Annealing Cases

Buffalobob · #1 03-12-2009, 03:50 PM

Three videos on annealing cases

Video #1

Buffalobob · #2 03-12-2009, 03:52 PM

Video #2

Buffalobob · #3 03-12-2009, 03:54 PM

Video #3

jmason · #4 03-12-2009, 04:03 PM

BB thanks for the video! I also appreciate the "how to" on collecting home owners insurance funds.

Broz · #5 03-12-2009, 04:47 PM

Thanks for posting this. I have a few questions if I may. 1: do you tumble before or after or both? 2: can you post a pic of the finished product? and 3: if you get some cases hotter than others (with in reason) will it affect the finished neck tension?

Thanks!

Jeff

Buffalobob · #6 03-12-2009, 05:41 PM

Broz

I normally tumble after annealing. A little carbon does not bother the temperature of the brass.
I tried to take a few pictures a couple of minutes ago but I could not get them to show the discoloration that exists. It looks just like what you see on a brand new Lapua case. The discoloration goes away with tumbling.

As far as getting the cases too hot, what I can tell you is that it is not as bad a problem as not annealing in the first place. One of the things about shooting competition with a 308 at 1000 yards is that any bug or flaw in your reloading process shows up big time. Faster cartridges camouflage your reloading errors. My life does not revolve around my scores in competition but rather around my hunting so I am somewhat sloppy and lacksadaisical with my reloading. I probably only anneal about once every four firings and that seems to be the point in which I can detect accuracy problems with the 308 at long range.

Finally, I am not any kind of expert on annealing but I just wanted to make some videos that would take the mystery out of it and help other people see how easy it is.

The other thing that helps case neck tension is using a bore brush in a drill on the inside of the neck after each firing.

Broz · #7 03-13-2009, 10:38 AM

I am just prepping brass for the fifth firing. I am sizing with Redding comp bushing dies and have been using a bushing that only gives me about .001" tension on the neck. I just started to notice with the 5th sizing that it seems to not be enough. I was just going to drop down a bushing size ot two and go again. Question is, will that work or am I in need of annealing? If possible I would like to wait one more round and anneal next time. But I don't want sacrifice any accuracy.

Thanks!

Jeff