CatShooter, Right now it takes me a minimum of 30 seconds to anneal a case using a pair of pliers and a propane tourch in a dark room. I am holding the tourch between my legs. I have to keep a grip on the pliers all the time. All this is an accident waiting to happen. Can you really do a few hundred an hour? It takes me an hour to do a hundred if I am lucky.
Yup...
Here's what I do
now, (after annealing cases in a pan of water for 26 years)
For propane, I use the Coleman tanks, cuz they are short and fat, instead of long and skinny - it makes it easy to stand them on the bench with the torch going, so I don't have to hold it. Holding a lit propane tank between your legs is threat to your "goodies".
Go here...
http://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-45819/Detail
I use the Bigass Burnzomatic "Jumbo #680" torch head, (not the whimpy #681)
Go here...
http://www.bernzomatic.com/bernzomat...rnzoProd100019
I bought the short propane bottles and the Jumbo tourch at True Value (No I don't work for them

)
Here's how I did it the first time (A), and how I do it now (B).
"
A" - I set the torch bottle on the right side of the bench with the flame pointing to the left. In the middle, I put a large coffee can 1/2 full of water. I use a battery powered screwdrived, with the Hornady case holder in it.
I hold the screw driver in my left hand... OK.
I put a case in the holder, switch on the driver, and hold the case in the flame. If I want to anneal just the neck, I hold the neck in the flame... if I want to anneal the neck AND shoulder (for case forming an Ackley or Gibbs), I hold the neck and shoulder in the flame... in about 10 seconds +/-, the neck (or neck/shoulder) will turn color, a blue-ish straw color. I let off the switch, the screwdriver stops (immediately), and I tilt my hand so the case falls neck first in the water, by then I have picked up a new case with my right hand, and put it right in the holder and it starts all over again... Real "mass production"!! If I pushed myself, I could probably do 300 an hour.
It is SOOOooooo fast, compaired to doing it a pan of water... plus, the cases look like factory annealing (like a Lapua case

).
Now - Plan "B"
I spoke to a metalergist who worked for Lake City in the case division., and he said:
"Dummy, do you think we made 1,200,000 cases a day and dropped them in water??? How would we get them dry in time to load them??"
He told me that the water was not necessary, that it came from a "hand over" from the water pan days. He said that I just needed to drop the cases on something (anything) that wouldn't be damaged by the heat, and a short distance so the case necks wouldn't be damaged.
I was doubtful at first, but I put temperature paste on the rim/head area of a case, and tried it, and he was right - the neck was annealed fine, but the paste on the head did NOT turn color.
So tried a batch of .22-250, without water, and they were the best I have ever done. I droped them about 6-7" onto a pad made of an old washcloth.
Another advantage of not using water is that the cases are ready to load in 20 minutes (to cool off), instead of a day or more to dry out.
So that's my experence. I might add that there is a fellow that makes an automatic annealing machine, and he doesn't use water either... the machine just drops the cases in a pile.
I'm sure that 20 guys will pipe in and tell you that none of this will work, but this is how I do it and I have been annealing cases for 30 years (26 in pans of water), and using the Hornady tool for 3 or 4 years.
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