-
Having trouble using the site?
Contact support
My annealing effort
- Thread starter Arko
- Start date
A side note to a few things Ive read here pertaining to brass life. This caliber is almost exclusively a handloaders cartridge and if Im not having any issues with brass, and Im pretty consistent with measuring and inspecting, is there any reason to retire my brass after 5 or 10 firings like Im told on other forums, particularly a forum dedicated solely to this caliber? There is not even a section for it here at the Hide. I really like this caliber. It fits a small frame AR, has a plethora of excellent hunting bullets, has a great selection of SD/HD bullets, barrier blind bullets, longer(ish) range bullets, is more lethal than 5.56, has about the same recoil as a 5.56, suppresses well, can be very accurate, velocities dont suffer if fired from short barrels, has low powder requirements and mags hold about the same as a 5.56. It has really become my go-to and I have as many of them as 5.56 guns.
The issue is that not many ammo manufacturers offer much of it except Hornady and I dont care much for their brass so when I find good brass for it, like S&B, who makes THE best brass for this caliber, Im going to make the best use of it and have succeeded so why should I NOT load it until I begin to measure things I dont want to see. I get that Im building little high pressure explosions to ignite next to my head but if Im judicious in my maintenance and inspection of it why should I not continue to load it?
Serious questions.
The issue is that not many ammo manufacturers offer much of it except Hornady and I dont care much for their brass so when I find good brass for it, like S&B, who makes THE best brass for this caliber, Im going to make the best use of it and have succeeded so why should I NOT load it until I begin to measure things I dont want to see. I get that Im building little high pressure explosions to ignite next to my head but if Im judicious in my maintenance and inspection of it why should I not continue to load it?
Serious questions.
There is a wide distribution of case life in an AR-15 in 223. It can range from as few as four cycles to over twenty.
Running one of the alternate cartridges can have a positive or negative effect, it just depends.
There are several variables that affect that outcome, with the brass, the chamber, and the pressure being the notable ones.
Now, since your variable issues are known only to you and your rig, there is no such advice someone can give you.
While annealing has an effect on the necks, it cannot stop the body and case head issues from contributing but there are other factors that do affect those ends of the case life.
If you have done your homework to learn as much as you can from other folks doing something similar to what you are doing, and your system and recipe works for you, then carry on. If they don't annoy you, then share your results and ignore the criticism.
The open internet forums have digressed into a state of chaos due to the liars and unethical posters who clutter the place with BS. Don't be one of those and then don't let it stop you from posting real results.
In the labs, range, and real world, results talk and BS walks..... YMMV
Running one of the alternate cartridges can have a positive or negative effect, it just depends.
There are several variables that affect that outcome, with the brass, the chamber, and the pressure being the notable ones.
Now, since your variable issues are known only to you and your rig, there is no such advice someone can give you.
While annealing has an effect on the necks, it cannot stop the body and case head issues from contributing but there are other factors that do affect those ends of the case life.
If you have done your homework to learn as much as you can from other folks doing something similar to what you are doing, and your system and recipe works for you, then carry on. If they don't annoy you, then share your results and ignore the criticism.
The open internet forums have digressed into a state of chaos due to the liars and unethical posters who clutter the place with BS. Don't be one of those and then don't let it stop you from posting real results.
In the labs, range, and real world, results talk and BS walks..... YMMV
OK, its 6.8SPC brass. The 6.8 runs about 58k full pressure I think and I load way o er any publoshed data. I load everything from 85gr all the way up to 130gr bullets, like I said its a pretty versatile little cartridge and a great hog and medium game round.
I have hornady, 1st,2nd and 3rd gen SSA brass, federal brass and the best available the S&B 6.8 brass. The S&B I buy new primed and a lottle from fired factory ammo.
Naturally I load alot of 5.56 as well and use one type of brass, Lake City and again (Im hard on barrels) I load hot and cant gwt more than 6 or 7 loads from any of it until the primer pockets almost wont hold a primer. The 6.8 is in the same zip code as far as pressures as the 5.56 and the brass, even the hornady and federal (fed to a lesser degree) just seem to las longer. Loading the 6.8 to spot a 110gr bthp out at right at 2600fps is no easy task, at least not from my 14.5" barrels at least. 90gr gold dots at 3000fps is a smoking load too but the brass, treated no different than the 5.56 ammo, seems to keep performing fine.
My routine is clean, deprime w/ universal decapper die, anneal, full length resize and clean again and polish. I always check lengths and trim if absolutely needed. I measure just above the casehead for any wild numbers but dont ever find any.
All of my barrels are from the same guy, ARPso his chambers from what I know of the 6.8 are about the best there is. Alot of times I get by with a bump of about .002 and they will chamber perfectly fine.
I said above I load far in excess of published data but I also load for longer than the lengths listed commonly, usually 2.295 or just 2.3" and with the 130 Fusions Ill load even longer with the aid of factory modified PRI magazines. Those longer lengths help facilitate ever higher powder charges.
I have hornady, 1st,2nd and 3rd gen SSA brass, federal brass and the best available the S&B 6.8 brass. The S&B I buy new primed and a lottle from fired factory ammo.
Naturally I load alot of 5.56 as well and use one type of brass, Lake City and again (Im hard on barrels) I load hot and cant gwt more than 6 or 7 loads from any of it until the primer pockets almost wont hold a primer. The 6.8 is in the same zip code as far as pressures as the 5.56 and the brass, even the hornady and federal (fed to a lesser degree) just seem to las longer. Loading the 6.8 to spot a 110gr bthp out at right at 2600fps is no easy task, at least not from my 14.5" barrels at least. 90gr gold dots at 3000fps is a smoking load too but the brass, treated no different than the 5.56 ammo, seems to keep performing fine.
My routine is clean, deprime w/ universal decapper die, anneal, full length resize and clean again and polish. I always check lengths and trim if absolutely needed. I measure just above the casehead for any wild numbers but dont ever find any.
All of my barrels are from the same guy, ARPso his chambers from what I know of the 6.8 are about the best there is. Alot of times I get by with a bump of about .002 and they will chamber perfectly fine.
I said above I load far in excess of published data but I also load for longer than the lengths listed commonly, usually 2.295 or just 2.3" and with the 130 Fusions Ill load even longer with the aid of factory modified PRI magazines. Those longer lengths help facilitate ever higher powder charges.
