I have a couple lots of 556 and 308 brass that has been twice fired and I am considering annealing prior to the next reload.  An AMP is out of the question due to cost vs the volume of shooting I do.  The Anealeez is an option but I've read the guy takes months to ship them out. The Anealeez videos recommend the case turn for 5 sec with the inner cone of the flame just touching the neck/shoulder junction.  

I am sure I can reproduce this with a torch in my vice, an annealing mandrel from Little Crow Gunworks in my drill, and a metronome to keep time.  I prep my brass in the winter so speed is not really an issue for me.  Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Annealing.

Also, plenty of videos on youtoobz, but the things can be hard to see.

Dammit, this made me watch the annealeez videos again.  I guess I will have to buy one now.

I have the spindles, motor, controller, and power supply in my shop, but never followed through on building one.

build your own.   Glad I dug up that video.  I am going to pull out all my parts tonight and do a quick experiment.  Amazon sells the cake pan part.  I may just build my own after all.

Long ago, I was taught by the old timers to anneal using nothing but a drill with a socket, and a propane torch in a darkened workshop.

You practice with junk brass of the same caliber and use Templaq till you get the hang of the boundaries. You are trying not to over or under anneal.

The method to understand the limits is to intentionally take it too far and learn to stop the heat just at the point of the start of that dull infrared glow that you see in the darkened room.

Once you have learned that rhythm and how to aim that case into the flame, it is just a matter of practice. Those inner flame cones are small, so it takes good hand eye coordination to hold that case exactly into the right spot while spinning and then learn the timing.

I used to leave the torch steady and manipulated the drill with the spinning case into position so I could dump the hot case and load another. I used a rail support to avoid having to completely hand hold the drill and that helped to aim it steady into the flame.

Now that I am an old timer, I have taught folks to anneal the same way, but I use a Giraud Annealer just cause I am lazy.

The audio on that is horrid.

This is the way I learned and still do it this way. I don't blow through thousands of rounds a day/week so no point in a big investment here.

My exact same practice except I use a electric screwdriver rather than drill. All else being the same, even the Giraud annealer!!!

I only use the Giraud for large batches though.

I started annealing using my fingers to hold the brass while turning it in a torch flame. Once its too hot to handle drop it in a pan and grab the next one. This works for cases like 308/30-06, but I haven't tried anything as small as a 556/223.  

After doing about 500 in a couple sittings, I made my own annealing machine. Much easier on the fingers.

If you have some time to kill this winter, its a fun project. I've got plans and a parts BOM if you want it. I've posted it in the reloading forum a couple times.  

Wow that's nice!

I *really* want to build one of these..

If you have carefully prepped brass it is worth annealing to save from having to prep more.

I have experimented with less than heavy annealing to help maintain accuracy.
I noticed that newly annealed cases did not group as well until they had been
fired a few times to harden the brass back up a little.

It seems to work.
I shoot varmints, chiefly groundhogs, at somewhat extended range.
400+ yards is common.

They have been shot over enough times that if they see a human
outline at 200 to 300 yards they dive for their burrows.

So I save the walk till they are in parts, and shoot from longer range.

Longest to date is 440 yards, measured with a range finder to now what drop to use.
The farmer was duly impressed when I blew the groundhog apart with one shot.
It often takes 2 to 4 hours for them to come back out of their burrows.

And some of the farmers (they call me when they have problem)
are content to leave the parts in the field where they are.

Sometimes I  will shoot at crows also.
Need to be more careful about a backstop behind them if they are not on the ground.

One of my farmers was watching though my spotting scope when I nailed a ground hog.

He started yelling "You got him. You got him."
I waited around 2 hours and a few started back out from their burrows.

I should get a few of those annealing mandels from Little Crow.... especially the 6.8 SPC and 308

-ZA

You can really just use a deep socket. You don't need a special size for each caliber. If the case falls in too far just stick some aluminum foil it the bottom so the shoulder protrudes from the end of the socket.

Make sure to use a dab of 750 Tempilaq on the inside of the neck. When the color changes to clear, it's done.

I just use a propane torch and drill and pretty much do what Erik Cortina does. Watched all 3 videos on annealing and no longer sweat it as much as I use to.

How many people think Erik looks like weapons manufacturer Tony Stark?  He needs to angle/trim his facial hair & Erik could be Erik Stark—Tony’s brother.

FWIW, I ordered an Annealeez and additional wheels in late December and I had it in under two weeks. The gen 3 has a few changes. It continues to improve and is a real time saver over doing things by hand. It is certainly a lot less expensive than the AMP annealer.

   This is one of those classic reloading quandaries where you measure cost, effect and available resources  (time, money, bench space, safety, etc) and have to make a decision based on what is best in your individual circumstance.  

   I can say that I have already annealed thousands of rounds and wish that I had pulled the trigger on this purchase a long time ago. For my circumstances, it has been ideal.

I am using the EP Integrations unit, very simple adjustment of the drum and spindle for varied case length.  Hand feed one at a time is no sweat, can make a pit stop or door bell answer and resume without messing with the time and flame adjustment.