Cartridge Case Holders

Correct cartridge case neck annealing is incredibly beneficial, increasing the life of your brass and tightening your groups. However, if annealing isn’t done properly, not only are these benefits nullified, but the resulting brass can be dangerous. With proper annealing, which is guaranteed with the Anneal-Rite, you always get precise results.

NO – ABSOLUTELY NOT!  An annealed case head can blow out when fired, wrecking the firearm causing bodily injury.  The key to proper annealing is heating the case neck evenly & quickly to 750° F. then letting it air cool. This must be done without increasing the temperature in the case head (or base) above 481° F. (brass begins to anneal at 482°F).  Cartridge brass manufacturers and metallurgists state the proper neck annealing temperature is between 700 to 800° F.  Most annealing machines don’t guarantee accuracy, relying on guesswork, or mailing off samples of your brass for analysis.  The Anneal-Rite is provided with 750° F. Tempilaq which precisely indicating this temperature totally eliminating guesswork, Tempilaq is guaranteed accurate to plus or minus 7 ½° guaranteeing perfect neck annealing every time.

In the past information on cartridge brass neck annealing was almost nonexistent.  The old timers stood cases up in a pan w/water 1/3 case depth.  Next, they heated the neck of a case with a torch until it emitted a low red glow, then tipped it over in the water. 

The question is what temperature is brass when it emits a low red glow anyway?  This method is messy, slow and just a wild guess at temperature. Water quenching brass makes no metallurgical change at all, brass does not react like heat treating steel which hardens when quenched. The idea of water quenching brass was to stop the annealing process and it will stop heating when removed from the heat.  Brass manufacturers don’t water quench annealed cases, they let them air cool.

Another old method was to hold a case in your fingers, dip the neck into molten brass and then remove to cool when your fingers got too hot.  Before dipping into the molten lead, it was advised to smoke the necks with carbon in order to prevent soldering lead to the case neck. 

The Anneal-Rite unit is far faster and guaranteed to give perfect results.

There are several carousel-style annealing machines & a few other designs available.  These units are expensive, better than standing cases up in a pan of water & heating the neck one case at a time.  Typically, these units are not furnished with any temperature measuring method.  The Anneal-Rite is reasonable and comes with precise temperature indicating with 750° F. Tempilaq and its guaranteed accurate to plus or minus 7 1/2° F. 

Anneal-Rite, if you want to see a very good video showing precise case neck annealing at exactly 750° F. go to www.cartridgeanneal.com and view the demonstration video or call (479) 629-5566 for a U.S rep.9am to 9pm Mon.-Sat.

There are two basic methods which give instant and precise temperature readings when the case is being annealed.  The first is an infrared temperature sensor that measures metal temperature even looking through flames & give an accurate reading, sadly this device, set up, costs over $5,000.00.  The most practical is 750° F Tempilaq, its very affordable, guaranteed to plus or minus 7 ½° F. which is in the exact center of proper neck annealing temperature of 700 to 800° F. 

Sadly no, annealing must be done on a regular basis to keep consistently restore the brass to the proper ductility, removing work hardening stresses.  It won’t hurt to anneal, don’t bank on returning them to near new condition.  This is why many reloaders anneal after every firing.  Brass is getting expensive, particularly for premium varieties. 

A bench rest shooter set a 5 shot .861” group record at 600 yards. He anneals after every firing, it was the 58th time he fired this brass. Bench rest rifles normally have a tight chamber reamed to close tolerances particularly in the neck area just a couple of thousandths of an inch larger than the loaded round. My rifle is a Remington 700 with standard cut chamber.

A box of 50 - .308 cases currently in use has just past 20 shots per case. These are annealed after every firing and they are still good, best group 5 shot group ever was just under 5/8” at 300 yards, many groups 1” vertical X 3” horizontal courtesy of mother natures wind.

The Anneal-Rite guarantees perfect results every time, annealing 500 to 600 cases per hour. This is twice as fast as the induction unit and at a fraction of its cost.

Certainly, use the same procedure as non-plated.  The plating is very thin just enough to cover the brass.  There are many cases where nickel plated brass reloaded several times will have the nickel worn through and brass beginning to show.  So just anneal it as any all-brass case.

With testing here, we recommend first removing the spent primers, then annealing.  In this manner if the case neck would warp even .001” out of round from the heat it will certainly be returned concentric and true after resizing. 

Makes no difference at all.  If annealed and then, cleaned the cases will never show patina in the annealed area. If cleaned and then annealed the cases will show the patina as darkened metal, however this takes some time to develop as it is oxidation.

YES, our most popular cartridge case holders #1, 2, & 3 are bundled together two ways.  You can order these either with or without propane torches.  We also have two bundle deals where you can get every cartridge case holder we make allowing you to anneal almost every cartridge case imageable.

Certainly can, we will make any holder you may need for cases up to .823” diameter.  It is best to call us for a custom order 479-629-5566 for a U.S rep. 9am to 9pm Mon.-Sat.

Yes, the Anneal-Rite is shipped to most countries, check with your customs to see if items wanted can be legally imported to your country.  First email info@cartridgeanneal.com stating the items wanted.  You will receive a return email advising which of the 3 boxes; small, medium or large will be required, then proceed as follows.  

1. Go to our website cartridgeanneal.com click Shop Now,
2. Click on the photo of the area you want to browse in
3. Look for the product wanted click Add to cart.
4. After all items chosen click Proceed to checkout
5. Put your country in Country / Region box, fill in all information on this page.
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7. Click on Place Order.