Induction annealing

[Stein]

Just when I thought I had thoroughly explored most reloading rabbit holes I found another one to jump into.  After finishing the adjustable speed upgrade to my pot puller I had the itch to build something else.

I have parts, temp paint and odds and ends on order, anyone build one?

[Bareback]

I was going to head down that rabbit hole but with limited time I opted for a different option. Instead, I started with a 12 pt deep socket that the brass fit into, put it in a cordless drill and used a propane torch. I start the flame just off the neck, as the brass starts to turn in color I would follow it with the flame just into the body of the brass. Annealing became a game changer.

Eventually I strayed from the socket and turned up a better replacement on a lathe.

[jrebel]

My annealeze works perfectly every time.....not going down this rabbit hole. 



I'll be waiting for pictures and results though..... 

[dreadi]

A friend told me I need to get an annealer when we were discussing 300WM, stating that I'll get more life out of the brass. Is it really that worth the expense, time, and counter space? I have no interest in adding more steps to the process.

[Stein]

A friend told me I need to get an annealer when we were discussing 300WM, stating that I'll get more life out of the brass. Is it really that worth the expense, time, and counter space? I have no interest in adding more steps to the process.

That's a good question.  I don't know the answer.

BUT, Lapua brass is $130/100 for 30-06 and $185 6.5 PRC which I'm leaning towards buying.

So, if it extends the life it would pay for itself.  Hard to know how long that would take, hard to know if it does anything for accuracy, but I'll find out the latter pretty easily.

I went the route of using the handheld bolt induction heater so at least I can still use it to free seized bolts if all else fails.  I can think of several times that would have come in very handy.

[jrebel]

A friend told me I need to get an annealer when we were discussing 300WM, stating that I'll get more life out of the brass. Is it really that worth the expense, time, and counter space? I have no interest in adding more steps to the process.

I'm not sure it helps with longevity of brass if you are loading standard loads / velocities.  I had .270 win brass that I loaded for years and never annealed....easily 6-10 reloads per brass with no issues.  That said.....I will 100% tell you that annealing shrank my group size and gave me smaller SD's and ES's.   Was it the sole reason for the improvement....not sure, because when I upped my reloading game I changed a few things all at once.  I uniformed my flash holes, bought higher quality brass and annealed all at the same time.  I personally would not load a rifle round without annealing at this point in the game.  It adds a step, but it is a quick and easy step.  The annealer is a one time cost and are not really that expensive.  I now anneal a lot of my friends brass and they buy the propane bottles or drop off spirits in return which likely have paid for the annealer two fold. 

[CaNINE]

I’ve been using the fluxeon system for a few years. For years I did the hand held torch and drill/socket method. Both work. Induction is more controlled and consistent.  Is there a measurable result on target or in extended brass life between the two methods?  Not that I’ve seen. It is pretty dang cool using the induction unit though.

[Stein]

Well, I got it up and running then down another rabbit hole with a simple question, what temperature should I anneal at? 

I ended up with 1,000 Tempilaq, wound a custom coil to perfectly fit my brass and did a ton of experiments to get the temperature from just below the shoulder to the tip of the brass and ended up with 4.33 seconds.

Now I just need to prep some cases and head to the range to see if there is any noticeable difference.

[jrebel]

Pics or it didn’t happen.   

[Stein]

I was too busy melting stuff and turning screwdrivers red.  I'll take pics tomorrow, basically copied builds from YouTube except I wired the timer into the switch so the fan stays on 100% of the time.