Annealing question

[FLshooter]

I just received my Annealeez this Wednesday. I’ve been watching YouTube videos on annealing .From what I gather,when the flame changes color it’s starting to get over annealed and if the neck glows the brass is toast.
I set up the Annealeez last night and I experimented with .223,which I have buckets of to spare.
A5 had told me he anneals his grendel brass for 4 sec.Seems like that’s the ticket for 223 also. After five seconds the flame starts to change color.
I just want a few tips before I start running with it. I want to have a better idea of what I am doing before I run my Grendel cases through this thing.
Thanks in advance, Joe

[Harpoon1]

Annealing for the Grendel, man, you’ve got too much time on your hands!

And if you shoot them “jammed”, your really wasting your time. Don’t take my word for it, take David Tubb’s! 11 times National Champion, among others.

18:40 “cuts to the chase”

https://youtu.be/qP4PBnX6cZ8

Anyway, if your jumping them and you insist, this is a pretty decent tutorial.

https://youtu.be/fiIrLvAUh6o

[FLshooter]

I have a .030 inch jump with my 6.5 Grendel Bartlein barrel.I was told to keep it around 1 mm. It doesn’t seem to be as accurate when I jam bullets.
Anyway the reason I want to anneal brass is because I am finding a lot of split cases lately. I’m trying to see if I can get more reloads out of my brass. And with the Annealeez costing under $300 shipped ,I figured I’d give it a try.
That tutorial video is the one I watched earlier. You’re right it is very decent. I think you can get me on my way.

[Popeye212]

I just received my Annealeez this Wednesday. I’ve been watching YouTube videos on annealing .From what I gather,when the flame changes color it’s starting to get over annealed and if the neck glows the brass is toast.
I set up the Annealeez last night and I experimented with .223,which I have buckets of to spare.
A5 had told me he anneals his grendel brass for 4 sec.Seems like that’s the ticket for 223 also. After five seconds the flame starts to change color.
I just want a few tips before I start running with it. I want to have a better idea of what I am doing before I run my Grendel cases through this thing.
Thanks in advance, Joe

Put this on the inside of the case neck when it changes color you have reached the right temp. I am salt bath annealing but about to change to annealeez. Not that it doesn't work but the stuff dangerous. https://www.amazon.com/Tempil-Tempilaq-T...169&sr=8-1

[tdbru]

FLshooter,
i hope you ordered the small wheels to go with your annealeez. that's what the GR takes. as far as color, that varies quite a bit depending upon ambient light. i run it in the garage with the doors closed and the lights out. cases come out looking just like Lapua brass does when you buy it new. i haven't gotten a chance yet to put more than 2 or 3 reloads on any 6.5G case yet. one thing i did notice was on some 6.5x55 ammo that i had shot the cases maybe 5 or more times, then reloaded again, then let the ammo sit for 10 years, when i went back and shot it i had about 50% neck splits. so i think the annealing is proper not only to ensure uniform neck tension, but long term reliability of the case as well.
-tdbru

[Harpoon1]

I have a .030 inch jump with my 6.5 Grendel Bartlein barrel.I was told to keep it around 1 mm. It doesn’t seem to be as accurate when I jam bullets.
Anyway the reason I want to anneal brass is because I am finding a lot of split cases lately. I’m trying to see if I can get more reloads out of my brass. And with the Annealeez costing under $300 shipped ,I figured I’d give it a try.
That tutorial video is the one I watched earlier. You’re right it is very decent. I think you can get me on my way.

Yep, I believe you. I think I’ve got 5 reloads now on my Hornady brass. It’s somewhere between 500-750 pieces in circulation. Almost exclusively through bolt guns, so, maybe that’s the difference. Not getting beat up on ejection.

I have been eyeing that machine though for 300 Win and 338LM brass. Keep us in the loop.

[Mark611]

I just annealed 100 pieces of new Hornady brass, I used a propane torch and a 7/16's socket to hold the brass from being to hot on my fingers, I used 5 seconds of time turning the brass on the flame, I watched the case turn color as I did this, when the heat run color got the shoulder line I pulled the case off the fire, and they turned out perfect, I compared them to some factory annealed PMC 223/5.56 loaded ammo I have and they look exactly the same on the color of the annealing, I air cooled them instead of dropping them into a water bucket like I have done before, I just got done sizing them after a week since I annealed them, and they sized effortlessly as they should have, I had my sizer set to the factory shoulder bump, from out of the box ammo form Hornady, but I think on new brass annealing for the first set up on case prep cannot hurt IMO, some say its a waste of time? but for me I think its a good start, I'm use to loading for precision bolt action rifles, and turning necks {etc} so I cannot help but to apply the methods I use for this type of loading to my semi autos, just my 2ct

[FLshooter]

FLshooter,
i hope you ordered the small wheels to go with your annealeez. that's what the GR takes. as far as color, that varies quite a bit depending upon ambient light. i run it in the garage with the doors closed and the lights out. cases come out looking just like Lapua brass does when you buy it new. i haven't gotten a chance yet to put more than 2 or 3 reloads on any 6.5G case yet. one thing i did notice was on some 6.5x55 ammo that i had shot the cases maybe 5 or more times, then reloaded again, then let the ammo sit for 10 years, when i went back and shot it i had about 50% neck splits. so i think the annealing is proper not only to ensure uniform neck tension, but long term reliability of the case as well.
-tdbru

I had talk to Jeff prior to ordering my Annealeez. I had told him what calibers I wanted to do and he recommended I also get a small set of wheels.Did not know I needed them for 6.5 Grendel. They were intended for 300 BO.
I am going to keep it simple and get the hang of things before I do any other calibers. I have tens of thousands .223 cases,so I will learn on them. I am sure I’ll be doing other calibers by the middle of the week are. If I have time after work that is.

[Kswhitetails]

My standard wheels work just fine?

[LRRPF52]

My opinion/experience on split necks is that they are mostly caused by tooling marks on expander balls and/or use of Imperial Sizing Wax too thick.

I've had one split neck with Lapua brass when I was using Imperial Wax on a roller pad. I think I was pushing my necks around way too much.

I switched to Hornady One-Shot spray-on lube and haven't had an issue since, and that was many years ago.

[FLshooter]

My opinion/experience on split necks is that they are mostly caused by tooling marks on expander balls and/or use of Imperial Sizing Wax too thick.

I've had one split neck with Lapua brass when I was using Imperial Wax on a roller pad. I think I was pushing my necks around way too much.

I switched to Hornady One-Shot spray-on lube and haven't had an issue since, and that was many years ago.

I have tried imperial wax and several types of case lubes. I’ve always gone back to RCBS case lube and the RCBS green pad. It’s always worked best for me.I usually start seeing split necks after 5 or 6 reloads.

[Popeye212]

I have tried imperial wax and several types of case lubes. I’ve always gone back to RCBS case lube and the RCBS green pad. It’s always worked best for me.I usually start seeing split necks after 5 or 6 reloads.

I use the Lanolin mix and keep Imperial for small stuff.

[Happy2Shoot]

Ok, let's stop the parroting of bad information. Cartridge brass annealing starts at 800 F. Grain size grows until 1200 F. Minimum hardness, or max softness is 1400 F. Google ASM handbook volume 4 heat treating

[centerfire]

I annealed all of my new Hornady Grendel brass because seating resistance was so variable. Once annealed the brass felt uniform.

[Kswhitetails]

I want neck tension uniformity. In a gas gun, annealing is about all you can do for return on effort here. Since you can't neck size only and achieve reliable feeding in them. I've abandoned the bushing die idea as I now have 7 Grendels, and don't want to try and keep track of 5 bushings... headaches aren't why I shoot.

I told my son to save up for the Redding bushing die for his Howa, and if I get a bolt, I'll do the same. Until then, annealing means that at least every firing the necks are all uniform in hardness and will much more uniformly grip the bullets on seating.

I use the annealez, and am a happy camper. I don't use the tempilaque. I turn off the lights at night, and run it until the neck is pretty pink in the dark. Should put me around the middle of the anneal temp window. Then I write the setting down, turn on the lights, and let a full hopper run.

I anneal after firing, before I decap and wet tumble. The cases look cool before tumbling, like new cases after.

[FLshooter]

My standard wheels work just fine?

I haven’t annealed 6.5 Grendel yet. I’ve done some .223 and 7.62 x 51 military so far. After reading tdbru’s post,I set a 6.5 Grendel case on the standard wheels and it looks like it would work. It is a little closer to the wheel than I’d like it to be. But I did purchase the smaller wheels to anneal my 300 BO.

[Harpoon1]

I annealed all of my new Hornady Grendel brass because seating resistance was so variable. Once annealed the brass felt uniform.

In your opinion, at what distance does neck tension start to be a factor, say for the Grendel, if a specific cartridge matters? Past 300, 600, 800?

[Kswhitetails]

IMO, you see it immediately. Neck tension variation makes a great deal of SD swing. SD's above about 5 fps are plainly visible in groups at 100 yards from my experience. The larger, the more variation. Considering the nodes I've found in my 18' barrel are larger than they are in my pistol, and that even at that length the nodes are only about 15fps either way, a 20 SD and 40 ES could possibly have rounds leaving above and below your node altogether.

[centerfire]

In your opinion, at what distance does neck tension start to be a factor, say for the Grendel, if a specific cartridge matters? Past 300, 600, 800?

You'll see it immediately. Frankly even the best new brass with perfect annealing lines still seems to have variable neck tension. Recently I was working with some brand new Lapua 308 Winchester brass and I got so sick of the oxide layer and weird neck tension. I annealed all of the brass over and then tumbled off the lines. Just because brass is high quality and new doesn't mean it's hardness will be uniform. Also, if you wet tumble with steel media too long you'll surface harden the brass.

[tdbru]

FLshooter,
i was concerned that with the standard wheels, they'd get to hot with the shorter cases. small wheels work great with 6.5G cases. in the garage, doors closed, lights off. necks just start to get faintly deep red in pitch black, barely starting to change color. seems to work well. cases look just like new Lapua. i have no way to measure neck tension, but seating bullets feels very uniform. still working with various powders and amounts so SD and ES is still all over the place as is velocity. i just haven't hit on the magic combination yet.
-tdbru