Annealing brass -- Am I doing it right?

[wizdumb]

(Posted over on SnipersHide as well, but I like this forum better

These are .308 Lapua cases, which I've loaded about six times. The last few times I've resized them (neck only, and bumping shoulder back), I could feel more resistance than usual.

I decided to anneal 20 cases tonight using a power drill to spin the necks over a propane torch just until the blue line went below the shoulder. Then, the cases were dropped into water, dried and resized. The resistance during resizing is back to normal.

Can anyone with experience on this procedure chime in and tell me if the photos below of the cases I annealed appear to be done correctly?

Thanks!

[Endofcomment]

not extremely experienced but it looks good to me.. if you look at factory annealed brass this is about the same. If you go further down the body of the case then you will weaken the case near the head and possibly cause it to split or cause case head separation.

[otteray]

Yours look pretty good.

In a darkened room, I twirl mine in my fingertips until it starts to glow red from the torch, then dunk.


Here's a good article on the subject

[wizdumb]

All rounds fired at the range today worked flawlessly.

[Nessal]

I anneal the old school way by hand. You do not want them to turn red when you are annealing them. When I was first learning how to anneal, the brass would get too brittle when you annealed them till they are glowing. What I personally do is turn the neck with the tip of the flame just below the shoulder. Once I feel the case head is getting warm, I drop it into a metal pan immediately. No need to dunk it in water.