Annealing before or after sizing?

[MTbackwoods]

I currently anneal by hand with a torch (I know) and I was just curious if it truly makes a difference to anneal before or after sizing. I anneal every firing because I'm sure I'm not annealing quite enough as I am holding the brass in my fingers. But my last round of annealing the brass was a very purty pink color. From what I could find, it sounds like residual sizing lube caused the pink hue. So I was thinking about annealing before I resize. Any pros or cons to either?

 

[MOOSE39465]

I only anneal before sizing brass. Then run it through my fl sizing die with out expander ball.
I use a LE Wilson mandrel to size inside case neck. I size my brass to fit chamber so that the last bit of bolt travel will have slight resistance.

 

[MOOSE39465]

Heating that brass after resizing could effect neck tension.

 

[Korhil78]

It makes no sense to anneal after re-sizing your brass. If your brass is work hardened from firing, then when you re-size your brass, you are not going to have the bounce back that properly annealed brass will give you when running it through the re-sizing die and your neck tension will be off. Always anneal before re-sizing your brass.

 

[MNbogboy]

For me annealing before sizing has also made for more consistent shoulder bumping.

 

[pcrider53]

Anneal before sizing.

 

[MTbackwoods]

Well Hornady screwed the pooch and put a .275 expander ball in my die from the factory. It's a 7mm Rem mag. So now that I have that rectified, my neck tension and ES should plummet. But I'll anneal before I size. Makes more sense I guess

 

[Gone Ballistic]

Well I have learned something new! I never knew that you could anneal brass with a butane torch while holding it with your fingers. Because I have always had a friend anneal my brass when he had time on his automatic annealer, please explain your process. I am very interested in knowing how you do it as well as any of you who do annealing without using an annealing machine.

 

[Mike Matteson]

Well I never tried to hold the brass when annealing the brass. I de-prime them and place the cases in a pan of water standing up and use the torch to heat them up one at a time. Noching them over as I get the case heating done. I have just purchase two salt system, but haven't use it yet. Mainly because I gave them to my two boys to add to their reloading equipment.
SSS
Mike

 

[SCSCHNUR]

I only anneal before sizing brass. Then run it through my fl sizing die with out expander ball.
I use a LE Wilson mandrel to size inside case neck. I size my brass to fit chamber so that the last bit of bolt travel will have slight resistance.

I am pretty much the same I use Redding body die then the LE Wilson Mandrel Expander die for the following rounds and the RCBS MASTER SEATER DIE for 300 WSM And 6.5 CREEDMOORE AND FORESTER seating die for 223. Have the Annealeez for annealing brass prior to sizing. Wet tumble brass also.

 

[Patriot007]

I am pretty much the same I use Redding body die then the LE Wilson Mandrel Expander die for the following rounds and the RCBS MASTER SEATER DIE for 300 WSM And 6.5 CREEDMOORE AND FORESTER seating die for 223. Have the Annealeez for annealing brass prior to sizing. Wet tumble brass also.

I love the Annealeez, I have the new style with the PMW control. It is by far one of the best and cheapest, at $275.00 delivered to the front door, annealers on the market. It's very compact, has a large hopper, and very consistent at annealing the brass. I use Forster micro seating dies for all of my rifles. I seen a review on the RCBS master die kit the other day and it looked very interesting. How is the accuratesy and the repeatability compared to your Forster seating dies??? The kit came with different die bodies and seating stems for different calibers and a micro adjuster. Is this the same beast that you are talking about???

 

[Chuck32571]

I currently anneal by hand with a torch (I know) and I was just curious if it truly makes a difference to anneal before or after sizing. I anneal every firing because I'm sure I'm not annealing quite enough as I am holding the brass in my fingers. But my last round of annealing the brass was a very purty pink color. From what I could find, it sounds like residual sizing lube caused the pink hue. So I was thinking about annealing before I resize. Any pros or cons to either?

I always anneal prior to resizing to help prevent ware and tare on my custom dies. I also clean the brass in my tumbler prior to resizing for the same reason. I use the Perfect annealing machine and get uniform results.

 

[foul bore]

Rather than hold brass in your hand and get burned, use a cordless drill with a deep socket a little larger than brass diameter, turn slowly with flame down on the propane torch, when color changes, turn socket over into pan of water, quick and safe

 

[MOOSE39465]

I am pretty much the same I use Redding body die then the LE Wilson Mandrel Expander die for the following rounds and the RCBS MASTER SEATER DIE for 300 WSM And 6.5 CREEDMOORE AND FORESTER seating die for 223. Have the Annealeez for annealing brass prior to sizing. Wet tumble brass also.

I'm in the process of building me a induction annealing machine. Still waiting on the enclosure. I sent had a company cut the correct size holes for the display and all off the mounting block installed to my specs. One of my friends is gonna cera coat it for me. Should be real nice when I get finished with it. Right now i'm still old school propane torch and water.