I annealed the cartridge case after each firing. The flash holes were deburred, and a firm crimp was employed from a Lee factory crimp die. Neck tension is a real concern in straight wall magnum cartridges such as these two .458 numbers. If I went without annealing, by the third firing, I could twist the heavily crimped bullet by hand. Accuracy, reliability, and dependability, went out the window.
This is a little surprising to me.
I have never annealed a case and never would bother with it. What I have learned however, is that when a bullet can be hand turned, in all my cases, it has always been an illfitting set of eating dies. When I changed dies, the issue disappeared in all cases.
I think dies are cheap enough that spares are always a good idea and can teach a lot in terms of what manufacturing precision really is.
John
