Annealing Brass

[Silver Creek Slim]

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I decided to anneal some Starline brass after reading the "STARLINE VS ALL OTHERS..." thread. I started with .45 Colt because they make a big mess in in action of my Marlin when using BP. I have one of these Lee units to trim case lengths.

I put a case in the drill, turn the drill on and use a propane torch to heat the mouth until it starts to turn red. Then, drop the case in a bucket of water. I did all my .45 Colt case and decided to do my .44-40 Starline cases because, in my Henry, they tend to spit BP fouling in my face when ejecting. (At a match earlier this year, I got fouling in my eye. Not fun.) I am also getting some fouling on the carrier. So, I did the .44-40 cases. Well, I found out that annealing .44-40 cases is not the best thing it do.  I seat and crimp in one step. The cases are now toooooooooooooooooooooo soft to do that, now. Therefore, I have to now seat in one step and crimp in another step. Kinda slows down the process.  Something ya git in trouble when ya 'speriment, but ya sure learn things. 

Slim

[john boy]

Well, my guess is you over heated the cases and they are now too soft.

* Buy a 650 degree crayon
* Heat your lead pot up to 650 or 700 degrees
* Mark your cases 1/3 down from the mouth with a line using the crayon
* Dip the case mouth in motor oil
* Dunk the case in the lead
* When the crayon turns color ...
* Quickly flip the case in a bucket of ice water
Your done

Alpha brasses (64-99% copper) are annealed by heating to 700 to 1400°F (the hotter the softer) and can then be be quenched.

Alpha-beta brasses (55 to 64% copper) are annealed at the same temperature and can hardened slightly by quenching from the annealing temperature.


 You might want to do this to cut down on the blow backs ... crimp with a Lee Factory Carbide Die ... hard.  For 45's using a 454 bullet wil also reduce BP blowback

[Silver Creek Slim]

Part of the problem with the .45 Marlin is it has an out of round chamber. The cases come out with a bulge on one side.
I tried the .454 boolits and the Lee Factory Carbide Crimp Die with heavy crimp. I use as much FFFg Goex I can stuff in the case. But, get alot of blow-by. I somewhat gave up on it and bought my Henry .44-40.

Slim

[Fox Creek Kid]

Annealing is really not rocket science that some make it out to be. I simply chuck a long stainless steel bolt into the jaws of a cordless drill and slip the case over the bolt head (head must be smaller than the case mouth, duh!  ) and then slowly spin the case while applying heat from a propane torch to the case mouth. This should be done where it is dark (late evening & outdoors for me) and just before the case mouths approach red I flip the case from the drill into a large bucket of ice water and presto: done!    One case in about a minute or less and if you do this every 5-8 shots the brass should last almost forever. The heat temp crayon did not work for me as the brass did not get hot enough. I did a comparison of that method with the "eyeball' method and the almost red "eyeball" method gave perfect results while the former did not. Slim, 44-40's don't nead to be annealed as the case neck is thin enough that they seal everytime. If you have a 45 Colt rifle simply trade or sell it & get a 44-40. Almost to a man, everyone I know who shot 45 Colt in a rifle with BP got rid of it for a 44-40 as there is far less hassle.

[john boy]

Almost to a man, everyone I know who shot 45 Colt in a rifle with BP got rid of it for a 44-40 as there is far less hassle.

Kid, here I'z go again... odd man.  All 45's with Goex

[Cuts Crooked]

 

Pards, I've tried most of the methods mentioned above, with the exception of the heat crayon, and find that they all work. The easiest fer me though is to jist hold the "web" area of the cases with a pair of pliers and slowly turn the brass back and forth over the heat from a propane torch, keeping the mouth of the case in the fire but well above the "pencil" area of the flame. If you get yer brass down into that hotter "pencil" area of the fire it will get too hot too fast and you will end up getting it uneven. Also, by holding the brass with pliers at the web area, the pliers act as a heat sink, preventing over heating the critical web area. BTW I anneal .45 Colt and 38 Special and find that this cuts blowback into the actions of my lever gunz to near 0%! 

I don't anneal the big bore stuff like 45-70 because I've yet to find a way that get's me the level of perfection needed for prescision at extended ranges. The water method works pretty good, but it is way too slow for doing large batches of  pistol rounds (That water makes a fabulous heat sink and it takes ferever to get the brass heated).

As noted by Fox Creek, you really don't want the brass to get red. I find that I get the best results if I drop em in the water just when they begin to change color...it's tricky and trial & error is the only way to learn the proper moment.

44-40 brass that allows blowback is a puzzlement to me It simply should NOT happen! I'd go to a different brand of brass if I were getting blowback in that chambering!!!!!!!! I like Starline brass fer most smokeless applications, it's good stuff, but it should NOT blowback in that chambering...period!

[El Paso Pete]

I have a small pan with about 1/2" of sand and put it on my hot plate.  I keep adjusting the heat control until I get it around 700 deg. F. using my lead thermometer.     I stand up as many cases as I can, open side down, in the sand.  In a minute or two I take 'em out wearing a glove and drop 'em in pail of water. 

[Dakota Widowmaker]

I didn't want to deal with annealing brass...which is why I got my Henry in 44-40 instead of 45lc.


I have not had any BP blowback to clean up...

[john boy]

Pete:  Thanks for sharing the sand approach to annealing cause it's one neat way of doing it.  I'm gonna give it a try.