Annealing 56-50 cases

[Herbert]

I dont know weather anybody else has been caout out lick this before but annealed some casses with the fierd primer removed dont do it , it distorts the primer pocket , method was heating casses with gass held with pliers then drop in water it has always worked before with fieard primer in learn somthing all the time usualy the hard way

[Trailrider]

Howdy, Pard,

The safest way is to use a lazy susan with a pot sitting on top of it.  Deprime the cases, fill the pot with water and place some sort of object in the center of the pot. (I use an old, empty plastic pill bottle, filled with water and with a bullet or other weight inside and the lid put back on.) Place the case to be annealed on top of the pill bottle and adjust the water level to HALF-WAY up the side of the cartridge case.  Heat the case with the flame from a propane or MAPgas torch, rotating the pot and the lazy susan so the heat is evenly distributed.  Do this in a dimly-lit room, so you can see the color of the metal change.  When the case is evenly discolored or cherry red, if possible, knock the case off the pill box, into the water (use a deep enough pot).  This will quench in the anneal!  By making the water level halfway up the side of the case, you insure the heat can't anneal the HEAD of the case, making it too soft, which is DANGEROUS!

Hope this helps!  [I can assume NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ACCIDENTS OR INCIDENTS THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION!  This method has worked for the undersigned, but YOUR RESULTS MAY DIFFER!]

Ride easy, Pard,

[Fox Creek Kid]

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,3222.0.html

[Hoot-3rd Ga]

Gentlemen: This is the best way I have found to anneal Spencer cases. It works well for me. Fill a 5 gallon bucket with cold water (I put a little ice in it) Set up a mapp gas torch(propane will work but slower) on a short stool next to the bucket. Use a cordless drill with a 4" to 5" metal rod (some small diameter bolts work well with the bolt head removed) chucked up in the drill. In really subdued light, place a case on the rod, spin slowly over the torch flame heating the last 1/4" of the case mouth ONLY until it STARTS to glow orange all the way around, drop immediately into the cold water. Frequently cool the rod as it gets hot also and may damage your drill. This setup must  be stable because you are working in semi-darkness. You don't want to knock the torch over and burn the *#*# out of yourself. PS. Good idea to leave the fired primer in the case for this. You should never get the whole case glowing hot!    Hoot

[Fox Creek Kid]

Hoot, that's the way I've been doing it for years, more or less. Works great. I also fill the water about half full of ice. 

[Hoot-3rd Ga]

Fox Creek Kid:  I purposely don't use too much ice because I want the cases to hit the water and instantly submerge. That whole thing about standing cases up in shallow water, heating the rims, and tipping them over is too tedious and time consuming.   Hoot

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I just found this article by Ken Howell on the 24hourcampfire.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/annealing.html