Brass blow by?

Discussions of powders, bullets and loading information.

Moderators: Kirk, Lucinda

User avatar
Lumpy Grits
Posts: 7675
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2003 7:58 pm
Location: Springfield, Missouri-U.S.A. Earth

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by Lumpy Grits »

This is pretty much how I have annealed cases all my life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FU1udDEw9s

KISS & cheap to do.....
BTW-There is no need to dump the case in water either-
G.
"Hav'n you along, is like loose'n two good men"
TexasMac
Posts: 2364
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2007 5:29 pm
Location: Central Texas
Contact:

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by TexasMac »

johnl wrote:Thanks guys, looks like I’ll be ordering the salt bath kit and a ceramic tumbler and some more 45-70 brass.
John,

For even a cheaper solution use hot-sand annealing. Rather than purchasing a hot salt bath kit, common fine playground sand can be used. For more details go to the article I mentioned earlier (http://www.texas-mac.com/Annealing_BPCR_Case_Necks.html)

Wayne
NRA Life (Benefactor & President's Council) Member, TSRA Life Member, NSSF Member, Author & Publisher of the Browning BPCR book
http://www.texas-mac.com
User avatar
Lumpy Grits
Posts: 7675
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2003 7:58 pm
Location: Springfield, Missouri-U.S.A. Earth

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by Lumpy Grits »

Wayne-That is a very good list of tools, and how to do it :!:
G.
"Hav'n you along, is like loose'n two good men"
johnl
Posts: 812
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:59 pm

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by johnl »

Hey Lump I tried your method a couple of years ago when I had a 338 lapua, screwed up a couple of cases :oops: and shitcanned the idea of annealing since I had a supply of free brass at that time. I got three hundred 50-90 Starine brass a couple of years ago got a dollar a piece, prices has gone up and I’m leary of screwing it up. Wayne I’ll try the sand method since I’m not really a volume shooter with the Sharps, love your website btw.
User avatar
Lumpy Grits
Posts: 7675
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2003 7:58 pm
Location: Springfield, Missouri-U.S.A. Earth

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by Lumpy Grits »

Sorry to hear that. :( It works very well for my .50 BMG loading all the way down to .308.
G.
"Hav'n you along, is like loose'n two good men"
johnl
Posts: 812
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:59 pm

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by johnl »

Lumpy Grits wrote:Sorry to hear that. :( It works very well for my .50 BMG loading all the way down to .308.
G.

Gary, maybe I’ll try it again but Wayne’s sand technique sounds simple enough.
User avatar
Lumpy Grits
Posts: 7675
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2003 7:58 pm
Location: Springfield, Missouri-U.S.A. Earth

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by Lumpy Grits »

Keep that sand covered, if you have cats around. :lol: :P
G.
"Hav'n you along, is like loose'n two good men"
Steve crawford
Posts: 593
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 7:32 pm
Location: Abilene,Texas

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by Steve crawford »

You would not believe what you can do with a tumbler. I let a few 45-2.4 and 45-3 1/4 cases set in soppy water for a couple of weeks( I forgot about them). I tumbled them in ceramic media and Dawn/ LimeShine mix. I could not tell them from new. The tumbler really works good. :) :) :)

Steve
NRA Life Member TSRA Life Member
Shiloh #1 Sporter 40-2.1 Remington Rollingblock #1 40-2.1
John W
Posts: 85
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:46 pm
Location: Japan

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by John W »

Okay, so I just invested in an AMP Annealer. I know me. I think I needed something that did not require too much guess work (read: that I know that I am too lazy to try to work out the perfect temps needed to perfectly anneal). Hope it is as good as they all say...

R,
John W.
mdeland
Posts: 11708
Joined: Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:47 pm

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by mdeland »

I agree, Starline comes hard and needs to be annealed, especially if forming new cases ( 45-90 down to 38-70) but once done some of us anneal once a year if ever and still seem to do pretty good with no case loss. Go figure! Also, ruining your brass by letting the mouth get dull red and burning up the copper and zinc is nonsense although it is very true it does not need to get that hot. I've treated them both ways and have seen no difference in case life which is about ever lasting with BP and good cleaning.
All the cases in a batch need the same treatment for consistency.
mdeland
Posts: 11708
Joined: Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:47 pm

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by mdeland »

One other thing I will mention is that if your going to stretch your brass by lathe nibbing you need to anneal farther down case then for reloading purposes . The most important thing in my opinion is to never change the head anneal from any case used which is why I always stand them in water and anneal with a torch down the body as far as possible . The anneal will stop at the water line or slight above.
Also I have no faith in templac measurements because of how quickly heat transfers in brass. It is only a very rough indicator of when you pass it's melting point and almost always have blasted past where you want the heat transfer to stop. I fell the brass color line is a far better indicator and that is better controlled by timing which most annealing machines provide adjustment for.
The hottest part of any neutral flame is the end of the well defined feather within the flame envelop. Also, the added benefit is no oxidation can occur inside of the flame envelope.
Trigger1212
Posts: 362
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:08 am

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by Trigger1212 »

Mike,

I don't know anything about burning the copper and zinc out of brass by over heating it BUT I do distinctly remember ruining pretty much all of my dad's 222 rem brass when I was a kid just after reading an article on annealing. If dull red is good, a brighter red should be better right?! Ahh the ignorance and entheusiam of youth! That brass had necks as soft as butter, could not run them in the die without folding them. Thought dad was going to be royally PO'd but he did not say too much verbally, but the look he gave me spoke volumes (dumb azz!). Left enough of an impression I never annealed again until I bought a bench source annealer a couple years ago. Love it.

So I totally get where johnl is coming from!

Cheers!

Wade
bruce m
Posts: 3350
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:25 am
Location: australia

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by bruce m »

red in some brass might be good, but not in other.
black heat has been recommended, and you can only see that in the dark.
the truth is that you have to get the brass to between 700 and 750 degrees f.
probably 750 for black powder cases.
the only way to be sure of this is to use tempilaq.
the other thing is not to heat the base to more than 400 degrees, as annealing starts there.
again the only way to be sure is tempilaq.
do not heat the tempilaq with the flame or false readings will occurr.
keep safe,
bruce.
ventum est amicus meus
mdeland
Posts: 11708
Joined: Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:47 pm

Re: Brass blow by?

Post by mdeland »

Don't get me wrong,I'm not recommending dull red at the case MOUTH, just saying that it does not ruin the brass as some have said.
I know this is true because it often happens while annealing brass standing in water for body nibbing. The nibbing re-work hardens the brass. The point is the brass in the mouth is not burned up and destroyed even if it does reach a dull red color.
Post Reply