Question about annealing

[C-130 Dude]

Watched the video. This is simplicity at its best. It does work. As most reloading chores, cost has a place in your decision making. Does the drill method work, yes. So does salt, amp, and various other ways. I also have a problem with being around molten salt. If I had a "spare" 1600-2600 laying around, yeah I might spring for an amp. But I don't and most probably won't. The amp does a great job at what it was designed to do. No doubt about it. I'm not a F class shooter either and will never be. At this point in my life, what I am doing now works for me. Your milage may vary.

 

[Rusty85]

I understand the button issue. But how do you fair with your die getting crudded up with the ensuing wear that comes from running a dirty case through the die? Can't say I would be ok with this. My dies cost way too much for me to take a chance on damaging them. But if it works for you, so be it.

The outside of my brass is never that dirty. And if there's a little carbon build up I just wipe it off before I size. Die's are hardened steel and brass is soft you'd really have to have a lot of carbon build on your brass to ever damage them. IMO. And I clean my dies after every use.

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

Watched the video. This is simplicity at its best. It does work. As most reloading chores, cost has a place in your decision making. Does the drill method work, yes. So does salt, amp, and various other ways. I also have a problem with being around molten salt. If I had a "spare" 1600-2600 laying around, yeah I might spring for an amp. But I don't and most probably won't. The amp does a great job at what it was designed to do. No doubt about it. I'm not a F class shooter either and will never be. At this point in my life, what I am doing now works for me. Your milage may vary.

I bought a EP & love the down right simplicity of it. I use a bigger tank. And if I can get my butt in gear. I want to try & make a hopper (feed).

 

[C-130 Dude]

The outside of my brass is never that dirty. And if there's a little carbon build up I just wipe it off before I size. Die's are hardened steel and brass is soft you'd really have to have a lot of carbon build on your brass to ever damage them. IMO. And I clean my dies after every use.

Like I said, if it works for you so be it.

 

[Kentuckywindage]

About a year ago I had purchased several boxes of precision hunter 145 grain 270 Winchester ammo to get ready for an elk hunt, and all the rims were too small! measured between .465 to .469 IIRC. My Ruger M77 MKII would not extract them at all! When I called Hornady they told me to check my ejector (Really?!?!). What I hadn't done when I called them is to double check other (older) Hornady factory ammo to see if it extracted. I did after the call, and without fail, it all extracted/ejected properly.

And for the record, it extracts/ejects everything else I feed it. Remington factory ammo, and handloads in both nosler and FC brass.

Moral of the story is that it seems Hornady has a brass QC problem lately.

Not just brass. I had a lot of 100 that was off in weight, length and diameter. Not by just a couple thousandth either . Weight was the first I caught though. I contacted Hornady and was told that lot number met specs in factory? That you wouldn't notice the difference when shooting. I replied that these were to be shot out to 1200 yards. Then it was again, they passed spec. Hornady did not ask for the remaining amount for inspection nor made any effort or offer to correct issue.

 

[C-130 Dude]

Not just brass. I had a lot of 100 that was off in weight, length and diameter. Not by just a couple thousandth either . Weight was the first I caught though. I contacted Hornady and was told that lot number met specs in factory? That you wouldn't notice the difference when shooting. I replied that these were to be shot out to 1200 yards. Then it was again, they passed spec. Hornady did not ask for the remaining amount for inspection nor made any effort or offer to correct issue.

Stop buying their cases. What else can ya do?

 

[cowboy]

Thank you. I now have a legitimate response to some of the people that always have a better method. Been using your method for 40 years - Keep it fun and simple.

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

Thank you. I now have a legitimate response to some of the people that always have a better method. Been using your method for 40 years - Keep it fun and simple.

I posted the video for Bean. I use almost the same method but with a EP 2.0 annealer. It cost $238.00 to my door, when I bought it. All it needed was a fuel source. And there are videos on YT showing how to build them cheaper. If you get tired of the socket & drill.
Merry Christmas

 

[Rick Richard]

I posted the video for Bean. I use almost the same method but with a EP 2.0 annealer. It cost $238.00 to my door, when I bought it. All it needed was a fuel source. And there are videos on YT showing how to build them cheaper. If you get tired of the socket & drill.
Merry Christmas

Me too.

 

[TRexF16]

I use Butterbean's annealing method, and do so with Little Crow gun works mandrels. I feel I'm a little more precise with those than with a socket. I do the heating in a dark room, and pull the case from the flame at the very first hint of a glow. Takes 4-4.5 seconds with most 30-06. Longer or shorter depending on various other chamberings and neck wall thickness.

Regarding Hornady brass, with only one exception, I have been extremely impressed with their quality and precision. I measure a LOT of brass for weight and neck wall thickness variation. I can say with confidence that if I pick up a random piece of Hornady 30-06 at the range, there's better than a 50/50 chance it'll be 176 grains, +/- 1.0 (after depriming and cleaning) and have neck walls .012" +/- .0005" thick. That's my experience over several hundred once-fired Hornady 30-06 that were "left for dead" at my range over the last couple years. The most precises brass I have ever measured (including Lapua and the rest of the Gucci stuff) was a lot of Hornady .270 Win.
My Hornady .270 WSM cases last an amazing number of firings.
The only bad experience ever was a couple boxes of Hornady 6.5x55. I opened the first box and didn't find a single case with less than .001" neck wall variation. Second box was the same lot, so I left it sealed, and took them all back to the local Ace hardware store where I bought them and told them they didn't meet my standards. They gave me a full refund on the spot.

Good luck with your annealing. Don't overdo it and you'll be fine.

Rex

 

[OldManCrider]

With my limited reloading experience gained from listening to my dad, then after watching multiple YouTube videos of various content creators, and reading a few of the reloading manuals out there from the different bullet manufacturers my order of operations is as follows…
1). De-Prime
2). Ultrasonic clean and dry (food dehydrator)
3). Anneal with AMP Annealer (I have a question for those of you that have/use this machine)*
4). FL Resize. (I'm still trying to figure out the neck tension thing?)
5). Henderson 3 way case trimmer
6). Ultrasonic clean and dry again.
7). Prime/Charge/Seat.
8). Shoot & Repeat ;-)

Now I only typically load 25-50 rounds a session, so cleaning twice is just a good excuse to take a 1 hour break and read the forum while it's cleaning/drying, or I just research some of my dads old notes. Also the second cleaning helps with the annealing marks. (But they don't bother me, if anything people that know see them and know that I am annealing my brass)

* AMP question… Have you found with the same brass as you go through firings does the annealing code change? So when I annealed brand new brass before the first loading (the box didn't say and I'd researched that it didn't hurt if you annealed twice in a row without shooting as long as it cooled back to room temp) the first code was like 0165. (This was for 338 Lapua Brass) Then after shooting when I ran the analyze again it went down to 0163. So was wondering if you see the numbers stay that close together with your brass? Reason being was to see if I really needed to sacrifice a piece of brass after every firing, or if it starts to stay the same and then maybe only analyze/lose a piece after every third firing or so? But continue to use the same code to anneal after every firing.

OMC

——————
Life does not stand still… If you are not moving forward, you must be falling behind
What is something new YOU have learned today?

 

[Rusty85]

* AMP question… Have you found with the same brass as you go through firings does the annealing code change? So when I annealed brand new brass before the first loading (the box didn't say and I'd researched that it didn't hurt if you annealed twice in a row without shooting as long as it cooled back to room temp) the first code was like 0165. (This was for 338 Lapua Brass) Then after shooting when I ran the analyze again it went down to 0163. So was wondering if you see the numbers stay that close together with your brass? Reason being was to see if I really needed to sacrifice a piece of brass after every firing, or if it starts to stay the same and then maybe only analyze/lose a piece after every third firing or so? But continue to use the same code to anneal after every firing.

I've always just used same code for a lot of brass throughout its life cycle. But I've never annealed new brass though it's always been at least once fired. I may run some tests though on some junk brass just to see if they read different after a few firings.

 

[Turpentine21]

I use Butterbean's annealing method, and do so with Little Crow gun works mandrels. I feel I'm a little more precise with those than with a socket. I do the heating in a dark room, and pull the case from the flame at the very first hint of a glow. Takes 4-4.5 seconds with most 30-06. Longer or shorter depending on various other chamberings and neck wall thickness.

Regarding Hornady brass, with only one exception, I have been extremely impressed with their quality and precision. I measure a LOT of brass for weight and neck wall thickness variation. I can say with confidence that if I pick up a random piece of Hornady 30-06 at the range, there's better than a 50/50 chance it'll be 176 grains, +/- 1.0 (after depriming and cleaning) and have neck walls .012" +/- .0005" thick. That's my experience over several hundred once-fired Hornady 30-06 that were "left for dead" at my range over the last couple years. The most precises brass I have ever measured (including Lapua and the rest of the Gucci stuff) was a lot of Hornady .270 Win.
My Hornady .270 WSM cases last an amazing number of firings.
The only bad experience ever was a couple boxes of Hornady 6.5x55. I opened the first box and didn't find a single case with less than .001" neck wall variation. Second box was the same lot, so I left it sealed, and took them all back to the local Ace hardware store where I bought them and told them they didn't meet my standards. They gave me a full refund on the spot.

Good luck with your annealing. Don't overdo it and you'll be fine.

Rex

Just out of curiosity what size socket works with the 308/30/06 size cases. I did a few yesterday with drill and socket but could not find a tight enough fit and got a lot of wobble. I could doctor a socket if need be but just wondering

 

[PutInOut]

People have their own procedures but I anneal every firing. May be unnecessary.
Dont know. It's too easy to skip for me thankfully.

I to anneal AFTER EACH FIRING, haven't seen a split neck since I started annealing. I anneal prior to sizing.