A reason to anneal?

[willtill]

Hi ya'll!

I just got done reloading approximately 330 rounds of .50 caliber for my M95 Barrett rifle. I use the Lee Classic reloader with it's associated 50 BMG dies.

After charging the case and seating the bullet to the correct depth, I ran all 330 rounds through the seating die again after giving it another quarter turn (in order to taper crimp the rounds). I had about 7 rounds that I discovered the bullet was loose in the case neck. All that was holding the bullet in the shell was the crimp on the cannelure.

I was surprised that this happened. Most of the shell casings are LC 52, and I had tumbled, cleaning the interior of the necks, full length resized, etc, etc. The shells are in good shape.

Would these particular 7 shells with the loose fitting bullets be candidates for annealing?

Kindest Regards,

-Will in Maryland

 

[Chuck R.]

Will,

It could well be. I anneal my competition brass about every 3 firings. I find it helps in maintaining consistent neck tension, therefore good chronograph stats. It also helps with longevity, once I've gone through all the brass prep, I want the stuff to last.

I even went so far as to buy an automatic case neck annealing machine from Ken Light:

http://www.kenlightmfg.com/products.html



Which speeds things up significantly.

Chuck

 

[Walkalong]

Cool tool.