks in my 6.5 Grendel, the brass lasts longer. All my 5.56 range brass goes thru annealing prior to trimming & reloading. I watched Erik Cortina's videos and came away with "it's not so critical that I need an AMP for my needs". I anneal everything and agree that neck tension is more consistent.
Annealing should be done before resizing and not afterwards! You’ll ruin neck tension by annealing after sizing.
I use a my torch, socket and my electric drill bit. I just like doing everything by hand. I find it very pleasing and stress released process.
Great video. I built my own flame annealer last winter and have watched some of the same videos on building an induction annealer. While I like my flame annealer induction is the way I would personally like to go.
When I run my flame annealer I run it so that the inner flame is just kissing the point where the neck and shoulder meet and run it till it gets a faint glow and it then drops into my garage sale purchased bread pan.
Reese on the Range had some interesting videos on metallurgy when it comes to flame annealing and he makes it super simple to understand. Maybe someday I will have a job that will allow pay me enough for Amp Annealer money but right now I am happy with the flame. Great video thanks Johnny.
Wife bought me an AMP machine. Best machine out there.
When I cut down 5.56 brass to make 300 blackout I anneal every cut case before I form/size the case. The factory annealed part of the case is cut off. The remaining brass isn't soft enough to rework without stressing it. I get consistent sizing and the brass remains at the length that I cut it down to. All I have to do is hit the case mouth with a tool to bevel the inside and outside case mouth edges. All I do to anneal is line up brass along my stainless kitchen sink rim and heat each case with a torch. When the case begins to show signs of turning red I knock the case into the sink and move to the next one. I can go through 200 cases in a short time with little effort. I found once fired LC 5.56, FC, and CBC brass are able to stay workable through 3 reloads before I need to anneal.
That's a great machine. I just bought one. I run it on 55 to anneal 6.8 SPC brass. The inner blue flame should just touch the case. I used the 750° Tempilaq to get the right timing. Mine is a Gen 3, but I bought the hose at Cabela's.
Really enjoyed this. I did exactly the same (in thought process) before I bought the AMP. I too watched the videos on their web site and decided that everything else represented too much compromise. Their research is extensive. Just processed 600.
lol, im sure they want you to have that EXACT feeling after watching their marketing materials. Given that many people don't anneal at all and have good results, the difference between the cheap and expensive annealer will be so minute its hilarious.
@@James28R In general, I would agree. However, I spent a career in direct sales and am the most "pitch" resistant person you will ever meet. I was convinced by the data. I can feel the difference when sizing and I can see it when I measure.
Four years ago, I got this Annealeez for my 75th B. D. and no use any other system to anneal my brass. Back in the late 60's to make my 222 Rem. brass from military 5.56 brass. Now I anneal 5.56 brass to make my 300 BLk OUT brass, 5.56 to make my 25-45 Sharps & 6.5 Grendale to make my 6mm ARC brass. 79 now, & still loading & shooting varmints. You make great video, love them, ..1SG., J J Huro Jr., USA RET.
I bought one only because i have an 8.6 blackout and make my own brass but now i love it and use it all my brass
If, like me, you want a nice induction annealer take a look at North East Texas Tactical channel for a $250 induction DIY setup. It isnt fully automated but it sure is simple and consistent and for 1/10th the price it does a great job.
Annealing black powder cartridges is a good idea as well. A softer neck will expand to seal the chamber more easily preventing blowback. If your BP cartridges are dirty out of the chamber, you might need an annealing.
Annealing alligns/realigns the molecules in the brass making it appear softer. Ive been reloading for 10 years or so n still dont know everything! and Ive been annealing for about half that time, looking for the consistancies between everyones methods, ask ten people n your gonna get ten different answers, Ive been using the drill/electric screwdriver n socket method for years! I just recently/ last christmas'24 got an Annealease machine and have yet to use it, just havnt been shooting as much, Ive got a bunch of brass sitting in my tumbler ,in my cabin, been busy with other things lately on the property, even built a few more AR's n have my own shooting range! been working on the cabin n shop n dealing withn the weather hear in the mountains of southern Oregon. I could just grab a propane bottle n do it my old way, but ive got plenty of brass, in multiple calibers, 308 bolt n auto n vaqrious othersn loaded sitting in my range bag.
I anneal my 300 blk brass after cutting down the 5.56 cases and before forming .
Appreciate the encouragement. I have been thinking about it seriously for a good while. Watching a bunch of you guys. I just did not want to pay for machine. Thank you.
Lol I use the lee shell holder and map gas. 3.5 seconds and it works great for me. I’ll process 4-500 at a time. Since I started reloading (thanks to you) I haven’t bought any box ammo and only reload. I would rather buy once fired brass by the thousand and process it myself. I get better performance at a better price than buying match ammo. Not to mention my ammo is tuned to my barrel where box ammo isn’t. My groups show the difference.
I decap, anneal, tumble wash with pins and then size, length, flash hole ream, swage (if needed), square the primer hole and de burr in and outer case mouth and they are ready to get washed again just to remove any lubricant. From there prime, powder, seat and crimp. If I’m loading for match I’ll pull the ones with the best concentricity (gauged of course) and use those for my heavier grain like 75g or even 68g HPBT. My groups get even smaller.
If your group is sub moa at 100 yards, you’ll have an easier time holding 1.5 inch groups at 200 yards. Having the right barrel is key as well.
From what I could see your doing good , I do this after every firing it sure makes the brass easy to trim and by the way I use a drill motor and swap sockets per size of the case
Temperature is part of the old AMP white papers and also addressed thoroughly by ReeseontheRange a metallurgist
I've used an Annealeeze for several years and switched to a Benchsource annealer. More better, easier to get it right once you play with it a little bit. I set my torches so the two center tongues of fire meet on the neck of the case. I do it about 4 seconds and that seems right but you may need to go a little slower depending on the brass.
I'm glad I came back and watched the rest of this. I just did some annealing attempts yesterday for the first time (socket and drill). They came out good but I was starting to worry about the finished color like we tend to do.. Then I got worried I was too far down the case, not enough time on the neck, etc. They came out just fine, just like you showed. Slight dulling of color 1/4-1/3 of the way down the case.
I did well enough that I could compare 3-4x fired hornady annealed vs not and 2x fired adg annealed vs not. Major difference in the springback on the hornady, they definitely needed it. I went from about ten thou of variance to .001 variance across ten cases picked randomly from the fired bucket. Hornady is springy and hard to dial in to begin with, I'm going to anneal after fireforming/factory loads from now on. Adg, being nice and soft and thick like lapua, only cut the variance by about 25 percent. From maybe slightly outside my margin of error to possibly inside my margin of error on the pressure/timing of the die press.
A 1/16 drill bit upside down in a cordless drill in a vice also is a good low-budget move. Fits well in the primer hole. You can use a squeeze clamp to set the drill speed. Old school, but works fine.
I have long hoped you would start annealing all your brass as a part of your reloading process. I feel your SDs will be decreasing in the future, good stuff Shannon!
Consistency is key.
One thing I have to remind of is that I don't shoot to make an income, therefore I don't need to spend $$ on the best of the best equipment. I find a thing that suits my needs and that's what I use. I'm using the Annealeze and have had no issues with it, other that heavy ends precipitating out of the gas and clogging the burner nozzle which is no fault of Annealeze. I use a 750 deg F temp stick (Markal Thermomelt) to set it up and record my settings. I've done some studying on brass metallic annealing and seen the temp curves required to fully anneal without "cooking out" base metals. Form watching the video, Its hard to judge the amount of heat you were putting into the brass, but from my experience with that machine, you need more heat.
AGS brass annealer , simple , like the bench source but less expensive , really nice workmanship from Bulgaria with ❤️
Add an adjustable regulator with a gauge to your 20# tank , leave torch valve full open and adjust your flame with the regulator. Then record the time and pressure , the digital timer is available on Amozon or Ebay and an easy install.
That sounds like a good plan.
I still do the old spin it between my fingers method and I’m ready for some automation.
I am planning to buy a aneelezz. Some of my older 45/70 black powder cases sent the case mouth down rage through my Sharps.
Set the flame so that the tip of the inner flame (the hottest part) is right at the neck-shoulder junction. 5.5 seconds in the flame was perfect for .308 brass. As Erik Cortina demonstrated, the time isn't as super critical as most people think and for that reason setting time in the flame using the timer on your phone or ipad should be sufficient.
KISS principle works for me: lee trimmer holder, torch, drill and Sound Brenner app to provide 6-7 second timing depending on caliber. Never had a split neck or a case head separation, and all my final loads have single digit SDs.
I'm sure of it now! Johnny is also This Old Tony
It's funny that you posted this yesterday. I was just looking at how to anneal since I was forming a bunch of 338 federal brass
As far as the field expedient method, I just find a deep socket that perfectly fits the case I’m working with. Don’t have to worry about the case wobbling around.
i just use a torch and do it by hand. it will get too hot to hold if you are really screwing it up. it also has the benefit of drying them out after cleaning them so it does 2 things at once.
ive probably done like 2k 308 and 223 cases like that and its something i just have done while sitting around
For the people that do it by hand with a tourch use tempilaq 700 degree it's like nail polish you put a little swipe on the inside of the case and when you heat it it will dissolve and your done it is very accurate it basically works like a timmer.
Talking about the 900F salt bath. What is the dip time for best annealing of 5.56x45 brass for you.
What about the 6.5mm Grendel brass? Did you try Grendel cases in your salt bath annealer.
The secret to the AMP New Zealand induction annealer is that they use tons of hardness data using their Vickers Micro-hardness tester. That rig is a few thousand dollars by itself, so they amortize the cost for owning and operating that lab level hardness tester by passing along the cost to their induction annealer price.
I have the V2 annealeez. I set mine up where I can just run the flame wide open and only adjust the speed for different cases. Makes it super easy to switch from 223 to 308 to 6.5 creedmoor etc. Just aim the torch and set the speed for whatever case I'm running.
I think that's what I'm going to try next. Seeing that flame change so much during the video was eye opening. I didn't notice it at all at the time! I think working under bright lights for the camera made it less obvious. If going wide open doesn't work for me, I might look for a different nozzle or something. I'm sure, if I look around, all of this has been talked about and figured out long ago.
I used to run an Annealeez. It's a great little machine. I switched to the AMP only because I shoot F-Class and everything is about consistency and doing the best you can on the reloading bench so on the line you know why a flyer occurs.
I put a high angle on my v2’s torch head and anneal 300 blackout. Highly recommend it, from initial forming and onward it’s the only way to go
Have a Fluxeon Annie that’s been a pleasure to use. Perfect anneal every time and easily adjustable
Even with the small wheels, I had very poor results on my Annealeze not burning up the wheels. I gave up on both 300 BO and 6mm ARC. Great for 223 though.
You have to adjust the torch as close to the machine as you can and it will stop that
That's the complaint I keep running into. I tried to be careful and have the nozzle pointed slightly away from the machine. I saw a bunch of videos by a guy that added big fender washers as heat protectors for the wheels, but I haven't taken the time to watch them yet. Thanks for the info.
the gen 3 version lets you set the torch at an angle behind the machine. just ran 1500 300blk and no damage to the small wheels.
@@jeffnichols5176 crazy thing is he just sent me a email about that it’s a 4” exhaust clamp, I’m taking my gen 2 apart and going to set it up like the new one
Good stuff Johnny. I have that exact annealer. Adding an on/off and a volt meter does help.
I anneal everything, every pass. The Annealeez is so fast and simple, why not?
The real win with annealing is consistency in neck tension. The case life extension is just a good side effect IMHO.
I dont feel Tempilaq is worth the money. Its easy to set by eye in the dark as you showed.
One thing that Ive found to work well is to run from a 20# gas tank as it makes the torch more consistent.
Also I set the torch with the tip of the flame on the shoulder of the case.
The AMP folks are correct on the salt annealing. The salt bath just doesnt have enough high temp to raise the neck temp enough to actually anneal anything.
Easiest way to spin cases I've found is to decap them and put a decapping pin or small diameter drill in the drill. Just put the case on the pin at a moderate spin rate (I use a zip tie to control the drill speed) and put the drill in a vice. 4-5 seconds works for most bottle neck cases.
how many do you spin? I only shoot 100/month on my precision loads @ 800m, I anneal when I get a set of brass that has
I use the lee hand trimmer that hooks to your drill and the shell holder that goes with it to hold the case and a propane torch like you said... I've just started messing with it and it does help tighten things up with your velocity numbers and makes sizing much more consistent. I've been waiting on this video ever since the livestream because I've been looking into annealing for a while and was looking at getting a machine because the way I'm doing it now takes forever. Great video as always keepem coming brother!!!
I use a socket set and put it in my wireless drill. I use the long sockets. I put the braas in the socket en let it turn in the flame off a cheap burner with disposable botle. I let the hot brass fall in an iron kitchen vegtable filter. So easy and not so hot as yours.
Got the amp annealer about 3 months ago. Great machine! Fast!
I found 6-7seconds in the flame is about the sweet spot for most brass in my experience.
I hold and rotate with my fingers, then dunk in water. By time it gets warm to the fingers, the neck is perfectly annealed.
Shannon - Put a thermo couple on the outside of the where the case gets annealed and then youll have a way to gauge how hot each case gets. It would be a relative reading, but the nice things is that you could then dial in where you wanted it eash session. Just a thought. Great video. Thx!
@FletchMan really bad idea.
@@DimaProk - Just a thought. Explain why. Thx
@@ReelTimeCapt Direct flame on thermocouple will spike the temperature beyond measuring threshold not to mention it will probably damage it and how do you plan to attach it to brass while its spinning? Also TC is kind of slow to give you quick reading where 1/2 sec will make a difference. Try it with regular lighter, see how hot the flame is.
@@DimaProk - That is an excellent point and well taken. This would not be direct flame, but would be in the opposite side of the brass. However, you bring up a good point and that is the max temp that a TC has. Thank you for the feedback and candor in this. Best Regards
Been using my Gen2 Annealezz for about a year now. Works great, I use 55 on the speed and just kiss the brass with the blue flame. It runs about 5-6 seconds before pickup. Worth every cent and my brass is definitely more easy to size and I have almost no case splits.
I use 55 to anneal my 6.8 SPC brass. Love Annealeez.
I have been using the candle method for my grendel, but I don’t shoot tons of brass so it goes fast enough for me.
Thank you very much for creating this video! I will be bookmarking this video (I may even download it.) Great video for anyone who wants to take reloading beyond just reloading a couple of their rifle cases from time to time.
Shannon (or Shawn..I can remember) got it, so as long as my PC lasts and it has power I'll have this video to refer to for myself or anyone I know who is considering annealing. Again, thanks a million!
Don’t worry about it getting bright cherry red and I mean bright! Brass is a single phase alloy so can’t be over annealed. Providing it’s just the neck that glows you’ll be fine. Over annealed= melted. Don’t waste your money on tempilaq! Annealing at 750f needs an hour on the annealing S curve. You actually need around 1050 degrees over a few seconds which is enough to cause the necks to glow brightly but short enough to prevent the lower part annealing.
You need the small wheel for 6.5 Grendel, 6 mm arc and I'm pretty sure 224 Valkyrie , I have tried using the medium wheels but just not enough brass hanging out, and the smalls really doesn't like to spin to good and that was with new wheel,, so i found annealing the dirty brass first. it did spin a lot better with the dirty brass then nice clean shiny brass. now 223 on the medium wheels was fine, but i on thinking about switching to EP 2.0 BRASS ANNEALER I anneal after every firing, i get long brass life and i have seen better groups on my worked up loads , which i had a harder time with be for annealing I find that i get the same release tension around the bullet
Turn the lights on if you don’t see it glow, it is not too hot, I like to see it glow for little over 1 second under low light not dark.
I`ve had my annealeeze for about five years. I`ve had good luck with it. I used a batch of 100 5.56/223 mixed cases a few years ago and got eleven reloads or twelve shots out of them before I felt like they were finally worn out. I only lost two of those 100 to split mouths. Elfster has a new annealer he sells that can do brass from 300blk to 50bmg without changing out any parts. It's pretty darn cool and about the same price as an annealeeze.
Link?
@@MrBoostin18 EP Integrations LLC
Anyone know what the conclusions were of the video mentioned at 12:30? The video appears to have been taken down.
I anneal the 300 BLK OUT after I cut them before I size them. Make a big difference.
I finally started my annealing my brass because the necks had started work hardening and wouldn't hold a bullet. I never thought i had any accuracy issues that could be fixed with annealing. So, just recently I decided to anneal my 6br brass, until then I could only get about .4's to .6 inch 5 shot groups, which is not nearly as good as a 6BR should be. Once I annealed them my groups are now consistently in the .2's. I also noticed the feel of sizing and seating bullets is a lot more consistent too. Which I'm guessing is part of the reason for the increas in accuracy.
I used to stand my brass in a roasting tin with water in the bottom. Heat up the brass with a blow torch once the brass are red knock them over into the water.
The purpose of annealing is to soften the metal, not to make it harder by quenching in water.
They make a lacquer that paints onto the neck and turns a certain collar at a certain temperature and they make a range of different temperature lacquers. Tempalaq or similar name. At that point you can set your dwell time on your drum to a certain reference number and be pretty sure it’s annealing properly.
I tried several different variations of flame annealing and the results were universally inconsistent. Flame stability and consistency is just a constant problem. Induction is the only way that yields consistent results. The Annie annealer is what I got. It is just a basic unit with a cooling coil so that the power source is protected during high volume annealing. The small handheld induction units he discussed are fine for very low volumes but will easily overheat and burn up their power source if not allowed to cool frequently.
There are ways to get more consistent flames to help with that issue. The larger the fuel tank the better. Discharge rate to volume will drop the tank temp, and thus pressure. Different nozzle designs also can make a difference. Not saying it's perfect by any means, just things that can make a difference.
@@OddBallPerformance Yes, a grill tank helped, but truth is, there is simply no comparison between inductive and even the very best flame based results. Setup is slow and changes every time you use it. I can easily anneal 200 rounds with my manual inductive annealer in the time needed to set up and adjust it a flame based unit. Once you have used the alternative, you wont ever consider going back.
I bought the smaller wheels for 6.5 Grendel. Haven't done any 300 Blackout with it yet.
i love my anneilezz . i got the gen 2 . thought about the salt bath but went with the anneeilezz . many yrs ago when i was shooting bullseye a lot of the old guys would anneal the top 1/4 inch of 38 special cases . they said it helped the groups a lot . i tried it but the only thing i seen was less case mouth splits . but .38 wadcutters crimped over the top of the wadcutter would split cases very fast . great video ! people need to know this ! this will help you a ton when adjusting the torch head to the case neck . get a wingnut and replace the nut on the adjuster with it . no more wrench !
That's what was going through my head the whole time...WHY ISN'T THIS A WINGNUT?! lol I guess it is because it really needs to be very tight to hold that slippery tube. Do you have any issues getting it tight enough?
@@JohnnysReloadingBench not realy . but i found a wingnut with large wings on it . another mood is to use one of the u bolts that holds steel cable . they say it is way better than what comes with the unit . i never tried it myself . oh , and keep the lower wheel clean . the wheel with the blues stuff on it . if it gets dirty the brass will not turn right . acetone is what they say to use to clean it .
Hard to beat a propane torch mounted in a vice with a 5/8" -3/8" drive deep well socket mounted in a cordless drill with a 3/8" - 1/4" hex adapter spinning. You have a bucket of cold water nearby to dump them in after a second or so of heating.
I have to agree. It's easy and worth it. In the last couple years I've picked up rifles chambered in cartridges you can't find when times are good. Few things are quite as aggravating as losing cases after one or two firings when you took the time to make impossible to find brass out of hard to find brass. Passed up a 250 Savage a while ago, wish I'd grabbed it as I have tons of 22-250 available to make into 250 Savage.
Now I can’t wait to see some videos on the .32-40. That would be sweet.
I've reloaded for decades and only started annealing in the last year - when I finally got serious with the CheyTac calibers. I have to agree that the salt bath looks very dangerous. I've purchased an AMP. My first experience was with .338 LM cases and boy that was some lesson. I really discovered that the cases after annealing are so soft that they like sticking to dies. Almost like bread dough.
I broke a case remover trying to get one out. Since then, I've switched to Imperial Sizing Wax to lubricate the cases after annealing. Anything else and they stick - HARD!
David Tubbs doesn’t anneal. But he also states that his loads are in the lands, and there is more support when loading in the lands.
I bet the custom chamber he's using is pretty tight and his necks don't get much of a workout during firing and resizing.
It's a much different world in a commercial grade chamber with a giant neck, followed by a commercial grade die that sizes the piss out of the brass.
We anneal Copper and nickel plates at work go through few time in process to make what plate size customer want and hardness of plates or coils of metal. All gos through heat then through water and acid clean the metals. Not into it yet for myself for reloading still think about it .
Thanks to Roger and you for a great video. Very informative indeed.
On my 45/70, I get bulges down on the lower part of the case that makes chambering difficult. I've never split a case mouth that I can remember. I've been reloading some of my brass for over 20 years, admittedly I'm not a high volume shooter of 45/70.
Induction is the knee's of the bee.
Also, induction option is a Fluxeon Little Anne. I built my own induction annealer with a timer that anneals down to .1 second. So its nice and consistent
Temps on the tmepilaq, I wouldn't start at less than 750. I put 750 on the body of the case. If you are flame annealing putting tempilaq on the outside just ends up with burnt tempilaq. I use 1150°F on my shoulder junction to set up my machine. It could likely go a bit longer. I'd say a vast majority of people don't anneal long enough. In my experience you kinda want to see that neck and shoulder glow and then turn the heat off.
Get some 750 tempilaq. Then you can set time perfectly. I usually do 2 or 3 cases and save one in case I want to check it later to see if everything is still running correctly. I also use the tempilaq inside the case mouth. Then clean, size, trim and clean again only if needed.
Nice video. I keep researching annealing. I do think that EC might not be right on the over annealing meaning that I do think that you can overheat the brass and ruin it sooner than his video indicated. I am actually a fan of his. Some people actually ruin a piece of brass and back off which is not so bright. It does not hurt to double anneal. If you re-anneal the brass that is already annealed, it will not over anneal. Providing when you anneal it again it has cooled down. So, one could work their way up to the proper anneal and anything that may have been under annealed could be re-annealed. With a single flame and the right distance from the torch somewhere around 4 seconds should do the job on most brass. Very small calibers maybe less, very large maybe a little more. Reloading is a constant learning process.
I have the induction annealing method off ebay and there is a video on here that shows you how to set up a on/off repeat timer as I've been reloading for a few years now I find I have 2 different setups. One for precision and one for mass production. I want my processes as automated as possible for consistency and time savings. If I could do it over again I would have bought annealeez rather then doing every case by hand, one at a time takes forever. Just my 2 cents
Others have commented but you need the inner light blue flame tip just touching the neck towards the shoulder. Melting wheels on these is a real thing..sometimes from improper flame setup but more often from conduction and convection. If you want hit me up and I’ll send you a solution to this.
Annealeez thermal shields full kit - finally!
th-cam.com/video/hecs4UTrR5I/w-d-xo.html
Brass prices alone make it worth it, especially for my grendel brass I would start seeing cracks at 4X brass so I always anneal 6.5 after third firing 👍 Great vid brother !!!
308 bulk brass has fired 8x without statistically relevant cracking.
I do not anneal using the Lee collet die followed by the Redding Body die, resizing 3/1000 every reload. There ie spring back after 3 firings so need to push shoulders back a little more each time to maintain the 3/1000. Because I only Lee neck die size they are not work hardened, so my brass last longer without the need to anneal. I get about 10 firings from each case. My case failures are typically the primer pocket, having only a couple split cases over the years. I have great accuracy and shoot competitively in my league shooting fantastic groups. I have great success as long as I push the back the shoulders 3/1000. This does not work with if push the shoulders back using a full length die or bushing die, poor groups three shootings. It is understandable to me, as the Lee Collet Die works the brass only a fraction of a typical die. Last week with my 6.5 Creedmoor at 1000 yards I shot a 7” and 9” (5 shot) groups on a bipod. I measure each piece of brass many times during the reloading process making sure every piece of brass is exactly the same after sizing. I absolutely hate annealing and have found a reloading process where I do not need to anneal. Problem, just bought a 6.8 Western and Lee does not yet make a collet and Redding does not make a body die. So, I have no choice but to anneal.
Thank you for a great video again. The marking is not important because as you said would change with gas setup and also changes with brass. I found different cases needs different settings for annealing. I made my own annealer and i use the flame always max setting and if needed I adjust the distance of the torch instead of the size of the flame. But this is easy in my case because I only reload 223 and 308.
Check out the Annie annealer. I’m thinking about building one. Just waiting to sell some spare gear I have laying around then I’m going to put together an Annie kit
Ugly Annealer is an alternative to AnnealEz, all metal parts, very well built, made in New Zealand but you have to order from Amazon in the US market. Ugly Annealer has all metal parts and very well built.. EP2 is a great option as well with a different design, I’d didn’t like guide rod stays hot throughout the brass annealing process, well made and American made.
Please, please, please build the induction annealer!?! The idea of using a press to do it I also thought of. I was thinking of modifying a crimping die to contain the element somehow. Having a switch on the press that activates when the ram is at the top of the stroke. Only problem is I’m a dunce when it comes to wiring! So I have all the components but wouldn’t know how to wire in the timer or the switch. I know you have the smarts to do it so please do and show how all the wiring is done. Kindest regards from Australia, Superdude70.
Shoot a couple of Straight wall cases
45-70 and 38-50 Hepburn
The Hepburn is formed from 303 British and I have a 375h&h expander in a lee Universal decaping die you bring it from arround .310 to arround .373 in one pass
That’s is working the brass alot so i anneal before and after forming
I’m shooting black powder so i do not size my brass the projectiles can be seated with you thumb however I use a die just for consistency
So once fire formed im not working the brass much at all I still anneal just the case mouth every so often but probably don’t even need to do that
You could literally get 50 or more shots per case if you look after it unlike modern smokeless Cartridges
Coming from the blacksmith world, you want to anneal in a dark(er) room, and when the brass turns a dull red drop it immediately into a tub of water. This may be a touch too soft for cartridge cases though.
That was how I used this; I would set it to drop the case just as a faint glow appeared, but I didn't water quench. My sizing became easier and more consistent, and I rarely split case necks anymore.
Water is not the answer for annealing brass
@@6creeder688 you should read a metallurgy book.
@@veteranironoutdoors8320 no need to, I’m not wetting my brass after annealing. When I anneal brass it’s time to load it not wait for it to dry again. I promise I know what I’m doing with brass and reloading my trophies prove that. Annealeez comes with a metal pan for it to drop into not a water bucket.
@@6creeder688 im talking apples and you are talking oranges. Im speaking about brass in the material sense. You are speaking brass as in formed cartridge brass.
I just ordered my Gen 3 version of this yesterday.
I wonder if a flow gauge from the local welding supply would help keep a consistent flame that you could write down and dial in every time