What frequency of Annealing for best case life and consisitent accuracy?

[CaptnC]

Ok everyone time for a dumb question?!?!?

Do you anneal before or after sizing?

I've been reloading since the late 70's...I've heard about it for years. But I've never taken my reloading to this level.

 

[jimbires]

Ok everyone time for a dumb question?!?!?

Do you anneal before or after sizing?

I've been reloading since the late 70's...I've heard about it for years. But I've never taken my reloading to this level.

anneal before you resize . the heat might distort your brass . the annealed brass will resize much more consistent too .

 

[memtb]

Chris, certainly don't want to pick a fight, but....I missed the tongue-in-cheek also. I was nodding in agreement until that remark. Then..... memtb

 

[Greyfox]

With Lapua and Norma brass, I anneal after 4-5 firings, about halfway through the 10-12 firings I generally run my brass. I have found that my accuracy requirement of <.5MOA doesn't seem to be effected by annealing, but with some rifle/loads, annealing will effect my ES requirement of <10-15FPS. My brass cleaning technique using traditional media(corncob or walnut) leaves a carbon coating on the inside of the neck. This coating seems to produce a lubricity that supports consistent neck tension and maintains a consistent ES. Annealing effects this coating and results in greater seating pressure for the first firing. I will use a dry lube to restore the original seating pressure for this first firing only. Not sure if this is the best method, but works well for my LR hunting and competition rifles.

 

[Canhunter35]

Anneal before you tumble your brass too.

Makes the neck nice and shiny blue!

 

[CaptnC]

anneal before you resize . the heat might distort your brass . the annealed brass will resize much more consistent too .

So you will full length size after annealing?

 

[jimbires]

So you will full length size after annealing?

yes , I use either a full length die set to bump the shoulder about .002" , or a neck die and body die set to bump the shoulder about .002" . I never neck size only .

 

[jrock]

I was annealing every other time , now I anneal every time . I'm not sure it's necessary , but that is how I'm doing it .

I use to do every 2 or three firings and sure notice the feeling of bullet seating even after one. If I'm lazy, I'll do it every other time. If I wasn't lazy, I would do it after every shot.

IMO if you are doing it properly every time is best and further I find that if I coat the inside of necks with dry lube it seems to ensure an even release from the surface friction. Its not so much the tension but the surface of the brass causing inconsistent release at that point.

I am trying out the dry lubed on clean brass just for kicks. We'll see if it helps my system out.

 

[jimbires]

after annealing I polish inside of the case neck with a bronze brush on my RCBS case mate . I dip my bullet base in powder graphite before seating . doing this gits rid of the gritty feeling you get after annealing .

 

[CaptnC]

Would cordless drill on low work to clean the neck?

I already have a nylon brush the I apply a dry lube inside the necks before sizing. So I can use that to lude before the case gets a bullet.

 

[ChrisInKY]

Do you anneal before or after sizing?

Both before and after (if I understand what you're asking). Just before full-sizing or bumping the shoulder back. And again, just before final neck-sizing. The results in ES/SD are telling, but there are deep rabbit holes here.

Annealing de-stresses brass. Use your calipers to measure your brass at the range just after firing. Measure again the day after. Measure before annealing and again after the brass is cool enough to handle. Measure again a day later. I'm sure you'll find variations in the .00Xs. If you measure frequently, you'll find those measurements almost go back and forth from what common sense might dictate. The variations I mentioned previously might lead you to reconsider when you want to shoulder bump.

Try repeating this process with brass that's quenched immediately after annealing. I believe you will find the case neck does not relax as much and your ES/SDs will trend up. Also, you can get different annealing results with brass that has been washed clean and brass that has carbon/graphite residues remaining.

 

[jimbires]

Would cordless drill on low work to clean the neck?

I already have a nylon brush the I apply a dry lube inside the necks before sizing. So I can use that to lude before the case gets a bullet.

a cordless drill should work just fine . my RCBS trim mate runs fairly slow , so I'd say just run your drill slow until you see what happens . I don't brush the inside of the neck until spotless . I just give it a few up and downs and it seems to work good for me .

 

[CaptnC]

Ok...I've made a couple deals on some brass. So the vast majority of it will need full length sizing. I have 60 (1) new pieces that have primer already installed. Pretty much just going to load and shoot these. Another 40 (2) new virgin pieces that I will be able to handle from scratch. Then the roughly 150 (3) pieces of once fired.

All three batches will have to be handled differently?

New brass;
Anneal then size FL or just the neck? I really have 90 pieces of brand new brass...I have 50 that I bought from Midway to go with the 40 listed above...


Once fired in my gun;
These are the 60 new but primed. I know they will have to be shot or should I just punch them out (the primers) and start fresh?

Then...once fired someone else gun;
These I'm sure will have to be FL sized first. Should these get it two times...before they are loaded? To be honest I have never heard of annealing twice before the first grain of powder falls!?!?!?!?!?

 

[jimbires]

Ok...I've made a couple deals on some brass. So the vast majority of it will need full length sizing. I have 60 (1) new pieces that have primer already installed. Pretty much just going to load and shoot these. Another 40 (2) new virgin pieces that I will be able to handle from scratch. Then the roughly 150 (3) pieces of once fired.

All three batches will have to be handled differently?

New brass;
Anneal then size FL or just the neck? I really have 90 pieces of brand new brass...I have 50 that I bought from Midway to go with the 40 listed above...


Once fired in my gun;
These are the 60 new but primed. I know they will have to be shot or should I just punch them out (the primers) and start fresh?

Then...once fired someone else gun;
These I'm sure will have to be FL sized first. Should these get it two times...before they are loaded? To be honest I have never heard of annealing twice before the first grain of powder falls!?!?!?!?!?

New Brass ;
I would run these through a full length die and shoot them . I full length size new brass . the brass is undersized from the factory so by using a FL die you are only making sure the brass will fit without any problems .you will probably do no sizing except maybe the neck needing rounded .

once fired in my gun ;
since these are already primed I'd load them , and not worry about it . if they were not primed I'd anneal them .

once fired in a different gun ;
I would anneal , and full length resize . making sure the brass fits my rifle . then load .

I've never heard of annealing more than one time during the reloading process . working the brass is what hardens it . moving the brass from the press to the loading tray is not going to harden the brass . as was said above be careful of the info you get from the internet .