Annealing brass worthwhile?

[Hooda Thunkit]

I kinda think that people will argue back and forth with zero focus on how it apples to the OP. Jumping out of a plane arguing about which goggles are best and forgot the parachute....

Really? In a thread about annealing?

Astonishing!

 

[JFrank]

Really? In a thread about annealing?

Astonishing!

Go figure! Also plenty of monkey see monkey do because they seen a guy on u tube seat his bullets easier.

 

[jmorris]

Another thing that contributes to case life is the type of rifle/handgun.

I've always seen that semi/full auto rifles/beltfed, beat brass worse than a redheaded stepchild.

That and how you set your size die up. If you set a die for a bolt action, the same as you do for your belt fed, as far as chamber clearance, I would expect similar results.

You don’t have to set the dies the same for bolt action rifles to work with reliability and have good case life/less trimming.

 

[JSneezy]

I know I went back and forth for some time about annealing. I shoot quite a bit of 7.62x54r, and while not the most expensive brass it also isn't lying around everywhere.

I neck size my brass. I know it has fallen out of fashion for some, but a rimmed cartridge responds well to neck sizing and doesn't have the same concerns as a rimless design such as the 308.
Also, a military rifle generally has a larger chamber, along with a robust extraction system.

I started developing cracks in the shoulders of the brass, so decided to try annealing. I first used the torch and socket method, getting good results with a metronome device in my phone to time the cycle. I have gone well over 25 loadings without full-length sizing.

Since then I've gone with an Ugly Annealer. While I still have to overcome some design problems inherent in the machine regards handling rimmed cartridges, overall I like the machine and the results.

I can say that I would indeed purchase the same machine again, for the job I do. If I shot mostly 223, which is lying around to scoop up (much like 38 Spl and 45 ACP used to be decades ago) I would probably just shoot the stuff 3 times and trash it.

With 7.62x54R in the Ugly Annealer, I've actually tried a few different things. I've tried adjusting the left side of the hopper out a little bit because I kept getting jams with the rims of the cases getting caught on it. Adjusting the feed wheel out away from the body of the annealer helped a little bit, but the one thing that seemed to help the most was using the 338 Lapua insert in the feed wheel rather than the 300 Win Mag insert. The lower wheel seems to be a bit more tedium to deal with if you're doing 300 Blackout though. The thicker one seems to be too thick, and the thinner one seems too thin unless you space it out far enough that it almost feels counterintuitive.

I anneal every piece of bottleneck brass after each firing, especially my 7.62x54R and 300BLK just because they are expensive, and the 7.62x54R just seems harder to find. I once spent $130 on a box of Lapua brass because the price jumped when the Russian import issue came into play, and now that they've suspended production, the price has skyrocketed where it is available. I may have to consider buying some more PPU instead.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

With 7.62x54R in the Ugly Annealer, I've actually tried a few different things

I've tried a few things too. I think I've got it licked, but it'll need pics to help explain. I'll take some later today and start a new thread.

 

[FROGO207]

FWIW I anneal to try and keep neck tension more even across all the brass I might reload regardless of number of times reloaded. Stopping neck splits is just incidental.
Now with 30-30 and 22 Hornet it has all but eliminated any neck splits there.

 

[41 Mag]

I've annealed several calibers in the past but usually only do a few nowadays. For me it is the thinner necked cases like 303 and 30-30, the latter of which I usually firework through my AI Contender barrel. I also do a couple of other calibers I have which are "improved" from the original design. This gives me a stable neck and shoulder to work with when forming. If I am starting out with new virgin brass, I simply load and form. If I'm using once or more fired they get annealed then sized and loaded for forming.

Once formed they get annealed again on their third load. I just use a socket and torch along with some tempilaq. Once I get the timing down I usually just go for it. Most of the time I'm only doing at most 150 cases at a time and it may take a couple of years to work through them.

 

[HKGuns]

It depends on YOU whether or not it is worth it. If you are loading for the highest possible consistency and accuracy the answer is usually yes.

However, since you are NEW to reloading your money is very likely better spent on the gold trimmer I have sitting behind the AMP in this video.

 

[Thomasss]

I haven't achieved the trick to annealing. I load for a Garand. I also load for several bolt guns in '06. I have found the closer one loads to max powder, the sooner one wears the cases out.
'06 and .308 cases are plentiful by me, however, if annealing improves accuracy, etc. I would be interested. I haven't been there yet. Yes, I tried it a couple of times and the results were dismal. I tried the propane torch in a pan of water trick. Like me, it's your time and how much you care to spend on annealing. I get 5 loads or so from range brass. My highest was 8. Some cases are better than others. Nichel cases don't work at all. So now it is up to you. Let us know what you think. Maybe you can teach me a point or two.

 

[Blue68f100]

I anneal all of my rifle brass. What it gains for me is consistent neck tension from each firing. Also makes sizing easier and more consistent shoulder setback since you not fighting work hardened brass.. I will loose brass to loose primer pockets but not split necks and shoulders.