Your Thoughts on Annealing

[mc223]

Please share your thoughts and experiences on cartridge case annealing.

I Anneal each lot of brass after tumble cleaning at each firing. I have found this to be very advantagious in prolonging brass life and the resultant consistancy of the subsequent loadings.

Any up-to-date new tips or tricks that you use. New tools or fixturing, etc.
Which method do you use and are Templ-Stiks really necessary?

 

[Walkalong]

It should not be necessary after every fireing, only when it starts to work harden, but I guess it isn't hurting anything if it is working for you. There was a neat little circular tool in Precision Shooting one time for annealing all around evenly, but I don't remeber who was making them. I could be homemade fairly easily.

 

[presspuller]

I am fairly new to reloading and have not had to anneal any cases myself but a buddy of mine anneals his by dipping the case mouth in a pot of melted lead. When the heat moves up the case to his fingers he drops them into a pan of water.
Works for him.

 

[Art Eatman]

I'd have to get off my lazy duff and look it up, but I think I've mostly read comments that annealing would become a need somewhere around 20 reloads.

I've never had a case neck split in the vicinity of ten or so reloadings, FWIW.

.30-'06...

Art

 

[Mark whiz]

Yeah, I think annealing after every firing is overkill - maybe even detrimental to the brass in the long run. I got to where I will anneal cases I use in my M1A after every 3rd or 4th loading, and that is mainly because of the strain a semi-auto and full-length resizing puts on the brass. In a bolt gun, annealing after 8 to 10 loads is probably all I would mess with.

As far as method goes, I use the case holder that is part of the Lee case trimmer set chucked into a drill - spinning the case slowly in the flame from a propane torch for a count of 10 and then dropping it straight out of the holder into a bucket of water.

 

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

Brass lifetime

Back in the 70's after the navy supply of pistol ammo was lost in Vietnam The Navy ship to ship shooting competitors were seeing a bind when their future Ships 7 cent ammo supply ran out and being forced to buy their 45 ammo from the army for 12 cents a round so one San Diego team member met me at a Scrap yard and arranged for me to be in contact with ship teams who could trade me their WCC brass and REM69 brass for Star reloaders and Saeco bullet casting tools and they shipped me some of their brass cheap through their fleet post offices around the world.

Then I found that the WCC brass was the best and longest lived brass ever as it never hit dirt and after I tumble cleaned thousands my boy scouts sorted it by years and I sold it by the thousand to my Competitor customers looking for identical lots of brass and at bullseye 25 yard velocities the brass lasted for decades and for some fellows shooting careers.
It was 95% WCC. Few have the opportunity to trade like I did so todays choices in order are Starline the Current excellent source of large lots of identical brass made on the same day then Federal then Winchester if any large identical lots can be found and no other brass especially no nickle plated or cannelured or range brass if you desire the best foundation of the most accurate ammo possible and no sorting needed for defective brass for a long time. I sold about 6 thousand to one fellow and everyone knows who it belongs to in Alaska.
More info on Primers: Federal for 25 yard Bullseye having the most reliable ignition and Federal for 50 yard BE because it is said to be hotter for the longer range. I have never recommended CCI because of primer feeding jams and explosions with injuries in Progressive reloaders when CCI started selling primers.
This is from competitor feedback of decades.

Fitz

 

[Hazzard]

Annealing depends largely on the cartridge and the alloy used in manufacturing the brass. Different cartridges and alloys will work harden at different rates so there is no set rule as to when to anneal. To be honest, although I have annealed in the past, I seldom do it today. I've found that by the time I need to anneal, there are generally other signs that tell me it is time to discard the brass and get new. Your results may vary.

 

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

Rifle brass wear

I toss my rifle brass when a faint ring shows above the solid part of the head as I do not want any case head seperation stuck on my rifle chamber.

Fitz