Saw an annealing video...worth the trouble?

[the count]

Essentially the guy did this:

Hold 308 in his bare hand...heat the neck/shoulder with a cheap propane torch until the brass gets to hot to hold and throw into water.

He said brass does not harden by dunking into water.

Main question is do you really get more accurate ammo when you do this and how often anneal ?

 

[jwrowland77]

It depends if it's worth it to you. Annealing the neck will lengthen the life of your brass. It does help but the avg joe may not really care or tell.

Me, I shoot a lot of F-Class now, and brass ain't the cheapest thing to buy. I'm looking for every bit of consistency I can get shooting 600yd and 1000yd with my .308. I also neck turn, and weigh everything to sort into like weights etc etc.

 

[rcmodel]

Yes.
It is worthwhile to anneal.

If you start getting split case necks on work-hardened brass that has been re-sized too many times.
And is still showing no internal stretch rings, and is otherwise fine.

Or, you are re-forming something like 30-06 brass into 25-06 brass in one pass through a sizing die.

Or, you are loading the most precision match rifle ammo you can make.

Otherwise, not so much worth it at all.

rc

 

[Comrade Mike]

You're going to get a mixed bag of opinions on annealing here. Everything from "awww it's dead simple" to "no one but Gale McMillan himself can do it right, and even he still messes up"

I jest. But in reality people have varying opinions on the safe way to anneal. Personally I'm a fan of stand them up in water up to just shy of the shoulder. Heat until color change and tip over into water. Some will advise using thermal paste to control the process more and the serious guys have dedicated annealing machines.

It will save your brass though!

 

[ArchAngelCD]

If I weren't so cheap I would buy a machine for annealing my cases. If I were shooting competitive rifle matches I would anneal for consistency. If I weren't so lazy I would anneal too.

If it's worth your, time only you can decide that.

 

[jmorris]

I am in the lazy/don't have the time group, so I built a machine to do it all for me. Set it up then just keep the collator full.

 

[the count]

I am in the lazy/don't have the time group, so I built a machine to do it all for me. Set it up then just keep the collator full.

Neat machine! For roughly how long is each case heated?

 

[MEHavey]

Neat machine! For roughly how long is each case heated?

Time is not the factor. Case temp is. and the time to arrive at the req'd 750°F
can be different for each annealing session/flame setting/case type.

I am an advocate of 750°F Tempilaq (inside the neck) and spinning the case
in the flame using a socket/cordless drill. Others may disagree. But I like
repeatable/controlled processes. It costs me about 5 seconds/case and is
absolutely reliable.

 

[jmorris]

Time is not the factor. Case temp is. and the time to arrive at the req'd 750°F
can be different for each annealing session/flame setting/case type.

I am an advocate of 750°F Tempilaq

This is correct the correct dwell time in the flames depends on several factors. So you are not going to put .223, 308 in the hopper at the same time, for example.

I have found that tempilaq is not needed if you are using one of the machines, that allows one to set the dwell time.

This is a video of what it looks like properly set up. The flame color remains blue the entire time and the base is cool enough to hold right out of the flames.

Click photo to play


If the case is allowed to sit in the flames too long the flame will change from blue to orange (concurrently with 750 deg tempilaq indicating at the shoulder/neck junction).

Click photo to play


So you start the machine fast and slow until you begin to the the color change and speed it back up slightly. All you have to do at that point is keep it full of cases.

 

[spitballer]

Brother, here we go again. Annealing has to be the most troublesome subject of reloading, and never have I seen a bunch of guys disagree more on any one subject.

Okay, my two cents: annealing is worth pursuing if you're doing it to preserve your casings, but not if you're just trying to seat a bullet. Brass is eventually going to get rather hard, even if it's still safe to use. Turning the case necks to make them uniform and/or sizing them appropriately is a better strategy than repeatedly trying to make them soft by annealing.

Nevertheless everyone seems to have different ideas on this. Good luck in finding a system that works for you.

 

[the count]

Hey, I think one can/should take reloading nitpicking to any level one want to

 

[jmorris]

Okay, my two cents: annealing is worth pursuing if you're doing it to preserve your casings, but not if you're just trying to seat a bullet. Brass is eventually going to get rather hard, even if it's still safe to use. Turning the case necks to make them uniform and/or sizing them appropriately is a better strategy than repeatedly trying to make them soft by annealing.

I don't disagree with this but once I have taken the time to sort and perfect cases I like to make them last as long as I can. If I can make a case last 10x's longer, that reduces the work I have to go through to get them perfect by 10x's.

Not much fun to spend hours getting them right then the neck splits after 3 or 4 loads and you get to start over.

 

[gahunter12]

Yes it's worth it.
-cases last longer without neck splits
-more consistent neck tension
-better neck tension
I usually anneal every second loading on my .223 cases, and before every loading on my .300wm, 7mm RM, and .300RUM brass.