Anneal or not to anneal?

[milboltnut]

For those who don’t anneal, sooner or later the case resists sizing enough this can (It won’t alway, multiple things in play) happen, and you should have adjusted the die for the harder/springier brass, or annealed before it happened.

I occassionally have a problem with unannealed bras setting shoulders back, but not often. But something to keep in mind.

 

[milboltnut]

Slamfire,
I can understand your reasoning with a Semi-auto.. but unessesary.. brass takes a beating if oversized. I load minimal HS and the brass holds up fine. I don't relish gooping up my rifle to prevent seperations. Minimal HS works fine and the rifle functions fine.

 

[JFrank]

Other than helping brass last longer does it help with accuracy reloading enough to worry about?

I don't know if it helps brass last longer or not, I do know several long range br fellas including national champions and world record holders that don't anneal at all, our dies are selected and honed to move brass a minimal amount so that may help with longevity.
I personally have 20x reloaded brass that still shoots great and never been touched.

Not a right or wrong just another side of the coin... Best way IMHO is to test for yourself than you'll know what works best for you.

 

[milboltnut]

I don't know if it helps brass last longer or not, I do know several long range br fellas including national champions and world record holders that don't anneal at all, our dies are selected and honed to move brass a minimal amount so that may help with longevity.
I personally have 20x reloaded brass that still shoots great and never been touched.

Not a right or wrong just another side of the coin... Best way IMHO is to test for yourself than you'll know what works best for you.

Heard nothing but good things about Whidden dies.

Hey Jim, that would prevent donuts then, correct? And get me off the regiment of ironing out them all the time?

 

[JFrank]

Yes, Harrel's would be another top notch place to shop also Wilson. Any die manufacturer that will take three of your 3x fired cases and hone a die to only reduce the body .002 will make a huge difference .

 

[JFrank]

I don't have donuts so I couldn't answer that.

 

[milboltnut]

Yes, Harrel's would be another top notch place to shop also Wilson. Any die manufacturer that will take three of your 3x fired cases and hone a die to only reduce the body .002 will make a huge difference .

I remember someone mentioning case life and less issues with brass..... I was on the accuracy bandwagon until I found expander mandrels and neck turning.

How do they work with semi-auto's ?

 

[Warpiece]

Is there any particular reason to use grease type lubes over any of the common flavors of case lube we use for resizing? Is it simply too gummy to allow for proper cycling, or maybe more difficult to clean out of the chamber and action? I'm tempted to try this on the 7.62x39 I'm converting to 6mm arc, it sounds like it's something critical that I've missed. Actually, I feel like I need to cut up a few of the formed cases to see how and where the brass stretched before I try a second firing, it's careless not to at least check

 

[AJC1]

Is there any particular reason to use grease type lubes over any of the common flavors of case lube we use for resizing? Is it simply too gummy to allow for proper cycling, or maybe more difficult to clean out of the chamber and action? I'm tempted to try this on the 7.62x39 I'm converting to 6mm arc, it sounds like it's something critical that I've missed. Actually, I feel like I need to cut up a few of the formed cases to see how and where the brass stretched before I try a second firing, it's careless not to at least check

Lubricants in the chamber is trying to defeat chamber and brass design. The friction at the time of fire is a major consideration on bolt thrust and the needed strength of locking lugs. Wildcatters do a lot of things to achieve goals that are not necessarily best practices for regular use. Knowledge and attention to detail becomes the safety factor once off the reservation.

 

[bluejay75]

This is why you anneal. Makes your neck tension and sealing the bore more repeatable shot to shot.

When I proofed this load I put the the chrono number on the bag as a way for me to know what dope to shoot. By the time it gets a sticker it’s a proven load that I can grab and go with. I developed this load in brass that was not annealed looking for the most forgiving load possible. My ammo for purpose is either new brass or freshly annealed.

Annealing took a 5 SD and made it less than two every time I test it and bumped the speed by 5 FPS.

 

[DRM7997]

I anneal the cases I form from 30-06. 35 whelen and 9.3x57. I anneal these when I'm done forming them and then every other loading. The only other catridge that I anneal is 35 remington and thats only because I load them hot for my 98 mauser. Its also every other loading. I do this just to make the cases last longer

 

[reloaded_in_pa]

I anneal rifle brass every cycle. I can never keep track of the brass enough to sort by number of firings. With annealing every time I shoot, I don't worry about mixing brass fired 10 times with once or twice fired. Handgun brass never gets the torch.

 

[epags]

Intersting thread. Lubricating brass which is not what the thread is about and Anealling brass which is the title.
Come on folks don't hijack the thread.
I decided to go and buy an anealling machine (mine is an EP Integrations 2.0 annealing machine) because the price of brass has become outrageous ($1.25 to $1.50 for 7mm mag) and there is not much in the way of range pickup now during the covid pandemic.
I plan to anneal after each firing to 1) lenghten the life of the brass and 2) use the d...m machine now that I have bought it. LOL