Does anyone on here anneal their brass. I've been toying with the idea of getting a Benchsource annealing machine and wanted to know if any of y'all have used one or a similar machine.

Also, if you do anneal, have you seen any accuracy benefits.

Seen it done by benchresters but unless you've got a .222 or 6 PPC it ain't worth it. What caliber were you.thinking of doing?

No more than I shoot I'll never anneal but I do have a LOT of previously annealed military brass.

all you need is a drill to slowly turn the case and a blow torch. Heat until read and drop in water.

I'm not 100%, but I don't think want them to turn red. I've heard a pink hue. I know they make a temperature dependent lacquer that some folks use to let them know when they hit the sweet spot.

Put all ur cases in a Pyrex dish,standing the cases up, submerged in water up to the point you want to anneal. This method has worked well for me using a bottle butane torch to turn them to a pink haze. Put the torch on each piece of individual brass down into the neck and it will evenly heat from the inside out.

This the correct way to do it...the cases standing in water up to the shoulder keeps the rest of the case from being damaged or softened too much

Yeah I am aware of this method. From what I have read is that it is difficult to anneal each piece to the same temperature without painting each case neck with Tempilac. If you don't rotate the brass the neck may not ne heated uniformly around it entire circumference. Those are the reasons I am interested in the Benchsource machine and it seems very fast once you set it up properly.

I shoot my 308 a lot and Lapua brass ain't cheap. I'm sure I could double the number of loadings I could get with my brass by annealing. I have about a dozen other rifles and if I can double the brass life it may offset the cost of the machine. Also, I am curious if anyone sees an accuracy advantage by annealing.

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread that needs some clearing up...

1. Annealing is worth is for far more cartridges than just 222 or 6 PPC. Annealing any cartridge case will keep neck tension consistent, which in turn keeps SD/ES low to reduce vertical stringing at distance. Brass life is also increased over not annealing

2. "Heating until red" is not correct. When the brass turns red, you're already deteriorating the composition of the brass. The most color change that is acceptable is barely, and I mean just barely, seeing the dullest red glow when you're in a completely dark room. Templaq is a good means to help determine when you've hit the sweet spot

3. The drill and socket method does work, just be careful and use templaq. Really you want the drill spinning at the same speed for each piece of brass, but that's hard to do with a variable speed drill and starting/stopping for every piece of brass to put a new piece into the socket.

4. Standing cases in a pyrex dish of water and using a single torch to heat case necks until they turn pink is also not the best method. Sure, you're annealing them, but you're not annealing them in a consistent manner all the way around the case neck with the cases being stationary.

5. Water is not needing for anything in annealing...whether standing cases in it or dropping them into it for quenching/cooling. When annealing is done properly and you are not heating them to the point of altering metal composition, just dropping them into a metal pan and letting them air cool for a minute or so is all that is needed.

I anneal my 223, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 Grendel, and 6.5x47 after every firing. Is it overkill? Sure, but when you want the ultimate accuracy, lowest SD/ES, smallest vertical at distance, and longest brass life you take those steps.

I personally use the Annealeez unit. For $275 it is very hard to beat. Benchsource is a great unit as well, I just couldn't justify its cost over the Annealeez when the same thing is accomplished. Obviously the ultimate setup are induction annealers, but hop on YouTube and you'll see it's quite easy to build an Annealeez-type unit yourself for about $125

Mike W's post needs to be made a sticky at the top. Thanks for the good info

Thanks for the kind words man. And no problem, always glad to help

Mike W great information and post. Those are the reasons I want a machine instead of the water method. I read of different ways of annealing but none of them appear to achieve the consistency I want.

I had not heard of the annealeez machine. I will look into it. Thanks.

Great info, thx for sharing