A question about anealing?

[WildBillG]

When should I aneal my cases before or after I size them. To my thinking before would be better as the brass will be more pliable after being anealled and have a more uniform neck tension. The reason I am wondering is because none of my brass has ever been anealled. Any help here would be great.

 

[DUSTY NOGGIN]

before sizing .. the factory anealing done may still be ok .. how many time have they been reloaded .. but i might trim to length before anealing as it doesnt leave so much of a burr ..

 

[Barrelnut]

I always do the annealing before sizing. It gives more consistent shoulder bump and less neck runout after running through die. Vast majority of annealers anneal before sizing.

 

[Mram10us]

Before. In my experience, your shoulder setback will be less and less the harder the brass gets. Keep the brass soft like new and your die won't need adjusted. Test for yourself
Take a piece of once fired and a piece fired multiple times. Size without annealing then use your comparator. I've found large differences (+.002 or more).

 

[Canhunter35]

I anneal then even before tumbling in corncob media.
Anneal
Tumble
Resize

 

[WildBillG]

Thank you what you are saying is confirming what I thought. I had forgot about shouder bump though and it makes sense. Most of my brass has been reloaded at least 3 times already.

 

[WildBillG]

One more question will one of those little heat detectors be able to read the temp of my brass. I was unable to find the blue paint stuff most people use.

 

[Kmccord]

Tagging in, I am looking into purchasing an annealer and want to hear what others are doing.

 

[Rick Richard]

Tagging in, I am looking into purchasing an annealer and want to hear what others are doing.

Salt Bath annealing is the closest in my opinion for consistency in temp other than MAYBE the more expensive annealer like AMP

 

[Kmccord]

Salt Bath annealing is the closest in my opinion for consistency in temp other than MAYBE the more expensive annealer like AMP

I will need to Google this and see how that is done, I definitely will not be purchasing as expensive as the AMP unit.

 

[Rick Richard]

I will need to Google this and see how that is done, I definitely will not be purchasing as expensive as the AMP unit.

Easy easy easy in my opinion and works great.

 

[Kmccord]

Looks like using a Lee Pot for melting the salt can become an issue after the second or third time of use.

 

[Mram10us]

Whole nuther topic, but I love the SBA method

Looks like using a Lee Pot for melting the salt can become an issue after the second or third time of use.

i had my first lee pot for almost a year. The key is taking out the probe when it's still hot, then removing the hockey puck of salt once it cools and placing it in something airtight. Less wear on the pot. I didn't do that in my first pot

 

[sedancowboy]

The temp guns or infrared thermometer will not work on brass it needs a dark surface to be accurate. I have already tried it and it did not work. You can order Tempilaq from Brownell's or Midway.