Salt Bath Annealing

[packer58]

Been doing a lot of reading and research on this method of annealing brass, seems very consistent and repeatable. Iv'e been annealing my brass for some time now with the good ole cordless drill / propane torch method with mixed results, mentally i'm just not fully convinced that all my brass has the same level of anneal from one piece to another. Getting set up with the salt bath annealing system is also very economical compared to others.

For those who may be interested there is plenty of info on the net, to many links to list here.

 

[mallardsx2]

I dont know but I do know that I tried a new solution in my ultrasonic cleaner and it involved salt and vinegar.

My 9mm brass turned pink.... I'm pretty sure that a bad thing.lol

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

The only time I anneal is when I am changing the dimension of the brass a lot...eg 30-06 down to 25-06. Brass that get bigger ..eg .22 Hornet to K Hornet or .220 Swift to .220 Ackley Improved, I just fireform the brass. Used to anneal quite a bit, but now I have 1,000's of pieces of brass that are all the correct size, no need to do it.

If you are getting a lot of neck or case splitting, then you might have to anneal.

The way I anneal is to sit the case upright in a pan with enough water to cover about 3/4 of the case. Heat with propane torch until red, then tip over to quench.

 

[packer58]

My 9mm brass turned pink.... I'm pretty sure that a bad thing.lol

Unless your trying to make a fashion statement at the range.............

 

[rammont]

Quenching isn't of any value to the annealing process, water quenching is part of the process of annealing steel, brass doesn't require quenching to anneal. You can quench if you like but the heating of cartridge brass is all it takes to anneal the metal. You can use Tempilaq fluid to indicate the temperature of the brass. If you paint the area below the neck with 450 degree fluid and the neck with 700 or 750 degree fluid you will be able to tell when the neck is annealed properly without having the brass below the neck heated too much.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I don't have any Tempilac, so I use the water to keep the hardness in the bottom of the case and to cool it quicker when I'm done. Done it this way for over 50 years.

 

[Bonecollector]

My 9mm brass turned pink.... I'm pretty sure that a bad thing.lol

Unless your trying to make a fashion statement at the range.............

I don't know about fashion, but it'll make a statement. No one better than my buddy Mallardsx2 to make it!

 

[mallardsx2]

It should match the pink socks and white rimmed sunglasses us "Millennials" wear these days....

 

[packer58]

It should match the pink socks and white rimmed sunglasses us "Millennials" wear these days....

Not touching that with a ten foot pole.............Honestly though, as hand loaders we are all striving for the utmost in consistency with our finished loads. There are many ways to accomplish this and annealing is just one of them. Just throwing this method out there as a viable, repeatable option to achieve the same goal.