quote:

Originally posted by NikonUser:

I'm glad it's working for you because there is no way I could do that and still have anything but a warm case, definitely not one that is annealed and annealing cannot just "slightly soften the case mouth." It either anneals it or it doesn't; there is no in between, certainly not by hand.

Don't tell the 45-90 and 50-90 brass, it doesn't know.

I used to do the drill & torch.
Then I read where a guy used a candle and turned the case between his fingers. That way you have a better idea of how hot the case is getting. When it gets hot, before it burns your fingers, drop the case on a wet towel.
I tried this and the color on the cases looks much closer.

I’ve been using the Vertex Bench Source for several years with very repeatable results. Good documentation and app. Notes.

Just get some Tempilaq at the high and low temps with some dummy cases for test runs before running your batch.

quote:

Originally posted by RustyNut:
I used to do the drill & torch.
Then I read where a guy used a candle and turned the case between his fingers. That way you have a better idea of how hot the case is getting. When it gets hot, before it burns your fingers, drop the case on a wet towel.
I tried this and the color on the cases looks much closer.

I wondering if you are annealing or just discoloring the case at that temperature?
I was thinking it needed @700F to do the trick. Moving that slow it would certainly burn the living hell out of your fingers. I've been wrong before and will be again however.

quote:

Originally posted by huskerlrrp:

quote:

Originally posted by RustyNut:
I used to do the drill & torch.
Then I read where a guy used a candle and turned the case between his fingers. That way you have a better idea of how hot the case is getting. When it gets hot, before it burns your fingers, drop the case on a wet towel.
I tried this and the color on the cases looks much closer.

I wondering if you are annealing or just discoloring the case at that temperature?
I was thinking it needed @700F to do the trick. Moving that slow it would certainly burn the living hell out of your fingers. I've been wrong before and will be again however.

Parts of a candle flame are over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.

This thread is becoming incredibly funny.

Yes, a candle has a flame with parts that are 2000F. So what?

A spark from a firework sparkler has a temperature of 400 or 500F. When it lands on your skin, you barely feel it. On the other hand water only goes up to 212F; let me know if you feel a drop of (much cooler) boiling water on your hand.

It's all about how much heat the device (candle or propane torch) generates, the calorific value.

A candle yields about 50 BTUs/hr. A propane torch like the one on my Giraud generates 2,500 BTUs/hr.

Brass requires a temperature above 500F to anneal. The higher the temperature, the faster the annealing process. At 500F, it requires a couple of hours. At 750F, annealing requires just a few seconds. The fun part is holding the case. At 750F, my cases spend 8 seconds with their necks in the flame, then they fall through and drop into a box to cool. The annealing process stops as soon as the flame is removed from the case. However, you will only try to pick up a freshly annealed (talk about an oxymoron) case once. Just once. Even from just the extractor groove. That sucker is HOT!. Brass is extremely good at conducting heat, so even though the torch flame is focused just on the neck, the rest of the case heats up also, just not as high as the neck, in the amount of time in the flame.

If someone thinks they can hold a case in the flame of a candle and reach the heat required for the annealing process to take place without special gloves, they are probably robots or have bionic hands, and a great deal of patience to wait for the minutes or hours required to anneal each case.

I suspect many here have played the little game of passing their finger slowly over a candle. I wonder if you have tried that same game but substituting the candle with a propane torch.

The 2nd video in post #3 shows that the neck can be annealed without enough heat migration to the head to burn fingers.

As you point out it’s a combination of heat input and time. Enough time at a low(er) temp and you can anneal the whole thing.

quote:

Originally posted by MtnPlinker:
I’ve been using the Vertex Bench Source for several years with very repeatable results. Good documentation and app. Notes.

Just get some Tempilaq at the high and low temps with some dummy cases for test runs before running your batch.

Yep I use the same one too.