Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Annealing again...

How many of you anneal your bottle neck rifle brass that you use for big game hunts. How often do you anneal if the same brass is fired in the same rifle and minimally sized for that rifle? Do any of you anneal 45-70 brass? After all these years and reading about it I am going to try MD's candle annealing.

I anneal every firing. I use the Annealeez machine so it takes a couple minutes. I figure it keeps everything the same each time.

Every 4 reloads. Second reloads for hunting.

PSA: Do not confuse Annealeez with Analease. They are not interchangeable.

Thank you for the warning!

Oh crap!

You just may experience a burning sensation..

[quote=Vic_in_Va]You just may experience a burning sensation..[/quotto e]
I try not to think of such things.

Seriously, there's a time to anneal but I don't think it's every firing. The old standard guide line was every ten reloadings. Just my honest opinion.

I guess it depends on what you're doing with your rifle. But for a hunting rifle (That's what I do) unless you're a prairie dog hunter and shoot 300-400 rounds an outing, I doubt you'll shoot enough to do it more than a couple times a year, IF you have any amount of brass. I've got enough .270 brass to where I don't need to anneal more than once a year.

Thanks to mule deer, I also candle anneal, every other loading, and I have implemented his tricks to reduce case neck run out/ seated bullet run out. Both, steps have aided my load development for my 308. I am now fine tuning an accuracy load for my Tikka TAC T3X3.

I do.

I prefer a propane torch with a very low flame....no soot. For jacketed bullet loads, about every 3-4 load cycles. Cast bullet cartridges get the torch every 2d load cycle. That includes such things as the .38-55 and .45-70.

I have two machines, an Anealeez and a Benchsource. Both work great.

I anneal every 3rd loading. That has extended the life of the cases for for my Garand by quite a bit. I would typically get 8 to 10 loadings before the necks started splitting, now 20+ is possible and the condition of the extraction groove usually dictates case life. With my hunting rifles, the feedback from sizing/seating is much more uniform.

As for .45-70, with Starline brass and loaded to low pressure, the cases would soot up for their entire length. After annealing, the seal was much better.

I anneal, but have not been doing so long enough to be able to give solid data from my own experiences. I have a good friend that's a very competitive F-Class shooter and he anneals (with the AMP machine) every loading. I have been following the "every 3-4 loadings" guidance, using the candle method.
My two big lessons so far:
1) Don't use a candle - make (or buy for about $5) a denatured alcohol lamp. It burns a little hotter (seems to me) and leaves no soot at all on the case.
2) I bought some 750 degree Tempilaq. I've watched some videos on its use but I can not perceive a big change in its appearance before the case becomes too hot to hold. So I am at least pretty sure I am not hurting my case heads. I'm open to advice on the Tempilaq and using it in conjunction with DNA lamp annealing. Right now I'm painting a stripe from the shoulder to the mouth and letting it dry, then annealing. Since there is no soot I can view its behavior well.

Cheers,
Rex

TRexF16, thanks for the tip on the alcohol lamp! I will look into that.You tube has some vids on that process. I like the idea of no soot to deal with, one less P.I.T.A. step in the process. Time saving here and there is a good thing. I could just be me, but the feel of bullet seating in annealed cases is more consistent and seems easier. Blue

Every third loading with a small torch. Once you get the touch for the right temp it goes really quick with no soot.

It's also really easy to do it with a propane (or natural-gas) cookstove.

I pickup an Anneal-rite that I saw MD post about. Got tired of burning my fingers.

I use a small propane torch and anneal every 2 or 3 firings.