How often do you anneal your brass?

[Alibiiv]

I don't anneal. I've been close to buying an annealer and getting into it, but I haven't personally seen any negatives to not annealing. I think there's merit to it for sure, but I don't think it's a necessity. That's just my opinion and experience, and it may change.

If you reload for a wildcat you will notice the difference between annealed cases and those that are not. Annealing will give you longer case life with less split cases. I load the 35 Whelen and the 46-70 cases, I get double the case life out of annealed cases. I've done both the salt bath process and the Annealeez process. The AnnealEez is much faster and does a good job. Once you have worked with annealed brass you will notice the difference in neck turning, resizing and seating bullets right away. If you are fire forming brass, again you will notice the difference as to how the brass will take a fireform better with annealed brass over brass that has not been annealed.

 

[baldhunter]

I don't anneal. I've been close to buying an annealer and getting into it, but I haven't personally seen any negatives to not annealing. I think there's merit to it for sure, but I don't think it's a necessity. That's just my opinion and experience, and it may change.

I used to not anneal either,but once I got a motorized trimmer,I began to notice the difference in how soft brass sounded when trimmed and how it sounded when it was getting hard.Another thing I started doing was,with a marker,I write number of times fired.Another thing I checked was the amount of runout I was getting with a concentricity gauge.I began to see the amount of runout get higher as the number of times the brass was fired.I think what caused the runout to increase was,as the brass hardened,it makes it harder to seat the bullet because the neck tension increases as the brass hardens.Annealing softens and relaxes the brass and I see less runout once it's done.Keeping your brass segregated by the number of times fired and treating them all the same can improve the accuracy too.I don't have a annealing machine.I bolt a small machine screw through a 3/8 drive socket that fits the cartridge base tight enough to hold it in place.I chuck up the machine screw with the socket attached into a drill.The I light up my propane torch.I insert case base into the socket.I hold the case over the flame tip near the shoulder/neck junction and let the drill rotate the case.It only takes a few seconds and it's done.You can see the color change and once the color looks the same on the shoulder and neck,it remove it and do the next case.Be careful,the cases can get a little warm.

 

[skipglo]

I don't anneal. I've been close to buying an annealer and getting into it, but I haven't personally seen any negatives to not annealing. I think there's merit to it for sure, but I don't think it's a necessity. That's just my opinion and experience, and it may change.

X2 for now..now being the PAST 50 YEARS LOADING.. ...So if Im going to try it...I guess maybe .....it better be soon!!

 

[RockyRandy]

One could buy a lot of brass for the cost of an AMP 1500.00.

I bought a flame one that cost me $300, but Im with you all the way. $1500 is a lot of $$$, But then so is everything else I have!!!!!

 

[KH_Outdoors]

After every firing, using an AMP, as the very first step in the "reloading" process

 

[Nimrodmar10]

First, let me say that I shoot Lapua brass whenever possible. So brass is a long term investment, so I try to take care of it.
Back in the day, like 50 years ago before I'd ever heard the name Lapua, there were basically only three brands of brass: Remington, W-W (Winchester Western) and Federal. If I had 50 rounds of brass of the same caliber and brand, I was lucky. I shot mostly 22-250 for benchrest and varmints. I shot a lot, so I reloaded because bullets, primers and powder was cheap. After several full house reloads I started getting split necks. The solution at that time was to anneal them by putting all your brass in a pie or cake pan, submerged half way in water. I then heated each one with a propane torch until the brass started to change color then turned the case over in the water to cool. Primitive but effective.
Now things are a little more precise. Most of my shooting now is long range rifle shooting. Our range has targets out to 1250 yards. I try to precision reload for the guns that I shoot for long range. The gun range has bought an AMP annealer for the members, so I now anneal after every firing to get consistent neck tension and no split necks.

 

[Window]

So if you're shooting new brass when do you start annealing your brass and then after you start how often?

I anneal after every firing. I'm not a competitive shooter but I strive for consistency and in my opinion/experience neck tension has a tremendous impact on POI consistency. Not to mention when you anneal every time split necks are a thing of the past.

 

[Pdyson]

Every time, it's step one of my brass prep process. I shoot only the best brass I can find, so if Lapua makes it in the caliber I'm loading I buy it. If not then it's Peterson, Alpha, Norma, and ADG, I like lake city for 556 and so far hornady is the only source of brass head stamped 6ARC and currently you have to buy loaded ammo to get it (Hurry Up Peterson we're waiting).

know I can make it last up to 15 or 20 reloads if I don't load to maximum Charges and I anneal. When I get back from practice or a match I dump my brass into a large bin. I hate brass prep so i Put it off till I run out of prepped brass to load. I'll dump it out, sort by caliber and flame anneal in large batches. Then pin wash, dry, resize, mandrel expand, trim, chamfer, and prime. Then I store them in 100rnd ammo boxes. When I need ammo i pull a box of brass and a box of bullets off the shelf, throw the powder and seat bullets.

 

[Jud96]

One thing I'll say is, many top level BR shooters don't anneal. Glenn Kulzer set x8 1000 yard BR records in 2021. He shot a 6BRA with Alpha brass, never annealed, and used I believe .005 neck tension. I'm not saying annealing doesn't matter, but with results like that, it's hard to say it's necessary. Again, just my opinion and observation on it. If it makes you feel better or you see a difference, keep doing what you do.

 

[Muddyboots]

X2 for now..now being the PAST 50 YEARS LOADING.. ...So if Im going to try it...I guess maybe .....it better be soon!!

You know the old saying about "old dogs"....or "If I can do it, a Caveman can"... or "Sasquatch", might as well get that out of the way right now...

 

[xsn10s]

One thing I'll say is, many top level BR shooters don't anneal. Glenn Kulzer set x8 1000 yard BR records in 2021. He shot a 6BRA with Alpha brass, never annealed, and used I believe .005 neck tension. I'm not saying annealing doesn't matter, but with results like that, it's hard to say it's necessary. Again, just my opinion and observation on it. If it makes you feel better or you see a difference, keep doing what you do.

I've only annealed twice in the past thirty years. I think it has it's merits. As does not annealing.

 

[meatyrem]

Well I'm gonna start. I have some 300RUM brass after one and two firings getting split necks. I was getting split necks on my 7RUM on one firing and they aren't over pressure. So in order to save from getting split necks I'll have to I guess. I've fired factory rounds with no split necks.

 

[Remhunter]

I use the salt bath method and have the lit from Ballistic Recreations. It is a very affordable way of doing it and also is very consistent and repeatable. I anneal after every firing, and can honestly say I notice a huge difference. Especially when resizing and seating bullets, the pressure required is much more consistent from piece to piece. I initially started just to help extend the life of my brass with components being so scarce and expensive. However, I have learned to see the differences when reloading.

 

[milo-2]

If you do anneal, your baseline is lost if not done every firing.