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Annealing .45 Colt

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LonesomePigeon:
 Trying my hand at annealing. The cases are .45 Colt. I used a propane torch and drill to turn the case mouths in the flame for about 4 - 6 seconds. At 4 - 6 seconds I did not really see any of them start to glow. If anything, they just turned a slight brownish color. I am not sure if it actually annealed them but I was more afraid of over-annealing.

I did run a few cases to glowing red and it took probably 10 - 15 seconds or more to really get the case mouths to glow red. These ones were just a test and were discarded.

My question is, at 4 - 6 seconds I am not really sure they were fully annealed, is there any safety hazard with using under annealed cases?

Silver Creek Slim:
Why are you annealing the cases?

Slim

LonesomePigeon:
Just to make them last longer. I would be shooting them out of an SAA.

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Coffinmaker:

 :)  LonesomePigeon  ;)

There is no hazard associated with "under" annealed cases.  With my personal method, I get colour change is about 6 seconds.  I count the seconds off, "Thousand One, Thousand Two, Thousand Three, etc., and get consistent colour change.

In the past, I have not recommended annealing for pistol cases.  The will expand well enough to become hard to extract from the average pistol cylinder.  I also don't consider annealing as a viable (efficient) method to extend case life.  Annealing is most useful to eliminate Chamber Blow-By in rifles.  Just my take.

Play Safe Out There

Coal Creek Griff:
I use the drill method to anneal my cases. I dim the lights and hold the heat on them until they barely start to glow, certainly not until they are glowing a bright red. This has worked for me to reduce blow-by and extend case life in rifles and revolvers. I haven't run into any real issues with it. Under annealing won't harm anything, but it won't really help anything either.

Just my experience and peace.

Griff

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