When to anneal brass?

[Onewolf]

I just started hand-loading early this year. I reload for a number of different calibers, but for this question it applies to 260 Rem I use for long distance field/match shooting. I have about 350 Lapua 260 Rem brass that have been reloaded 3-4 times each. I am looking for guidelines/guidance on when it is time to consider annealing these brass?

Thanks.

Doug

 

[MtnCreek]

I'm fairly new to annealing brass, so take w/ ample salt...

In 6.5 creedmoor, I'm annealing every other firing. At the 3rd firing, I could feel a difference on seating and I figured if I could feel it...

In 308w and 300wm, I'm annealing every firing, but I have a large stash of brass and not shooting a lot of them, so keeping them annealed is easy. When I was shooting them more, I was annealing about every 3rd firing. No real rhyme or reason.

In my limited exp, it seem annealing every 3rd firing is enough to keep the necks from splitting. YMMV.

 

[USSR]

The work hardening of case necks results from sizing the necks to a smaller diameter than is required, followed by the expanding of the case neck to the desired diameter by pulling the expander ball back through it. What happens as the necks work harden is, the necks rebound from the original sizing of the die and over time the amount of neck tension is reduced. This doesn't normally happen after just a couple of firings, but only you can determine at what point you feel good about annealing. I have Lapua brass with 7 or 8 firings without being annealed, but there are a couple of them that are showing signs that they are in need of it. At least for now, I am using them for fouling shots. One way you can reduce the level/degree of work hardening is to use bushing dies, where you reduce your neck diameter to exactly what you want and forgo using an expander ball to resize them yet a second time.

Don

 

[ironworkerwill]

I have some 7-08 (Winchester) brass I've loaded 10 times and are working fine. Same with R-P brass but the primer pockets have loosened up too much to be of any use. With Norma brass, seems to be the best so far.

I used to neck size only but with a min headspace and tight chamber it is just more consistant for me to FL and I havent had a split neck yet (yes FL 10x and never annealed)

I have a 25wssm that MUST be annealed after the 3rd reloading. The brass is thick and seems to get brittle much faster. It promises busted necks!

My friend got new .300 Wby Mag brass that split on it's first firing. After scrapping the first fired empties we annealed the new brass and it stopped the neck splits.

When to? It's hard to say sight unseen. But, if I can't blame a bad group on any other constant I will blame it on the brass.

 

[MtnCreek]

But, if I can't blame a bad group on any other constant I will blame it on the brass.

Me too.

 

[ironworkerwill]

Me too.

And the sun is in my eyes.

 

[stubbicatt]

The guys at Accurate Shooter dot com recommend every time for accuracy.

 

[Walkalong]

Every time is absolutely overkill if you are using bushing dies and a tight necked chamber. It's still overkill if you are using bushing dies properly and a standard chamber.