The reason nobody is giving you a temp is because it depends what you want out of your annealed cases .
The general rule, brass is fully annealed when placed in a heat source of 600* for one hour and grain structure starts to change at 450* to 475* . That however is not firearm cartridge brass but rather a big hunk/block of brass . Cartridge brass is MUCH thinner and can be reach that 600* much faster and then there's the fact you don't want the whole case heated to 600* so you never just toss the whole case into the heat source . This changes everything when it comes to annealing cartridge brass and one size / temp / duration in heat source is likely to change based on what you are trying to accomplish .
Don't quote me but I think the AMP machine heats the case up to about 950* in about 1.5sec while the torch method usually heats the case to about 750* in about 4 to 7 seconds depending on flame heat or if two torches are used .
Now IMHO yes you can and no you can't ruin cases by "over" annealing . Again it depends on what you're trying to accomplish when annealing your cases . I'm going to throw out some temperatures here but they are general examples and likely differ some but the general point is valid . Bench rest guys tend to want there cases fully annealed to what I call dead soft . Which basically is "annealed as much as it can get which is what the AMP does . If it heated the case to 1050* or 1100* rather then 950* , the case would not be significantly more soft . How ever if you only heat your case to 550* to 600* the case will be stress relieved but not fully annealed . This is what I do or more specific I heat my neck and shoulders with a torch to 750* based on a temperature indicator applied to the case before heating .
I choose 750* to stress relieve my cases only which does return them to a more consistent bullet hold . However if I wanted the best consistency I would fully anneal them and they would be virtually identical from case to case . I did some testing on this idea and found when I fully annealed case necks I had to little bullet hold to use those cases in my auto loading/semi auto rifles . I have real concerns that fully annealed cases in a AR-10 for instance will have to little bullet hold and the bullet may be set back into the case when being slammed forward into the chamber by the BCG . That is the main reason I don't fully anneal but do anneal for my AR-10 and 5.56 rifles . These firearms are hard on brass especially my AR-10 so annealing is helpful if I want more then 3 loading with my brass . Keeping all that in mind , then I say yes you can over anneal a case . However if you're single loading by hand you don't need that much bullet hold and fully annealed cases are not an issue and in actuality more desirable for better consistency .
So in some circumstances you can over anneal and ruin the case for the purpose you intended it .
The general rule, brass is fully annealed when placed in a heat source of 600* for one hour and grain structure starts to change at 450* to 475* . That however is not firearm cartridge brass but rather a big hunk/block of brass . Cartridge brass is MUCH thinner and can be reach that 600* much faster and then there's the fact you don't want the whole case heated to 600* so you never just toss the whole case into the heat source . This changes everything when it comes to annealing cartridge brass and one size / temp / duration in heat source is likely to change based on what you are trying to accomplish .
Don't quote me but I think the AMP machine heats the case up to about 950* in about 1.5sec while the torch method usually heats the case to about 750* in about 4 to 7 seconds depending on flame heat or if two torches are used .
Now IMHO yes you can and no you can't ruin cases by "over" annealing . Again it depends on what you're trying to accomplish when annealing your cases . I'm going to throw out some temperatures here but they are general examples and likely differ some but the general point is valid . Bench rest guys tend to want there cases fully annealed to what I call dead soft . Which basically is "annealed as much as it can get which is what the AMP does . If it heated the case to 1050* or 1100* rather then 950* , the case would not be significantly more soft . How ever if you only heat your case to 550* to 600* the case will be stress relieved but not fully annealed . This is what I do or more specific I heat my neck and shoulders with a torch to 750* based on a temperature indicator applied to the case before heating .
I choose 750* to stress relieve my cases only which does return them to a more consistent bullet hold . However if I wanted the best consistency I would fully anneal them and they would be virtually identical from case to case . I did some testing on this idea and found when I fully annealed case necks I had to little bullet hold to use those cases in my auto loading/semi auto rifles . I have real concerns that fully annealed cases in a AR-10 for instance will have to little bullet hold and the bullet may be set back into the case when being slammed forward into the chamber by the BCG . That is the main reason I don't fully anneal but do anneal for my AR-10 and 5.56 rifles . These firearms are hard on brass especially my AR-10 so annealing is helpful if I want more then 3 loading with my brass . Keeping all that in mind , then I say yes you can over anneal a case . However if you're single loading by hand you don't need that much bullet hold and fully annealed cases are not an issue and in actuality more desirable for better consistency .
So in some circumstances you can over anneal and ruin the case for the purpose you intended it .
Last edited: