How often do you anneal your brass?

[Vann]

Here is another question with many answers.

How often do you anneal your brass?

For years, I never thought about it. It seemed like a black art best left to those who shot bench rest. Then I found that I had to do it in order to reform some cases. Then I started experimenting with it. It kept all of that nasty black powder crud out of the action on my 45 Colt 1894 Marlin. It made my cases last longer, and improved my accuracy. Now I anneaI everything. I clean, anneal, size and trim in that order. Everything except the cheap stuff that doesn't wear out like 9mm,40 s&w,45 acp.

So, what do you do?

[williamwaco]

Only when necessary.

It does however, increase case life if done after 5 or 10 loadings.

BE CAREFUL not to over do the heating. You can easily ruin a case.

There are several threads here on how to do it. Don't strike out on your own without reading them.

[popper]

Pistol - never - don't even trim. I candle anneal 308W & 300BO when the neck doesn't expand when firing, only LC stiff stuff. Trim BO as I convert the cases. I did trim and anneal 30/30 a long time ago. I just find it makes seating much easier, can't prove it increases accuracy.

[Vann]

Thanks for your feedback. I just trying to see what others do and how they do. I'm pretty much a recluse, I go to work I come home, I do, do some competitive shooting and simply love it, but reloading is my hobby. If it took two hours to load one round I'd be fine with it.

I've noticed that with lower pressure rounds like the 3030 and 308 that 5 reloads are the norm with out cracking a case neck, but it does seem that accuracy improves after annealing due to better neck tension. On the other hand my ultra mag really seems to be hard on case necks, I've reloaded rounds after one firing and found that the bullets could be twisted in the case when I got to my range.

[popper]

My loads are NOT low pressure! Close to full bore jacketed pressures.

[Bird]

Pistol brass never have.
348 win, 2 to 3 firings.
22-250 win brand brass, 3 firings, hotter loads.
30-06, 4 firings.
45-70, 5 firings.
30-30, 5 firings, have close to 30 reloadings per case.
I guess most of the rifle brass at the higher load levels, would be about 3 firings. I dont lose many to case neck splitting except the 22-250 and have to keep an eye on the 348.
I found i get best accuracy on the second and third firing after annealing.

[Nueces]

I use Starline 45 Colt cases for cowboy action competition. They get springy after a half dozen loadings and the necks become tight, making seating difficult. These cases are long enough to anneal using a gas flame, which extends their usefulness.

[John Boy]

So, what do you do?
* Pistol calibers: anneal - trim = Never.
* Rifle calibers: aneal - trim if necessary - FL size only new brass
All cases: Cleaned spotless in the rotary after each use
PS: Hard crimp your 45's and be sure their clean to adhere to the chamber walls - be amazed the reduction of any blow back. After 15,000 plus BP rounds in a '92 Winchester - it has only been field stripped twice and still no mechanical failures or hiccups

[crashguy]

I anneal before reforming 30-06 to 8mm and Commercial .223 range pick up before I put it into circulation.

[mac60]

Handgun brass - never. Rifle brass - every 5th reload. I put the brass in a deep wall socket turned with a drill motor and drop them into water.

[acrijos]

I anneal rifle cases every 3rd shot. It is a pleasure to do it with a Vertex annealing machine. It is a quick and easy process.

[Smoke4320]

Rifle cases at least every 3rd firing
And only 8000 posts before I have a zip code :)

[Eddie2002]

Only anneal rifle brass, pistol brass I just keep using till it splits and then it gets tossed. I anneal any rifle brass I'm resizing down like 270 to 30-06 or 270 and 30-06 down to 7.7 Jap. After that I anneal about every 4th full power reload. With low power plinkers I'll anneal when the boolit is loose in the case mouth after resizing, maybe 8 or so reloads.
I'll also rotate the full power brass down to plinker brass after about 8 reloads depending on the rifle it was shot out of. Got a couple loose chambers that really stretch the brass.

[Harter66]

About every 5th in rifles ,actually before the 5th cycle is sized . I never really gave much thought to it for pistol brass until I had the Colts 45 . Then at about 15 or 16 cycles it started smoking cases and badly enough to spend hours tumbling and not get it all off . I tried a few with success then did all the 38 and 357 too . So for those I'm going with 10 cycles. In the ACP class I don't it at all it seems like they are good,lost or cracked .

[Freischütz]

The cases you mention are rather short. Be careful not to inadvertently anneal the cases' heads too.

[gondwana]

Here is another question with many answers.

How often do you anneal your brass?

For years, I never thought about it. It seemed like a black art best left to those who shot bench rest. Then I found that I had to do it in order to reform some cases. Then I started experimenting with it. It kept all of that nasty black powder crud out of the action on my 45 Colt 1894 Marlin. It made my cases last longer, and improved my accuracy. Now I anneaI everything. I clean, anneal, size and trim in that order. Everything except the cheap stuff that doesn't wear out like 9mm,40 s&w,45 acp.

So, what do you do?

45-70 after every firing

224 and up to 30 cal's every 4 firings

35 cal up to 458 Win Mag every 2 or 3

One other thing I do in addition to annealing on belted magnums is to use the Belted Magnum Collet Resizing Die from Innovative Technologies. I get great life from my belted magnums, 7mm Remington Magnum up to 458 Winchester Magnum, and they only digest full-house hunting loads.

[Motor]

I only anneal rifle brass. Only when it needs it. Yeah, kinda vague eh?

Ok. I keep my brass in "lots". I try to cycle the entire lot when using it so the number of cycles is consistent for all the brass in the lot.

The first cycle that produces a split neck either when fired or re-sized (some judgment needed of course) tells me it's time to anneal again. This system has worked great for me. I have 7.62x51 brass that gets neck only sized, that are near their 20th reloading.

Motor

[gunwonk]

The first cycle that produces a split neck either when fired or re-sized (some judgment needed of course) tells me it's time to anneal again.

That's about what I do.

I have noticed that a few more will split after annealing. I think what's going on with those is that a split already got started at the micro level, I couldn't see it, they reloaded okay, and then the split went full-sized on the next firing.

After that, the survivors are find for another few firings.

[Elkins45]

I do my 257 Weatherby after every firing, but 270 or 30-06 only every 5th time. I haven't ever done 300 blackout or 308, but since I have started shooting 308 a lot more I have some that are getting close to needing it. Using a collet die seems to put less stress on the necks.

[MGnoob]

Wet SS tumble, case-pro roll-size, anneal, process (decap,size,trim,m-die), Wet SS tumble, load.

I anneal with the Giraud annealer every time. i used to do it ever 3-5 times. I've used the "tempaq" heat indicator.
If you turn the light off and it is completely dark.when the target area just begins to glow your where you want to be.
Although it actually takes alittle less than that, when mine cool you almost can't see any Discoloration.

I noticed when i don't rollsize and anneal every time the next time when they do get rollsized that is where most of the splitting occurs.i like the second wet tumblewash to remove the lanoline case lube, cleans primer pockets, and remove discoloration from annealing.

I get great brass life..i've been using my rifle brass like pistol brass.i only discard it when it cracks or primer pockets get loose.
I'll probibly reevaluate this practice when i get my first or second case-head separation...i'm still waiting.