Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer, can I use the candle method to anneal handgun brass?

I would like to anneal .45 Colt brass but worried about too much heat at the head. Can the candle method be used while holding the brass at the head? Thanks.

Well I am not Mule Deer, but I am the former CEO of Cast Performance Bullet Co, and I have a lot of experience in reloading much of which is with handguns.
So I will give you a short easy way to do it and if Mule Deer has one to add, I am sure it will be good info too.

A candle is not going to add heat fast enough to the mouth to keep the head of the shell from also softening.

A red hot block of steel is very good but requires a heat source large enough to get it hot. You need only place the case mouth against a red hot block for about 1 second to anneal it and then drop the case in water.

The easy way to anneal case mouths of handgun brass is to melt a small pot of lead and bring it to about 675 degrees.
De-cap you brass and dip the case mouths about 1/2" deep into oil, and then about 1/4" deep into the lead holding them by the heads with pliers. Hold them in the lead about 2 seconds, and then drop them into water. The oil keeps the lead from sticking to the brass.

You then clean your brass normally and load.

Nice tip

Sakoluvr,

Yeah, you can use the candle method on .45 Colt cases.

The only cases I've never tested it on were much shorter handgun rounds, where it was impossible to hold the mouth close enough to the candle flame. But have tested with Tempilaq on cases as small as the .22 Hornet, where it worked fine.

With such cases, however, hold them just in front of the rim, instead of in the middle of the case, the technique for longer rifle cases from .223 on up.

For safety purposes, keep the water well away from the molten lead. If you want to create some excitement, put a drop of water into molten lead. You will be treated to an explosive event and learn the meaning of the term "tinsel fairy".

You may be blinded and badly burnt during this process but on the plus side, you are unlikely to forget the lesson soon.

When working with molten lead, always wear full protective gear, including full face mask and non-flamable clothing that covers all skin compleltely.

I often water drop bullets but keep the water well away from the molten lead, at least 10', with a physical screen between the water and lead.

Thanks! I like easy and simple.

I've done quite a bit of loading for the 45 colt with cast lead bullets as heavy as 370 grains with heavy loads. I experimented with annealing and found results to be quite disappointing. I found it to be much better to just buy new brass and make life happy.

Ed, how many loads were you getting before any neck splitting before and after annealing?

Before any neck splitting? I would always get one case with split neck per firing. I didn't anneal until I was getting 4-5 split per 100 cases fired. That was about 8-10 firings. I was firing heavy cast bullets from Linotype with Lyman lube from custom dies. A typical load was 270 gr bullet over 19 gr of 2400 for chrono of 1220 fps.

I tried annealing with candles and standing cases in water and running a torch over necks. I still got neck splits during sizing, during firing and inconsistent bullet hold.

That's interesting. I can't recall every splitting a .45 Colt neck, and have used several brands of brass. What brass and dies?

Remington, lyman changed to starline

I like Starline.

Good stuff.

DF

Ive had 45 brass split at the neck, but NEVER with less than 10 firings.
My first 400-500 cases are finally shucking after almost 20 years. The first five years I shot and reloaded those cases ad naseum once or twice a week.
Some of the hotter jacketed loads got a neck down crimp; even so, I still have all of the first Winchester 100pcs. bag.

I think that excessive crimping and belling will hasten the departure of handgun brass and us probably the root of most neck splitting under 10 firing or less.
Another cause is using a narrow carbide die with cases that need belled to fit .453-.456 bullets or carbide dies with cases fired in old Colt or Smith chambers.

R-P nickle cases split usually just because they suck.

Yeah, there are plenty of .45 Colts with large chambers. Size 'em down in tight dies and the cases won't last long.

You might get a night job sweeping the floor at McDonalds and for the time spent annealing, you could earn enough money from sweeping to just buy new brass.

I am annealing .44-40 brass with a candle and it seems to work alright, not so many splits in the case mouth. I think the sizing and then belling of the case mouth causes it.
It seems to get worse with black powder just out of interest, making cases more hard or brittle or something.

Load and fire Remington nickel with W296 in Ruger revolvers: guaranteed splitting. (Not sure you need all of those factors, but they are a reliable combination, especially sizing with carbide, RCBS or Lee, both.) Winchesters and Starlines last a long time; Remington plain much better than nickel.