Only the case necks should be annealed. If the case body or head is allowed to overheat, the case will be completely and irrevocably ruined for reloading. Also, no portion of the case should ever be allowed to reach 950 degrees F. At this temperature, over-annealing will occur, rendering the brass too soft and weak to reload.
As you can see, annealing is a balancing act - the neck must be heated (but not overheated) to the appropriate temperature for the appropriate time, while ensuring that the rest of the case does not reach a temperature that will cause it to soften as well.
Picked up a DNA lamp from Lowe's that seems to work pretty well. I don't have Tempilaq on hand, and am basically using the "drop the case onto a wet towel as soon as it gets too hot" method. A few questions if anyone has guidance:
1. There still seems to be a good bit of heat transfer to the base of the case after you remove it from the flame- how do you know if the base of the case is getting too hot? Don't think I've had a case base get too hot to pick up yet, but they're pretty warm.
2. I have one batch of Hornady brass that takes a ton of force in my press to FL size. Even getting them that hot, they still seem to take a pretty good amount of force, especially on the downstroke. Is this an indication that I'm actually not doing as much annealing as I think I am?
Thanks in advance for any input!
