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

[jimbires]

you guys that anneal about every 5 load cycles . do you guys see anything change on target from your fifth load ( hardest brass ) to your fresh anneal ?

 

[Rich Coyle]

Great question!

 

[ChrisInKY]

I had planned on using it more often until reading Bryan Litz's Modern Advancements in Long Range Shooting Vol II, Chapter on Neck Tension.

Here's some 'accuracy' I found on another forum:

"About 3 or 4 years ago, Brian Litz published an article saying that bullets from light barrels, left the muzzle at an off angle of 10°, and wobbled to the target, so the BC was much lower than the same bullet shot from a heavy barrel.

I nearly spilled a mouth full of soda pop on my keyboard when I read that - it is impossible.

Once a bullet's axis is pointed away from the bore axis, there is no force on earth that will bring it back ... plus, if were true, then ballistic program writers would put in separate listings of BC depending on the barrel diameter ... they do not."

I heard this when it was said too. What truly amazed me was how many people aped it. I still hear it stated as reverently as Bible verse out at the range.

If I do 'not' anneal my ES is ~ 50fps. When annealing 'properly' my ES is ~ 5fps (at the highest 10fps ... and just as often it is 0fps). But, hey ... maybe I missed the context of what was being conveyed.

Now, I didn't read Brian's book, but I was curious enough to go and look on-line. I couldn't find reference to what you've posted. What I wanted to know, was if he printed (in detail) his re-loading process. If you only get part of it ... how can you know?

 

[jimbires]

another question I have for the guys that anneal after every so many load cycles , lets use 5 cycles again .

if your combo shoots best with harder brass , how do you keep your brass at this hardness level ? lets say you like the brass at a hardness equal to load cycles 3 and 4 . how do you keep it there ?

this question , and the one I posted above in reply #99 are the reason I anneal every time . I have brass with zero load cycles every time .

 

[rcoody]

it is all about neck tension. i have a 21st century hydro press. with it i get accurate readings for seating effort which i feel equates to neck tension. you can see the change from freshly annealed brass and one time fired brass. no doubt if you are looking for another 0.10 reduction in group size annealing every firing is the way to go. if you have a .75 MOA rifle you probably will never notice the difference

 

[Saracen]

If you're doing it right, you cannot over-anneal your brass.

• The aiming point is at the neck/shoulder junction
• The aiming point is NOT the case neck
• The aiming point is NOT the shoulder/body junction
• Brass is annealed when it reaches a temperature of ~750°F (400°C)
• Use 650°F Tempilaq for this reading
• Paint a stripe of Tempilaq from the case mouth to half-an-inch below the shoulder body junction
• Test anneal a couple of pieces of identically sized brass from the same lot (it takes cold brass about 4 seconds to anneal)
• The Tempilaq stripe on your test brass should 'just' show the appropriate 650°F color change AT and BELOW the shoulder body junction
• In this way you can determine the 'target area' of your case has hit the required 750°F temperature
• All brass is not created equal ... always use Tempilaq
• Do not drop a 'just annealed' case into water ... quenching hardens ... and people are dumb
• Yes, I have heard 'smart' people say soft metals don't harden when quenched
• You cannot anneal brass too many times, but you can burn your brass ... and dumb people do this all the time
• If you burn a piece of brass crush it with a pair of pliers

 

[Saracen]

That's not correct regarding the quenching in water.
Brass is one of the few metals that NEEDS to be heated cherry red, then IMMEDIATELY quenched in cold water.
This is even written up to this effect in reloading manuals.
In 18 years of regularly doing this to various calibres, especially 300 WM, I've never had a cracked case, only very long case life.
You should only be heating the neck.

 

[Buckskinner]

I think annealing is my favourite reloading topic...

 

[TG-5150]

I think annealing is my favourite reloading topic...

boy oh boy.... it's funner than politics that's for sure.
I started reloading at age 11, helping prep cases, prime, etc.
My dad refused to anneal but in the early 80's brass was everywhere.
I am just getting into this area of reloading. It's almost like sorcery.

 

[rcoody]

That's not correct regarding the quenching in water.
Brass is one of the few metals that NEEDS to be heated cherry red, then IMMEDIATELY quenched in cold water.
This is even written up to this effect in reloading manuals.
In 18 years of regularly doing this to various calibres, especially 300 WM, I've never had a cracked case, only very long case life.
You should only be heating the neck.

Really?

 

[Rich Coyle]

Neck only certainly would NOT work for wildcatting!

 

[Buckskinner]

Wait. Let me get my popcorn...

 

[TG-5150]

i cannot believe this. we make us some gourmet custom popcorn and we gotta wait this long(or longer) for some know-it-all to confined our innocent minds, I know enough about annealing to get in a lot of mischief.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Annealing is just like everything else. Test it before and after, test it with different levels of annealing along with different sized neck bushings. I do recommend developing the load with un annealed cases unless you have previous experience with the cartridge and know the combo likes annealing. I am an annealer, but you can not assume anything and what works for one guy does not mean it will work in your combo. Many things may seduce you at the loading bench, bullets seat very nice with annealed cases, but the target is all that matters.