Is annealing worth it in service rifle brass?

[Rmeju]

I've been putzing around with annealing just to see how it works. I've got a stupid little creme brulee torch, which I plan on upgrading to a real torch if annealing turns out to be a good idea. Way too slow...

Here's the question though. I shoot both M1 and M1A, both of which are pretty tough on brass. Is the extra life I'm hoping to gain from annealing going to be ruined by having to toss the brass just as early due to other problems, such as indications of imminent case separation?

I'm not currently using any hot/high pressure loads in either rifle, if that matters.

 

[USSR]

Is the extra life I'm hoping to gain from annealing going to be ruined by having to toss the brass just as early due to other problems, such as indications of imminent case separation?

The only way annealing is going to prolong your case life, is if you are getting neck splits. In almost all cases with the M1/M1A platform, the problem is imminent case head separation, which annealing does not address.

Don

 

[BADUNAME37]

I don't reload service rounds, except for 5.56 (.223). I have never annealed any of my brass casings and I have never had any problem related to case neck splits, over and above the once in a while case neck split. Some of my casings that have been reloaded more than five times or so are still good. I suppose I could anneal the cases and I could also set up my Forster Case Trimmer to turn down and remove additional brass from the case mouths-necks that thickens in time due to the brass flowing toward the mouth with every firing and reloading sequence.

Forgive me if I have the terminology wrong, I am in a hurry and do not have time to look up the exact names of every part of the case.

 

[jmorris]

I anneal but for consistency I built a machine to do it. The "hand held" methods I have read about seem to me like seating bullets by eye until they "look just right". Hard to get consistent results with inconsistent methods.

 

[Ledhore]

I anneal my 7.62x39 brass, which is fired through an autoloader, so it gets full length sized every time. I am getting over 20 reloads on IMI and winchester brass with annealing. Necks will begin splitting after 5 reloads without annealing. It makes all the difference for me. I do it "by eye" with fine results. It's pretty easy to see the color change move down the case once you work with it for a while, if your brass is clean and shiney.

 

[Swampman]

I don't normally load cases for my M1A more than four times,.
I don't think that annealing would give me any real benefit as far as case life goes.
Depending on your rifle's accuracy and your level of shooting skill, it might pay off in increased accuracy due to more consistent case neck tension.
I don't feel that either I, or my old M1A Standard Model are good enough to take advantage of the small possible increase in accuracy.
In my case at least, I think that the time I might spend annealing case necks would be more profitably used as trigger time.
Swampman

 

[Welding Rod]

I end up at 3 trims (for either M1 or M1A) before case necks start splitting.

I did find that my 223 PMC brass started spitting before a 3rd trim, but .223 is barely worth the hassle to even bother loading in the first place. I wouldn't bother to anneal.

 

[Joshua M. Smith]

Hello,

I anneal on a regular basis.

However, I neck size only. I shoot bolt guns. I understand many semi-autos don't take well to neck sizing.

Believe it or not, I have 10 reloads on some 7.62x54R brass. They get annealed and neck sized, as I said. No case head problems and only a couple splits when I passed a batch up for annealing a couple times. Still had only two that I had to discard, and the neck splits were small.

Regards,

Josh

 

[gamestalker]

Just as Friendly Don't Fire said, I too have never annealed my brass and have never had my brass fail due to splits in the necks. Even for cartridges such as the 7mm RM, which is typically known to have a some what shorter life span than non belted cartridges, is running from 12-15 cycles before it begins to show signs of separation around the web region. And in all honesty, I load them up around max. all the time.
GS

 

[cfullgraf]

The cases that I shoot in ARs, M1s and M1As are discarded for other reasons before the necks splits.

The only cases that I have neck splitting issues with has been reformed 6.5x54 Mauser. As jmorris said, I also have had little or no success with hand held annealing. I do not shoot that rifle much and cases are easy to form so I have not deemed it time worthy to build or buy an annealing set up.

 

[dprice3844444]

http://www.giraudtool.com/annealer1.htm

 

[TonyT]

When I reloaded for rifles where I had to case form the brass I annealed to prolong case life - 40-50SS, 40-40 PWC, etc. For modern brass I use and then scrap when it becomes unusable.

 

[Offfhand]

BOTTOM LINE: Many more cases have been ruined by amateur annealing than have been saved.

 

[gamestalker]

+1 Offfhand

GS

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

I got a bunch of old, GI 30/06 brass and ran some thru a Garand. Several had split necks, so I am annealing the next batch to see if the splits disappear.