Annealing Cases

[mtelkhntr78]

Right after I anneal I throw them in a bucket of CLR(calcium/rust/lime) for about an hour or so. Then pull them out and rinse with water and brush the necks out good. Follow it up by a shot of air to blast off the water. That works real well for me and boy they look purdy when its all done!

 

[loaders_loft]

In the past couple weeks I was able to set up and anneal my brass for 7wsm and 35 whelen. I purchased a halo-style torch from woodchuckden.com, which turned out to provide uneven heat on cases standing in a tray of water. So, I attached the holders from the hornady annealing system to my cordless screwgun, to spin cases while heating with the halo torch. It worked pretty good, once I got the "magnum" holder drilled out wider to accept the WSM case. After spinning in the flame, I flipped each case into a coffee can of water, occasionally dunking the holder as well, to keep it cool.

Next, I was able to lightly neck turn the 7wsm brass. Hopefully this freshly annealed and turned brass will yield more uniform groups!

Like most other reloading activities, the annealing and neck turning chores turned out to be fairly simple, with a bit of technique involved...

 

[johnnyk]

Thanks BuffaloBob, that took alot of mystery out of the process for me. I was just about to attempt it on some Norma 7Mag cases that I have and I saw that video of the annealing machine, boy did that depress me. That's a neat machine but I can't justify it. The video makes it look outta reach for the "Joe the Reloader". You brought it back down to a "doable" level for me. JohnnyK.

 

[Buffalobob]

I am glad it helped. Like most people, I thought it was a complicated process and avoided doing it for many years.

 

[LRHWAL]

I started this too a few months ago using a kit similar to the Hornady. I use a plumber's torch (backpacking stove cartridge type).

Results have been generally really great, with the odd loaded round pulling SD wide open. It's quite infrequent, but as I applied the indicator I thought all should be consistent. I realise that reloading has many potential pitfalls, but generally I'm getting it right and annealling seems to be the potential "variable"

Loaders, are you saying that the history of the case may be responsible for this despite my best annealling endeavours?

Thanks.

WAL

 

[Buffalobob]

The method demonstrated here is not perfect nor uniform but it works pretty well. I have not noticed that there are more fliers after annealing than before. In fact it seems that the scores improve.

What I do with fliers is mark the case and see if that case consistently shoots to a different POI. If it does, then I just throw it away. So many times it is just something about the case (volume I suspect). Even weight sorting does not take care of volume problems. My daughter refuses to shoot a "marked" case because the error is so predictable and recurrent. I do not think it has much to do with sloppy annealing or else there would be more cases thrown away and it would always be the match right after the annealing.

 

[johnnyk]

Hey BB,
Got a few minutes today to try about 50 cases. Took all of 10 minutes. The first pic is of five annealed cases, one loaded, un-annealed and my annealling tool.

Here is a break-down of the tool for others who wish to make one:

mine consist of a 14mm deep socket (approx $6.00), 4" X 1/4-20 machine screw ($.50), 1/4-20 nut ($.09), 1/4 flat washer ($.09); total: $6.68.

Thanks again. JohnnyK.

 

[chain]

This is probably a dumb question but here goes. Do you anneal prior to resizing?or DO you re -size then anneal. I usually tumble, re size, clean primer pockets, trim if neccessary, brush out brass, tumble, load. I am guessing I would anneal before doing anything else. Thanks

 

[jmason]

You want to anneal prior to resizing. Annealing will allow the hardened brass to become more flexible and take the shape that the die is trying to give it.

 

[Len Backus]

14mm deep socket (approx $6.00), 4" X 1/4-20 machine screw ($.50), 1/4-20 nut ($.09), 1/4 flat washer ($.09); total: $6.68.

Great! Where do I send my $6.68?

 

[johnnyk]

Len,
This was the cost of an amateur home project. Picked the items up at the ACE Hardware in town. If I were to make you one I would have to include time/labor cost ($25.00 per hr), mileage ($1.62 per mile), S&H (current postal rates) and insurance (whatever the insurance guys feel like that day!). It may be cheaper for you to try it yourself first .

Note: The WSM, H & H Magnum and .30-06 family of cases fit great inside the 14mm deep socket, and seem to have just the right amount of case sticking out for annealling. The short cases, .308 Win family, .22-250, .223, etc., don't have enough case exposed. I will have to visit ACE Hardware again whenever I plan on annealling these JohnnyK.

 

[chain]

I am guessing that the driving force behind annealing is to extend the life of your brass. Has annealing SIGNIFICANTLY improved anyone's accuracy? I am asking this because I don't want to ruin brass to save brass, but if it tighten up my groups, well all bets are off then. Thanks

 

[jmason]

I have seen no notable accuracy improvements but that's just me. Your mileage may vary. It does extend brass life and keep you from having to do those 1 time chores associated with new brass as frequently.

 

[Buffalobob]

Has annealing SIGNIFICANTLY improved anyone's accuracy? I am asking this because I don't want to ruin brass to save brass, but if it tighten up my groups, well all bets are off then. Thanks

As the neck of a piece of brass work hardens it will loose neck tension. After resizing you will be able to seat a bullet with just one finger and your thumb when a case neck is really hardened. You will also be able to pull it back out with one finger and a thumb or jar it further down in the case. So, when bullets are this loose in the neck it is unlikely that you can maintain any reasonable standard of accuracy.

If you opt to go to a smaller neck die to get more tension rather than annealing there will come a point in time that the neck has hardened enough that it will split on firing.

Annealing will not improve "new" unfired brass, it is for work hardened necks.

So here are your options:

1. Anneal your brass when the necks get hardened (maybe every four or five firings) and spend maybe $10 on the equipment and process.

2. Keep buying smaller and smaller neck sizing bushing until you split the case necks and ruin it all which will cost you about $200 in bushings and ruined brass.

3. Every four or five firings just throw all your brass away and buy new brass which will cost you maybe $150 plus all the time for brass prep.

Its your money and your time.