Is it a waste of time to anneal
- Thread starter 7.62willdo
- Start date
For what purpose exactly?
Bench rest accuracy?
Hunting?
Plinking?
Bench rest accuracy?
Hunting?
Plinking?
I found annealing to be critical for my 6.8 brass, otherwise neck tension was all over the place, but it’s a mixed bag of every type of factory 6.8 brass out there, with several reloads.
I tend to only reload the higher end Federal brass and the brass from Lapua or Norma factory loads from my bolt guns in my AR10 in .308, and typically only run reloaded Lapua or Norma brass through my bolt guns, but honestly, usually just run factory loads through my bolt guns and recycle the brass to my AR10. I typically anneal every other loading on those and have never had an issue; most only have 3-4 reloads on ‘em though.
I tend to only reload the higher end Federal brass and the brass from Lapua or Norma factory loads from my bolt guns in my AR10 in .308, and typically only run reloaded Lapua or Norma brass through my bolt guns, but honestly, usually just run factory loads through my bolt guns and recycle the brass to my AR10. I typically anneal every other loading on those and have never had an issue; most only have 3-4 reloads on ‘em though.
I would say for general consistency and accuracy yes, anneal. I like to shoot tight groups with an AR and neck tension helps.
If your known to be GTG load is suddenly shooting like poop... and it is the same brass... I would anneal the brass.
I anneal for accuracy, neck tension consistency and to prevent neck splits. I reload for M14's though and they are harder on brass than the AR-10. I also wet tumble my brass and spray my bullets with a dry lube when seating bullets. Between annealing and the dry lube on the bullets, I get pretty good SD's. Usually in the low teens to single digits. I only get 5 to 7 firings out of a batch of brass due to case-head stress that the M14 inflicts on brass.
Tony.
Tony.
Depends on which cartridge you’re shooting and how hard you’re pushing the loads.
For me, the whole purpose of the AR-10 is performance over weight/balance/bulk, so we’re looking at 60-62ksi chamber pressure.
What I’ve found even with some of the toughest brass in .260 Rem is I’m lucky to get 3-4 loads before primer pockets are toast.
For the price of an annealer, I could just buy that value in brass or ammo and at least get to shoot.
I don’t shoot my AR-10s anymore and still have 3 of them out of the 7 I’ve owned.
For me, the whole purpose of the AR-10 is performance over weight/balance/bulk, so we’re looking at 60-62ksi chamber pressure.
What I’ve found even with some of the toughest brass in .260 Rem is I’m lucky to get 3-4 loads before primer pockets are toast.
For the price of an annealer, I could just buy that value in brass or ammo and at least get to shoot.
I don’t shoot my AR-10s anymore and still have 3 of them out of the 7 I’ve owned.
If you're getting less that 3 reloads out of your brass. It's absolutely a waste of time. If you're pushing past 5 loading brass 20 or 30 times. It might not be a waste of time.
My dad had some 30x lc 223 brass he never annealed. Lost a few to splits. Shot out of a modle 70 varmint. I bet he wasn't shooting "safe in my gun hot," though.
I have some 9x 6 arc made from starline grendel brass. It's been annealed once and split two necks. One at 6x before annealing and one at 7x after annealing.
My dad had some 30x lc 223 brass he never annealed. Lost a few to splits. Shot out of a modle 70 varmint. I bet he wasn't shooting "safe in my gun hot," though.
I have some 9x 6 arc made from starline grendel brass. It's been annealed once and split two necks. One at 6x before annealing and one at 7x after annealing.
I know I'm done f'ing with the .223 annealing for my use, semi and bolt. I have a healthy current supply of LC brass and a lifetime of LC ammo for the carbines. After checking some non annealed vs annealed, the non annealed had lower SD in the charge range for the one bolt gun. In the charge range(23.8/24 Varget/80 SMK), it was 20 vs. 6.8 and 9.3 vs. 7.8, not a big difference(or scientific) in a sense but not worth the extra effort. So my current plan if I reload any .223 is to use the once fired brass, reload it and then toss to the recycle/sell.
I load mine pretty hot, so the brass is fire & forget. All they got to do is hold the primer once. I still anneal the brass for precision purposes. I also like to watch my UA operate as I gaze upon it in meditation...
