Case Annealing

[Grumulkin]

Recently I got a case annealer from sassybrass.net. I had considered annealing before but couldn't see paying $500+ for an annealer. The one I bought was less expensive and seems to work well.



This, post annealing, is quite a bit better than what I got previously with Lake City Brass. Groups with this load had been in the 1.5 to 2 inch range.



This Lake City brass was not only annealed but had turned necks. It would appear that my work in neck turning didn't add much to accuracy.



And finally the load with the Lapua brass I had used before. Not much difference but then Lapua brass comes annealed from the factory.

So, it would appear that Lake City brass is equivalent to Lapua brass in the accuracy department as long as one goes to the trouble of annealing.

All brass, by the way, was at least once fired and had been full length resized prior to annealing.

The rifle actually shoots tighter groups (in the 0.6 range) with 42.5 grains of IMR 8208XBR at 100 yards with a muzzle velocity of 2,812 fps but a large extreme spread of 246 which would probably be a disadvantage at 400 yards. With 45.5 grains I get about 2,843 fps with a better extreme spread of 75 fps so I'll probably stick with 45.5 grains.

 

[dc.fireman]

Have you tried playing with the COAL? Just curious as to how that affects your result. I'm loading for .308 in a Palma rifle right now. My headspace is only 2.803", so I can't really play with the COAL very much...

 

[Walkalong]

Not much difference but then Lapua brass comes annealed from the factory.

So, it would appear that Lake City brass is equivalent to Lapua brass in the accuracy department as long as one goes to the trouble of annealing.

Might be true, dunno, but the Lapua, as good as it is, will work harden and annealing after every third firing is a good idea IMO. Might not make a difference with heavy neck tension.

 

[firewrench044]

I also have found annealing does make a Hugh difference in group size
It has also saved the money I would have spent on new cases, so for me it has paid for itself
I got the more expensive annealer (Giraud) so I could anneal rimmed cases and belted magnums in bulk

DC fireman-
For me Sierra and Hornady bullets work best at 10 to 15 off the lands
both hunting and match bullets

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I have not done any annealing but I'm sure I should. I don't want to put paste on every one and hand heat but I know I would do better with the brass if I did anneal.

 

[Orcon]

I started using a simple candle and annealing by hand. It's not the fastest or most convenient method but it's inexpensive and effective.

There is a noticeable difference in the feel when seating bullets in cases that have been annealed vs cases that need to be annealed. This tells me that neck tensions are inconsistent and thus pressures and velocities also.

 

[Sunray]

"...less expensive and seems to work well..." So is a propane torch kit. Annealing has nothing whatever to do with group size though. You shouldn't need to anneal as part of the reloading process either. It's one of the many "as required" things.

 

[wahsben]

This is the annealer I have http://annealeez.ddns.net/

 

[Grumulkin]

Have you tried playing with the COAL? Just curious as to how that affects your result. I'm loading for .308 in a Palma rifle right now. My headspace is only 2.803", so I can't really play with the COAL very much...

No, I haven't played with COAL. Seat the bullets as far out as I can while still allowing reliable feeding through the magazine. That said, a load with 110 grain bullets which of necessity have a big jump group pretty well so I doubt seating depth has a lot to do with accuracy in this particular rifle.

 

[morcey2]

"...less expensive and seems to work well..." So is a propane torch kit. Annealing has nothing whatever to do with group size though. You shouldn't need to anneal as part of the reloading process either. It's one of the many "as required" things.

I have a bunch of 257 Roberts brass that begs to differ with that statement. On it's 3rd firing, the "gun" went from being a close-to-MOA gun at 100 yards to shooting 3-4" groups and velocities were all over the place. Same load, same brass, same primers, same bullets, same OAL. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I was loading them for their 4th firing. About half of the cases didn't have enough neck tension to hold a bullet against finger pressure and on several the bullet just dropped in as though the neck hadn't been resized. I pulled everything back down, loaded it up in new cases from the same lot as the original set and it was back to shooting about 1" at 100 yards. The bad cases are sitting in a bag waiting to be annealed. I know that it's a little bit of an extreme example, but it does show that bad neck tension from brass can cause accuracy issues.

I do agree that it shouldn't be a part of the regular reloading process and should be done as-needed, not on every reload.

Matt

 

[magnatecman]

I like that machine for annealing, How well does it work for you?

 

[Grumulkin]

I'm quite pleased with the machine. Once it's set up, you can go through 200 or 300 cases in probably 10 to 15 minutes. It took a little less than 3 seconds per 308 case. The flame is HOT so you should only put the cases in on the far side of the carrier.



I tried some more annealed cases today. I think the Lapua cases give a little better accuracy but the Lake City cases do significantly better than they did before annealing.



One of the purported advantages of case annealing is that it makes all cases in a batch uniform. I tend to agree. The above group was fired with different cases; Federal, Winchester, Lake City, Lapua and Remington. As you can see, the group size is about the same as that for which only Lake City brass was used.



A 200 yard group measured about 1 MOA. I'll probably take it out to 300 and 400 yards at some point.

 

[Nature Boy]

The annealez will be my next purchase

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Grumbling, if you don't mind, how much did that annealing machine from sassybrass.net cost you?

 

[Grumulkin]

The machine was about $350 with an additional 30+ for shipping. It came Priority Mail in a big box. Since you're in PA I'd suspect shipping would be the same. Talk to or e-mail Randy; he's very helpful.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

The machine was about $350 with an additional 30+ for shipping. It came Priority Mail in a big box. Since you're in PA I'd suspect shipping would be the same. Talk to or e-mail Randy; he's very helpful.

Thank you...