Annealing Brass

[hornady]

I am planning on Annealing some 30.06 brass to reshape into 8MM. I watched 3 different you tube videos all three said different case color to watch for while heating the brass, and they could not agree on the water drop of the brass. One said to knock the hot brass over in cold water. Another waited for the brass to cool somewhat before dunking in cold water. And yet a third said to only use hot water. What works best for you? With reforming I do not want to get the brass to soft.

[awfroadan]

Don't guess on the color of the brass. Get some 750 and 450 degree Tempilaq and be sure. You don't have to use it all the time but until you get a feel and visual for however you plan on annealing, whether it's in a machine or by hand. As far as quenching or not goes, it seems both methods are fine. Pick one you like. Good luck.

[Hawk]

I anneal my .223 brass with a propane torch on top of a 2x4x30" piece of wood and let them air cool. All you're trying to do is soften the brass. Only heat the necks. I heat them until I see them just start to turn red. I move the torch around each piece to try to heat them evenly. I do it in my garage with the lights turned out (hard to see them turn red with the lights on).
No need to quench them because it's brass (it won't make any difference).

[hornady]

My concern is getting the case to hot and then being too soft for case forming the 3006 case to 8MM. I am not so worried about bumping the case mouth up as I am to bumping the shoulder back. Would you use the 750,650, or 450 Tempilaq.
Also I will be loading cast bullets in the newly formed brass. I have the Lyman M-die in 30 caliber, and ordered the 32 caliber M-die. I was thinking of run the brass through the 30 and then the 32 caliber M-dies, then trimming the brass long, and then running it through the FL 8MM die to bump the shoulder back. I should only need to trim once more to get the proper case length.

[Hawk]

I'm not sure why you're annealing as part of the process to reform a 30.06 into a 8MM? If the 30.06 brass is new or once fired it doesn't really need annealed yet. Now after you've reformed the brass and reloaded it a few times, I'd anneal to re-soften the neck to make it last longer.

Have you seen this video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSJQBRbWhv4

[notenoughguns]

Hawk has it right , don't anneal before forming or you'll ruin a lot of good brass . Anneal after fire forming and trimming

[A/C guy]

When you do anneal, like Hawk said, do it with the lights out. All you need is a dull red glow, don’t overheat. Hold the case head with your fingers and rotate the case neck in the flame, then drop into water (don’t want to soften the case head). If your fingers get too hot, you’re doing it wrong. Unlike steel, brass will be annealed whether cooled slowly or quenched in water.

[hornady]

Thanks all I have reloaded for many years however this will be my first attempt at case forming or annealing brass, Never needed to brass for everything I reload was very plentiful. I did notice 7MM rem, Mag was getting somewhat scares so I may start annealing it as well. I have more 30.06 brass than I would use in two life times. I should have the 8MM die and M-die this weekend. I am glad I bought the Redding Big boss press a couple years back. It should work quite well for case forming.

[saleen322]

I'm not sure why you're annealing as part of the process to reform a 30.06 into a 8MM? If the 30.06 brass is new or once fired it doesn't really need annealed yet. Now after you've reformed the brass and reloaded it a few times, I'd anneal to re-soften the neck to make it last longer.

^^^This^^^ I have a number of wildcats; 30 Herrett, 357 Herrett, 22 Varminter, 30-338, 7 INT, & 7 TCU, etc, etc and none of them require torches to make cases with new or nearly new brass. I guess it would not hurt anything but you don't need to do it.

[hornady]

Yesterday Federal express dropped of my Mid-south order. I think I was expecting case forming to be a bigger deal than it is. Old and being afraid of doing something new I guess.

I took 60 Remington 30.06 brass the worst part was trimming them down. I chucked my ½ drill to my RCBS case trimmer then trimmed and cleaned all the shavings off the brass. I then put a small amount of lube inside the neck of the case and lubed the cases as usual. The only Die set Mid-South had in stock in 8 MM was the Hornady with the zip spindle,

I moved the brass through the FL Die and then needed to do one final trim on the brass. After I cleaned the brass I cycled the Case formed brass through the Rifle. It all feeds very well.
I also ordered a Lyman 8 MM mold and Lube/size die as well as the 8MM Lyman M-Die. Some how everything was in stock at Mid-South.

So now if this mini ice age ever ends I can fire up the Pro-Melt and cast some bullets. I am running low on 7MM and 308 cast bullets as well so I need to cast some of them to as well.
I think I will try my hand at annealing the formed cases. It’s too cold to cast or shoot anyway. Thanks for the advice all.

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