Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters DNA Candle Case Anneal

Maybe I don't fully understand how the tagging thing works. I suppose taggers could do a search for tag and their name year by year and look through their results, but I still think it easier to find in the followed lists.

For those that do not want to spend the time to make a burner, most archery supply places have an alcohol burner available that is used to melt hot glue.

Tag so I can look up the reference that neither of us understand what they are doing.

I agree, looking through all my posts is more cumbersome to me than looking through my followed posts lists. Definitely a variable mileage thing...

Thanks for the heads up delta!

I tried the candle method today with some .30-06 brass that was not cooperating during resizing into .35 Whelen.

It worked like charm. Easy resizing afterwords and no more split necks.

I’m going to try a DNA burner next, because the candle soot is a pita.

I was in Home Depot yesterday and they had these Tiki Table Candles available individually for about $4.50 each. Just use DNA instead of the oil-based Tiki fuel and Bob's your uncle.
Tiki Table Candle at Home Depot

I made my own and it works fine, but for some reason the attachment manager does not show up on the thread posting "full editor" tool. Anybody know why that is? It does not happen consistently but only on some threads.

Cheers,
Rex

I’m going to grab one of those Tiki Table Csndles and some DNA next time I’m in Home Depot.

Thought I'd bump this topic just because.

I used the candle method for years. Couple things: How my fingertips felt the heat depended on the temp of my reloading room. In the winter I keep the temp around 60 degrees, during the summer it can be 80 degrees or even a bit more. I tested with Tempilaq numerous times over the years, and after a few dozen cases in the winter it seems my fingers would become a bit desensitized, during the summer they could become overly sensitive.

I finally bought an Anneal-Rite and it's definitely more precise and faster.

When I was using candles I would use a baking sheet with the raised edges, lay a couple layers of paper towels in it and fill the baking sheet with water. Take a wet paper towel, and when done annealing the case, drop it on the cookie sheet and wipe the neck with the wet paper towel and the soot easily comes off when the case is still warm.

Why not just use a propane torch? I use the blue bottles that are about 16” long and put it on a medium flame. Case neck/shoulder junction goes in the blue part of the flame till I can’t keep holding it. About 8-9 seconds. It just starts to turn faint red when I pull it off the flame and set them in a paint pan. Seems to work for me.

you do realize this is 2022?

I've sequestered ~800 pieces of Lapua brass in 243AI and 308. The sequestered lots have all experienced case-neck cracking and I've also seen some significant vertical stringing in rifles that don't string new brass. The cases all have primer pockets that hold primers just fine. So, in this time of very low component availability I bit the bullet, bought the AMP, figuring that resurrecting those 1st 800 cases covers at least 50% of the acquisition cost.

Beyond the 243AI and 308 Lapua cases that are of known loading numbers, I have a hodge-podge of multi-loaded cases in 223Rem, 22-250, 243Win, 25-06, 270Win, and 300Win that I inherited from my dad. Currently they're all sequestered by brand, but there's no telling how many times any of them have been loaded. I figure I can clean, anneal, trim, and FL size them and have predictable results. If this winter gets much longer I might even separate them by weight.

I considered the AMP purchase to be "cost avoidance" rather than extra expense.

Link to the AMP device: https://www.ampannealing.com/

This imo is the perfect solution to case anneal as it seems to be a controlled repeatable process. Finest kind. The cost of the AMP IS pretty high, but you pay for the precision this offers.

It's worth your time to read the test content in the AMP link. Good info displaying the result of anneal and bullet seating pressure curve consistency.

For me and the lower volume annealing I do the candle method works.

SYMPATHY? ………….from this crowd? 😮

It would be interesting to have a gathering that brings together a number of people and the cases that they have annealed and have a lab run tests on the cases to see to what degree they have been annealed.

I use a propane torch in a dark room. Just use my fingers to rotate. I initially used tempilac and figured out how the case should look at the right temp. and just drop in a metal pan to cool. Fast, no mess and I have done it this way for 25 years without a hiccup. YMMV

I use the candle or propane torch/fingerhold method to anneal the 6mm PPC cases for my benchrest rifle, which puts 5 shots in around .15 inch at 100 yards with the right load.

But yeah, a lab test would be interesting--though the easiest way to do it would be for each person to mail, say, 3 cases to a lab, instead of getting a number of Campfire members near a laboratory. That sounds like herding cats--though if there's a good saloon near the lab it might work....

John, you are correct about the ease of the mail-in test, but it would deprive us of the pre-test "my method is best" bluster among the participants that the gathering would provide.

Propane torch and a deep socket attached to an electric screwdriver is easy.

AU338MAG it just works