Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters For those who Anneal

I have an AMP on the way. For those of you who anneal, do you still sequester your brass in "lots" based on # of firings?

Assuming brass is trimmed and sized properly and the primer pocket still grasps the primer firmly, is there any reason to sequester?

Depends on how often you anneal. The main objective is neck tension uniformity. Having all the cases in the lot with the same number of loadings since annealing helps.

I don't see why it would be a bad idea to keep them separated based on times fired.

If the cases started to become un-useable you could toss the whole batch all at once knowing they have been used the same amount.

What SuperCub said.

This, had a 50 lot of Nosler 223 brass that had 24 firings on it, one started to show possible thinness around the web so I chucked that fired the rest one more time then 4 more showed the ring of death. Then just tossed the whole lot.

Something I really hate is discovering a hardened neck. Why? Because I find them while seating bullets. I try to keep things in order so that it doesn't happen.

My assumption w/the AMP is that it's easy and fast enough to anneal each time.

Some say that annealed brass works best for them on the second firing. I have not tested the theory, so I can't say. I anneal after about every third firing and it seems to work well enough to suit me.

All I know for sure is that when I've kept my brass in good condition, seating is buttery smooth. If I begin to notice a few bullets seating a little more inconsistently, per feel, I make sure I anneal before I load them again. I really should keep better records but I'm just not that organized, I guess.

If annealed brass "works best" on the second firing, in my experience it was over-annealed.

This is still common, due to the annealing process suggested by almost everyone when I started handloading: Heating the necks until they glowed red. This softens the brass too much--or at least more than necessary. Firing the cases again hardens the necks enough to work better.

I know this partly through working with a AMP. This was 2-3 years ago, and their suggested setting for one "brand" of .30-06 brass resulted in poor accuracy on the first firing--then worked great on the second firing of the brass. It turned out this was due to the "brand" of brass actually being manufactured by more than one company--which isn't all that unusual.

Mule Deer or anyone else who knows,
At what step in the reloading process do you anneal? Before sizing? After? Long time reloader learning rookie things here. Thanks for any help.

Mule Deer that was a great tidbit of info. Will file that for future reference.
GreggH

I anneal before resizing.

Me, too.

Deprime, Anneal, clean, resize............

Yes

.
Me too, and keep them in separate lots. That way when the first two or three go, you know its time to really watch the others. Also keeping them in separate lots, keeps track of the loose primer pockets. All of this gives you a clue on when to throw them away.

I keep them in separate batches, up to 4-times-fired. After the 4th firing I anneal them, and have never had a neck split.

The exception is the 6mm PPC cases for my benchrest rifle, which get annealed after every shot.

Haven't cleaned any cases in years, so after annealing I load 'em and shoot.

Depends.

7.62x54R brass tends to be poorly annealed. if you don't anneal, you can get cute little pleats at the shoulder. If you want to form 8x57 out of 30-06 in one step, it pays to anneal, going farther down the case than usual.

With the method I use to anneal, you have to remove the primer before annealing. So it is easier to deprime and form in one step, and then anneal.

I keep brass together in batches, usually 50 cases per. I'll usually anneal before sizing, and I usually do it after about each 4 or 5 load cycles. Sometimes I'll have started sizing a batch, and they feel a bit hard, or I split one or two, in which case I'll anneal that whole batch. I decap at the same time I size, so there's no risk of getting the sized miixed up with the unsized when I do this.

I don't tumble cases. I see no advantage to it, and some potential downside.

On over-annealing, mentioned above, potential downsides not only include the neck being made too soft. If you don't control heat transfer you could also soften the head of the case, which is a bad thing, but also overdoing it causes grain growth and can burn out some of the Zn, neither of which is a good thing either.

If I see spring back after sizing I know I waited too long...
I usually do small batches so I will usually test a projectile after sizing to make sure it doesn't just slip right in...
I could probably use a tighter bushing though...