Brass Annealing Guide

[Roy Allain]

Just so ya'lls know (I'm from S/E looserana) New Orleans that is. I'm 82 years old and been shooting rifles since 14 years old.
I shot benchrest but no longer. I shoot a 6PPC; a 6.5x47 Lapua and a .308 all blueprinted Rem 700 Actions and Kreiger barrels and all are bug hole shooters.
I have been annealing my brass for over 20 years with a Burnzamatic torch. I use a 10" dia. aluminum plate on a homemade turntable for quenching the brass (in 1/2 inch of water); as I cannot afford the expensive machines.
Some of the PPC & 6.5 brass have been fired over 300 times with no sign of failure.

Roy Allain in Harvey, La.

 

[mtnhunter22]

following

 

[Ryridesmotox]

Since someone else resurrected this. I was doing some research about annealing the other day and found this article... https://vacaero.com/information-res...rmation-and-annealing-of-cartridge-brass.html

It seems as though we aren't getting it hot enough. I'm not a material engineer, and I'm not sure of this actual dude's credentials. But he uses fancy words and colorful pictures... so it had me intrigued.

It seems like we need to get the brass much hotter for the timeframes we want to work with.

 

[epoletna]

No matter what that guy writes -- and I will not argue with his conclusions as he has good credentials for his authority -- the measure of whether or not annealing is working for the average reloader should be measured at least in part by the increased number of reloading we get. I have been annealing (Salt bath) about a year now and from anecdotal evidence would say I manage to keep the brass softer. It has more consistent neck tension and I am getting more reloading from my brass. I suppose I could leave it in the salt bath longer, but I'm happy with what I'm getting now.

 

[ken4570tc in WY]

My experience with following the six second recommendation for the salt bath was that it wasn't long enough. My neck tensions when seating the first batch was all over the place and es/sd's confirmed what I felt. The second hundred, I doubled the time to twelve seconds and quenched to stop heat migration too far into the case body. Much better, the seating force needed was much more consistent, with es/sd's dropping significantly.

 

[epoletna]

I've been using 8 seconds since my first batch, about 800 pieces of brass back.

 

[epoletna]

Oh, and I still use 8 seconds. I guess I could try more. . .

 

[epoletna]

There's a heat-up period associated with salt bath. annealing that you would not have using flame annealing, but even given the hour or so it takes for the salt bath to reach 500 degrees C., I'm willing to start it up for as few at 30 pieces of brass. Probably wasteful, but there you are.

 

[Ryridesmotox]

I nearly went salt bath, but I'm glad I went induction. My home made one was around the same as a salt bath

 

[epoletna]

Ryridesmotox: Is there a set of plans for a home made induction annealer? How do I get them?

 

[Ryridesmotox]

I followed this guide...

Homemade Induction Annealer

Over the last couple of days I put together an induction annealer setup. All components minus the coil were sourced from Amazon. I turned the coil myself from solid copper wire to ensure proper inductance and distance to the case. The power supply is 24V/15A. Switching frequency of the...

www.snipershide.com

 

[schleeb]

I guess I might as well throw my 2 cents worth into the annealing subject. Here is what I've been taught about annealing brass... We anneal cartridges because, with use, the brass tends to get work hardened. Hard brass gets "springy", can crack and doesn't size very easily. Hence the need to anneal (soften) it. My method is to use a cake pan with about an inch and a half of water in it. (about half the height of the cartridge) I stand my brass up separated by about a half an inch between cartridges. Now... the trick is to get the brass to the proper temperature for it to anneal, without overheating and ruining it. The easiest way I've found is using a propane torch... BUT do it in the dark. Yes, line up your cartridges, get out your torch... ( I use one with the push button igniter for convenience)... get it lit, then turn off the lights so the room is dark. Heat the cartridge shoulder/neck area until you just see the faintest bit of red appear in the brass. This is hot enough... If you overheat it you will ruin the brass. As you go along, use your other hand to tip each cartridge over so it is immersed in the water. This quenches it. Its a simple, quick method and the result is what you want. If you want to check to see that it is annealed, just take a typical pair of pliers and pinch the neck flat and compare the effort needed to crush it, verses a cartridge that you haven't annealed yet. The difference is quite promounced. I usually anneal my brass (6.5 Creedmoor Lapua cartridges) after about 5 or 6 firings.

 

[epoletna]

I've been annealing after every firing. I'm liking the brass life and the way it fits into the chamber!

 

[schleeb]

Since someone else resurrected this. I was doing some research about annealing the other day and found this article... https://vacaero.com/information-res...rmation-and-annealing-of-cartridge-brass.html

It seems as though we aren't getting it hot enough. I'm not a material engineer, and I'm not sure of this actual dude's credentials. But he uses fancy words and colorful pictures... so it had me intrigued.

It seems like we need to get the brass much hotter for the timeframes we want to work with.

Yeah, its great info, but putting his recommendations into practice are something completely different. I don't have an annealing oven and I doubt most people do, so heating it to X degrees and holding it at temp isn't very practical for me. The final result should be... does it soften the brass? If so, you are good to go. Just don't overheat it and "burn" it. You can do a simple crush test on a cartridge neck to see if you are accomplishing anything. It will validate your annealing method. Use a factory new one as a comparison

 

[Widowmaker300]

What part of the brass should my flame from my annealez be directed on?

 

[schleeb]

B... it will get the A and C parts by default.

 

[sakorey]

So, I've been really looking into annealing and the benefits speak for themselves. However, is there any added benefit for once fired brass I only intend to fire once? Such as reloading for long range plinking 5.56 ammo that I don't plan to pick back up? Should I incorporate annealing in my process for that purpose?

Of course, I plan to pick the brass up afterwards, just asking to see if there's any added accuracy or is it just brass life longevity.

 

[PracticalTactical]

So, I've been really looking into annealing and the benefits speak for themselves. However, is there any added benefit for once fired brass I only intend to fire once? Such as reloading for long range plinking 5.56 ammo that I don't plan to pick back up? Should I incorporate annealing in my process for that purpose?

Of course, I plan to pick the brass up afterwards, just asking to see if there's any added accuracy or is it just brass life longevity.

I wouldn't bother with annealing if you're just plinking, especially if you have no plans to reload the brass again.

If you're expecting great competition grade accuracy, and you are reloading several times, then annealing makes sense.

It can make sense to anneal brass collected from questionable sources like when you buy 1000 rounds of once fired Lake City brass. Even if you are not competing with it, annealing will make the neck hardness more consistent amongst the entire lot.

I sometimes purchase 5,000 rounds or so of once fired stuff, as long as its all the same head stamp, and I'll start by annealing all of it. I'll do a full resize with a small base die, deburr the flash holes, length trim, tumble it in stainless media and weigh every single case. Once weighed, I sort them into lots of 100 closest in weight. Basically poor mans competition grade brass that are very close in weight within the 100 lot. Works good for PRS where I tend to loose alot of brass.

I use the salt bath system to anneal. It's cheap, consistent and fast.

 

[sakorey]

I wouldn't bother with annealing if you're just plinking, especially if you have no plans to reload the brass again.

If you're expecting great competition grade accuracy, and you are reloading several times, then annealing makes sense.

It can make sense to anneal brass collected from questionable sources like when you buy 1000 rounds of once fired Lake City brass. Even if you are not competing with it, annealing will make the neck hardness more consistent amongst the entire lot.

I sometimes purchase 5,000 rounds or so of once fired stuff, as long as its all the same head stamp, and I'll start by annealing all of it. I'll do a full resize with a small base die, deburr the flash holes, length trim, tumble it in stainless media and weigh every single case. Once weighed, I sort them into lots of 100 closest in weight. Basically poor mans competition grade brass that are very close in weight within the 100 lot. Works good for PRS where I tend to loose alot of brass.

I use the salt bath system to anneal. It's cheap, consistent and fast.

Thanks for the information. That was quite informative and I know what direction I want to head now with my reloading.

I actually haven't heard too much about salt bath annealing. I've only seen tools such as Annealeez or Giraud's annealing machine. Are there any disadvantages to the salt bath system?

 

[spife7980]

Are there any disadvantages to the salt bath system?

There are from some sides of the argument

Salt Bath Annealing - Does It Work? | Learn More | AMP

View the latest articles from AMP Annealing. Get tips and tricks from our R&D. Here we upload articles to provide your the best possible information on innovations in the annealing process.

www.ampannealing.com

 

[PracticalTactical]

Thanks for the information. That was quite informative and I know what direction I want to head now with my reloading.

I actually haven't heard too much about salt bath annealing. I've only seen tools such as Annealeez or Giraud's annealing machine. Are there any disadvantages to the salt bath system?

This is who I get my annealing products from... https://ballisticrecreations.ca/

I don't think there's any doubt that the Amp Annealler is the best, but its also very expensive.

Using an automated flame system is a little tricky because you may not set the heat the same way every time. Once set up, its probably quite consistent within the lot, mainly because the motorized system ensures the exposure to heat is identical every time.

All that aside for a moment, we need to consider what is an acceptable tolerance for hardness variation. AND if there is variation, how can we reloaders identify it without spending thousands of dollars on a hardness tester.

As to the allowable hardness variation, as stated, you are a plinker, so you would reasonably have have a wide range of acceptance. That aside... Even if you just want to be as close as possible, when we factor in cost, well it kinda becomes a moot point how good an AmpAneal is if we cant justify the cost.

So if you want to anneal using the best low cost method, I think the salt bath system is the best... again... all things considered... for the cost. In this sense it becomes a choice between annealing or not annealing if the only acceptable option (AmpAnneal) is financially out of reach but you can afford to salt bath.

As for consistency, I haven't identified any need for concern, and I'm quite fussy about consistency that is verifiable over a chronograph.

Now, how can you identify which cases are harder than others?

This will work best if you have neck turned all your bass... (which is how I sort for F Class loads) Using a Redding bushing die with no expander button, you can start with a bushing that is larger than required. Size all the cases with that bushing and see if any of the cases have enough neck tension to hold a bullet. All those that do, get separated from the others and go into one bowl. Label the bowl with the bushing size.

Next, go down to the next smaller neck sizing bushing and size all remaining cases again. Again see if any of these cases have enough neck tension to hold a bullet... put those into another bowl. Again... Label the bowl with the bushing size.

Repeat until all cases in the lot will hold a bullet.

What you are achieving by doing this is actually measuring neck hardness based on the amount of spring back that occurs.

A hard neck has more spring back and will for that reason require a smaller sizing bushing than a softer neck would... assuming the same wall thickness.

So even if you go through this exercise as an experiment to see what the hardness variation effect translates to in terms of velocity fluctuation, you may find the effort worth while.

So suppose you perform this exercise on neck turned brass and they all hold a bullet using the same bushing... In my opinion, It would not much matter if a hardness tester could identify hardness variation as I would dismiss the variation as irrelevant to the objective. This has been my finding with neck turned brass for F Class and why I think salt bath is just fine. If you can afford a better system, go for it, but I've personally spent too much money on shooting sports as it is.

 

[sakorey]

This is who I get my annealing products from... https://ballisticrecreations.ca/

I don't think there's any doubt that the Amp Annealler is the best, but its also very expensive.

Using an automated flame system is a little tricky because you may not set the heat the same way every time. Once set up, its probably quite consistent within the lot, mainly because the motorized system ensures the exposure to heat is identical every time.

All that aside for a moment, we need to consider what is an acceptable tolerance for hardness variation. AND if there is variation, how can we reloaders identify it without spending thousands of dollars on a hardness tester.

As to the allowable hardness variation, as stated, you are a plinker, so you would reasonably have have a wide range of acceptance. That aside... Even if you just want to be as close as possible, when we factor in cost, well it kinda becomes a moot point how good an AmpAneal is if we cant justify the cost.

So if you want to anneal using the best low cost method, I think the salt bath system is the best... again... all things considered... for the cost. In this sense it becomes a choice between annealing or not annealing if the only acceptable option (AmpAnneal) is financially out of reach but you can afford to salt bath.

As for consistency, I haven't identified any need for concern, and I'm quite fussy about consistency that is verifiable over a chronograph.

Now, how can you identify which cases are harder than others?

This will work best if you have neck turned all your bass... (which is how I sort for F Class loads) Using a Redding bushing die with no expander button, you can start with a bushing that is larger than required. Size all the cases with that bushing and see if any of the cases have enough neck tension to hold a bullet. All those that do, get separated from the others and go into one bowl. Label the bowl with the bushing size.

Next, go down to the next smaller neck sizing bushing and size all remaining cases again. Again see if any of these cases have enough neck tension to hold a bullet... put those into another bowl. Again... Label the bowl with the bushing size.

Repeat until all cases in the lot will hold a bullet.

What you are achieving by doing this is actually measuring neck hardness based on the amount of spring back that occurs.

A hard neck has more spring back and will for that reason require a smaller sizing bushing than a softer neck would... assuming the same wall thickness.

So even if you go through this exercise as an experiment to see what the hardness variation effect translates to in terms of velocity fluctuation, you may find the effort worth while.

So suppose you perform this exercise on neck turned brass and they all hold a bullet using the same bushing... In my opinion, It would not much matter if a hardness tester could identify hardness variation as I would dismiss the variation as irrelevant to the objective. This has been my finding with neck turned brass for F Class and why I think salt bath is just fine. If you can afford a better system, go for it, but I've personally spent too much money on shooting sports as it is.

You've definitely left me a lot of things to research into reloading, annealing, and brass processing. Here I was thinking that I was cool for being able to shove cases into dies, put things in them to go bang, and topping it off with a little speedy pill. Shows that I've got a lot more to learn about precision reloading.

 

[PracticalTactical]

You've definitely left me a lot of things to research into reloading, annealing, and brass processing. Here I was thinking that I was cool for being able to shove cases into dies, put things in them to go bang, and topping it off with a little speedy pill. Shows that I've got a lot more to learn about precision reloading.

The next step in precision hand loading is to weigh the force required to seat the bullets as that is going to be the last and most precise measure of brass hardness as it affects neck tension. I do not have such a seating die, but several guys I shoot with do and swear by it.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Seating force gauges are only good tools if you have every single other thing controlled. Friction will be a far greater reason for higher seating force than neck hardness every will.

If you’re not checking neck tension with something like a pin gauge and lubricated necks or bullets, the force gauge won’t give you any reliable feedback.

The only thing that’s for certain is you can be assured with a higher force past X amount (depends on variables), the jacket of the bullet will be damaged.

 

[Dthomas3523]

This is who I get my annealing products from... https://ballisticrecreations.ca/

I don't think there's any doubt that the Amp Annealler is the best, but its also very expensive.

Using an automated flame system is a little tricky because you may not set the heat the same way every time. Once set up, its probably quite consistent within the lot, mainly because the motorized system ensures the exposure to heat is identical every time.

All that aside for a moment, we need to consider what is an acceptable tolerance for hardness variation. AND if there is variation, how can we reloaders identify it without spending thousands of dollars on a hardness tester.

As to the allowable hardness variation, as stated, you are a plinker, so you would reasonably have have a wide range of acceptance. That aside... Even if you just want to be as close as possible, when we factor in cost, well it kinda becomes a moot point how good an AmpAneal is if we cant justify the cost.

So if you want to anneal using the best low cost method, I think the salt bath system is the best... again... all things considered... for the cost. In this sense it becomes a choice between annealing or not annealing if the only acceptable option (AmpAnneal) is financially out of reach but you can afford to salt bath.

As for consistency, I haven't identified any need for concern, and I'm quite fussy about consistency that is verifiable over a chronograph.

Now, how can you identify which cases are harder than others?

This will work best if you have neck turned all your bass... (which is how I sort for F Class loads) Using a Redding bushing die with no expander button, you can start with a bushing that is larger than required. Size all the cases with that bushing and see if any of the cases have enough neck tension to hold a bullet. All those that do, get separated from the others and go into one bowl. Label the bowl with the bushing size.

Next, go down to the next smaller neck sizing bushing and size all remaining cases again. Again see if any of these cases have enough neck tension to hold a bullet... put those into another bowl. Again... Label the bowl with the bushing size.

Repeat until all cases in the lot will hold a bullet.

What you are achieving by doing this is actually measuring neck hardness based on the amount of spring back that occurs.

A hard neck has more spring back and will for that reason require a smaller sizing bushing than a softer neck would... assuming the same wall thickness.

So even if you go through this exercise as an experiment to see what the hardness variation effect translates to in terms of velocity fluctuation, you may find the effort worth while.

So suppose you perform this exercise on neck turned brass and they all hold a bullet using the same bushing... In my opinion, It would not much matter if a hardness tester could identify hardness variation as I would dismiss the variation as irrelevant to the objective. This has been my finding with neck turned brass for F Class and why I think salt bath is just fine. If you can afford a better system, go for it, but I've personally spent too much money on shooting sports as it is.

The best F class shooters in the country do almost non of this, FYI.

 

[PracticalTactical]

The best F class shooters in the country do almost non of this, FYI.

FYI... Then again, some of the very best F Class shooters do all of it, and more.

I suppose it just depends on who we choose to call best.

As for checking with a pin gage, well you obviously didn't read or understand my previous posts on the point. In the simplified example I provided, the bullet itself was being used as a pin gage and if you understood the jist of my point everything else was controlled.

Regardless, I was simply pointing out that there are other ways of testing for and refining neck tension regardless of the variation in neck hardness that may or may not be present as stated in the article linked above and published by AmpAnneal, referencing hardness variations.

 

[Dthomas3523]

FYI... Then again, some of the very best F Class shooters do all of it, and more.

I suppose it just depends on who we choose to call best.

As for checking with a pin gage, well you obviously didn't read or understand my previous posts on the point. In the simplified example I provided, the bullet itself was being used as a pin gage and if you understood the jist of my point everything else was controlled.

Best = the guys winning championships.

If you spent more time shooting and less with this overboard stuff, you’d be much better off. And people would take you seriously.

 

[PracticalTactical]

Best = the guys winning championships.

If you spent more time shooting and less with this overboard stuff, you’d be much better off. And people would take you seriously.

Only a total idiot would assume as much. You have no idea how much shooting I do or have done or how well I did it.

I don't give a rats butt if you take me seriously or not. I don't know you and you don't know me. I only know you to be an antagonist and a stalker in forums. Which by the way, you should find something better to do with your time.

If you actually shot F Class and tried to hit a 1/2 MOA bull at 1000 yards 10 or 15 times in a row, you would come to understand how little is overboard in that sport.

Better yet, come and do it here in Canada... For real... The way F Class was designed to be fired... in a squadded relay... Not the chicken sh!t shoot fast single string chase the spotter sucky baby BS done in the US. Wait for the other two guys in the relay to shoot before you can. (Sorry if that offends actual American F Class shooters BTW... No offense intended to those dedicated to it over there. If you've shot here you appreciate the difference.)

 

[clavery1322]

following

 

[sprad05]

Looking to start out with the AnnealEZ, a couple friends have them and have had pretty good success. For what I'm doing I think it should work out fine.

 

[wpgk58]

You will certain will enjoy it. I ran a Gen 1 version for a couple of years and kept it as a backup of my AMP goes down.

 

[ShooterG]

I like to tinker, so last winter I ordered a few parts and used others I already had around the house to build an annealer based off the Skips DIY plans floating around on the web. Total cost was around $80.
After some minor tweaking it runs perfect and annealing is so easy, it has become a regular part of the reloading process.
Have noticed more consistent groups since adding annealing to the steps.
Here is a picture of the completed project...

Nice Job

 

[memilanuk]

Better yet, come and do it here in Canada... For real... The way F Class was designed to be fired... in a squadded relay... Not the chicken sh!t shoot fast single string chase the spotter sucky baby BS done in the US. Wait for the other two guys in the relay to shoot before you can. (Sorry if that offends actual American F Class shooters BTW... No offense intended to those dedicated to it over there. If you've shot here you appreciate the difference.)

Done it that way a few times... used to hit the BCRA Provincials around 2007-2010, and then the DCRA Nats @ Connaught in '15, '16 and '17, along with the FCWC that year. Good times. I actually very much prefer shooting two or three to the mound - partly because it tends to put more emphasis on making a discrete wind call for each and every shot. I've said (half joking, half serious) about shooting string fire, that there are times when it just pays dividends to put the pen and plot away, and just friggin' chase the spotter and beat the conditions. I often end up with better overall scores doing that... but I feel just a little bit dirty afterwards

And yes, some of the top shooters don't do all this stuff... and some do. Definitely more than one way to skin that particular cat... and a lot of it comes down to reading the conditions (which is where I've done fallen by the way side anymore). Loading the ammo is the easy part

 

[sprad05]

Really like the aneallez

 

[PracticalTactical]

Done it that way a few times... used to hit the BCRA Provincials around 2007-2010, and then the DCRA Nats @ Connaught in '15, '16 and '17, along with the FCWC that year. Good times. I actually very much prefer shooting two or three to the mound - partly because it tends to put more emphasis on making a discrete wind call for each and every shot. I've said (half joking, half serious) about shooting string fire, that there are times when it just pays dividends to put the pen and plot away, and just friggin' chase the spotter and beat the conditions. I often end up with better overall scores doing that... but I feel just a little bit dirty afterwards

And yes, some of the top shooters don't do all this stuff... and some do. Definitely more than one way to skin that particular cat... and a lot of it comes down to reading the conditions (which is where I've done fallen by the way side anymore). Loading the ammo is the easy part

2017 at Connaught huh... That must have been fun.

I shot the Provincials there that year in 45 MPH winds, just before you would have arrived. First time I ever saw a 38 win a stage.

 

[memilanuk]

I've been on both ends of that kind of relay roulette... when you shoot your best, win your relay in brutal conditions, only to have the conditions absolutely die for the next group giving them in effect a 'bunny' relay where the lowest score is better than the highest from 30 minutes earlier.

I've also seen it (at the opening 700m match of said FCWC) where the conditions were *so* good that a 75-12V didn't even rate a medal - only consolation was that it did 'win' the 8-way tie for 4th place

Not sure I ever shot a 38...though the last match of the '15 or' 16 DCRA match sure felt like it. Three to a mound, and I couldn't see WTF was going on down range to save my life

 

[Alan Warner]

Marty:
Sometimes your the bug EH.. i remember one Victoria day @ Ottawa when a raging gale came thru shutting us down for an hour or so. When we resumed, 25 crosswinds increasing steadily thru the 900 meter. Paired with Scott M and we both finished with a 74. Only way to tell the pick up was from the number of ripples in the old, lighter flags. I think I came off with 28 on the 308.

Expect an industrial annealing rig to arrive Monday. Welding chiller, power input control, custom coils, time duration control and a infra red part heat readout. With the amount of ELR brass we are making now, I need a fast, reliable system.. Some of the forming requires three anneals in process. Averaging 500 pcs a month now.
This unit will cycle heat on in about 4 to 5 seconds on 50 brass. load to load should be about 6 to 7 seconds. I'll look at automating feed when the need comes.
I've spend 2 years wasting time with
hobby shit to meet our needs. This unit should last for years and years. From a long time mfg. with good product and service rep. Cost is as much as a fully outfitted ELR rifle.

For the smaller stuff, I have an Annie that has been very reliable.. Their larger unit not so much.

I have Rockwell and Brinnell equipment in house, so keeping records is easy.

 

[BuLLet]

Can you save a lot of brass that has begun to split necks by annealing now? Out of 300 cases of 5 times fired old 308 R&P I have, 6 cases now have split necks. Am I too late? Can the rest be saved through annealing? I just resized and trimmed what was left. Never annealed anything before. I have another 400 rounds from this lot loaded @ 4 times fired too.

 

[iceng]

Once a neck is split it's obviously dead. You can try annealing your remaining brass, see what happens.

How about you anneal half of your quantity, and leave the other half normal. Do some research, get back to us. (Shoot until it splits, and keep the batches seperate, and make a log of how many extra shots you got).

 

[BuLLet]

Brass is hard to get at the moment, I'm interested in saving as much of it as possible. I don't even have any annealing equipment yet, but when it comes in I could set aside some cases that don't get annealed for a test group. See what happens to the two groups.

My wondering is more or less if the cat is out of the bag and it's too late. If annealing this batch would even be beneficial.

Once a neck is split it's obviously dead. You can try annealing your remaining brass, see what happens.

How about you anneal half of your quantity, and leave the other half normal. Do some research, get back to us. (Shoot until it splits, and keep the batches seperate, and make a log of how many extra shots you got).

 

[spife7980]

Can you save a lot of brass that has begun to split necks by annealing now? Out of 300 cases of 5 times fired old 308 R&P I have, 6 cases now have split necks. Am I too late? Can the rest be saved through annealing? I just resized and trimmed what was left. Never annealed anything before. I have another 400 rounds from this lot loaded @ 4 times fired too.

Once can never really tell the future but I would hope that annealing now would help alleviate further issues in the future but Ive never really taken them to the edge of hardness and then try to pull them back.

 

[iceng]

Once can never really tell the future but I would hope that annealing now would help alleviate further issues in the future but Ive never really taken them to the edge of hardness and then try to pull them back.

I'd expect the brass to have imperfections like some sort of waves or corrugations where it wants to split, much like case head seperation ?.

Annealing will help, however I'm going to guess that once the thinning, tearing, or however it happens starts, it's hard to stop ? Might need to have some metallurgist answer this

 

[PracticalTactical]

Don't try and save a case that is questionable. Some years ago a friend who is well known to be "careful with money" bought some reloads at a gun show.

One case split along the side wall in his Rem 700. Well, when that happens, you quickly learn why Savage has a lug way blocker on the bolt.

The blast traveled along the lug way and blasted him in the face with powder. He was bleeding all over the side of his face and we had to patch his eye and take him to the hospital. He didn't lose his eye, but learned a critical lesson.

 

[BuLLet]

Just had a few neck splits, two were clear through and 4 others were showing a line. No other cases looked off. This brass has been shot 5 times in various 308 bolt guns and I have at least 200/300 left of the 4 times fired stuff loaded up. No split necks on those. The brass was originally from cased R&P ammo I purchased back in the early 90s. Checked a bunch for head separation too didn't find anything.

 

[BuLLet]

My AMP showed up today and I jumped right in. Fairly simple to setup, analyse a case and get right to work on them. Didn't even burn myself once

After annealing them I could feel the difference in the case where it was and wasn't annealed. AMP says not to use powdered lube on the necks because of it.

 

[Dunraven]

To me, it's results. I anneal my 6XC brass after every firing with a Bench Source, and get at least 15 firings out of Norma brass. There is only an occasional case head split, even fewer neck cracks: most are retired due to loose primer pockets, and not many at that. I retire the brass when putting on a new barrel, but don't believe it would need to be done even then.

 

[Halfnutz]

Maybe a stupid question...
If I use 750 tempilaq for setting the time in the flame, and the time is short so the piece doesn't reach temp. If I let it cool and then reheat it longer will that piece be affected the same amount, or close enough, as a piece that is only heated once?

 

[iceng]

Maybe a stupid question...
If I use 750 tempilaq for setting the time in the flame, and the time is short so the piece doesn't reach temp. If I let it cool and then reheat it longer will that piece be affected the same amount, or close enough, as a piece that is only heated once?

You should be fine. The whole point of annealing is to stress relieve the brass.

 

[Travelor]

I annealed for years using a two torch set-up. Last year bought a AMP machine and it is perfect!!!!! I now anneal each firing. I have the fitting to anneal 50 BMG but don;t have any fired brass to anneal.

 

[Evil_Dark]

I would recommend anybody that want to have low SD's to anneal every reload, in order to have the proper consistency with the neck tension.
The spring back change every time the brass is "worked" onto the dies... so the neck tension changes.
Sure the AMP is the top-notch annealing equipment actually on the market, there is several cheaper solutions...
I've got myself a ECHO annealer from Gong Joe, at this price point... no need to bother making one yourself LOL (it's canadian dollars, so the price is roughly 25% cheaper in US dollars!)

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