Anneal 38 Special Brass?

[Four-Sixty]

So, I've been reloading .38 Special about two years or so. Some cases I have may have been shot as few as three times, to as many has a dozen times. Some cases were given to me used, so they may have been shot even more than that. I have a few of everything and don't segregate my brass.

I feel that over the last 6 months my groups have been opening up. I have been feeling that I have been getting worse, as a shooter, some days. That is, until a about a month ago.

At the range some boy left behind about 40 pieces of new PPU 38 Special.

I made a batch of one of my loads with just that new brass and wow, my groups tightened up nicely! Same load I've been shooting, but much smaller groups.

Could it be, is it possible, that my brass is work hardened and negatively affecting my accuracy? Would annealing improve the preformance of my boolits?

[Wayne Smith]

Only you can tell. It is certainly possible. Anneal 50 of the oldest and see what happens! I do it in my lead pot.

[cbrick]

And keep your brass segragated. When I get new brass it goes right into an MTM plastic ammo box, that's it home never to be mixed with other brass, not even in the tumbler. I don't reload that box again until it's all been fired and then they all get reloaded again. All of the brass in that box has then been loaded the same number of times. If there is a change in neck tension it'll be pretty much the same for the whole box.

Mixing brass brands and number of reloads & thus neck tension can and will open your groups. If your just plinking it probably wouldn't matter but if your goal is to hit a target & or group it matters and the longer the range your shooting the more it matters.

Rick

[Huntducks]

As cheap as 38 brass is I would just buy a bunch of 1x fired and be done with it.

[williamwaco]

Only you can tell. It is certainly possible. Anneal 50 of the oldest and see what happens! I do it in my lead pot.

I have never annealed a case in 50 years of reloading. I read about the trials and tribulations of annealers and all the machinations they go through to heat the cases to the "correct" temperature. I have always wondered "Why not use your pot?"

How does this work for you?
Any drawbacks?

[MtGun44]

IME, lead sticks to the brass pretty quickly. I use a candle, rotate in fingers until too hot
to hold, a few seconds. This is only done for 7.5 Swiss match ammo, and again, when
groups started opening up and case necks started cracking.

Bill

[willy3]

I don't know anyone who anneals pistol brass.. Let us know if it works for you..

[cbrick]

I don't know anyone who anneals pistol brass.. Let us know if it works for you..

Sure it works, just as well as it does on bottle neck brass. ALL brass is annealed, doesn't matter if you buy new unprimed brass to reload or get it from factory rounds, it was annealed as part of the mfg proccess so of course it works. The question is why bother? There is nothing rare or expensive about 38 Spl brass, it's bout as common as stink on poop and almost the same price. The most logical reason for annealing 38 Spl brass is that the combined science/art of the proccess is both interesting and fun if your the sort that likes to tinker. Annealing must be done correctly though, not enough and you've accomplished nothing, too much and you've ruined the brass so it is a combination of science and art. I found it to take practice on old brass to get it just right.

I have the Ken Light BC-1000 annealer (I even have the 357m shell plate) and it is an outstanding well built machine but it is a rarely used piece of equipment, I use it for case forming wildcat cartridges or rare hard to find brass. 38 Spl? Good practice brass.

Rick

[asp]

Would you anneal the whole case or just the neck area? I would think, like rifle brass, you wouldn't want to anneal the headstamp/base of the case. Sorry if that's a dumb question, but like others, I've never heard of annealing pistol brass and it seems like it would be a lot easier to just dump the lot into an oven and let it go than to handle each case.

[cbrick]

Would you anneal the whole case or just the neck area? I would think, like rifle brass, you wouldn't want to anneal the headstamp/base of the case. Sorry if that's a dumb question, but like others, I've never heard of annealing pistol brass and it seems like it would be a lot easier to just dump the lot into an oven and let it go than to handle each case.

NO NO NO. NEVER heat the brass lower than the bullet seats in the neck. Get it soft down there and you'll get a vocabulary lesson.

The meaning of . . . KaBoom will instantly become clear to you.

That's what I meant in my previous post about must be done correctly, get it too soft in the body and you've ruined it.

Rick

[asp]

Better to ask the stupid question than blow myself up. Thanks!

[Ben]

As cheap as 38 brass is I would just buy a bunch of 1x fired and be done with it.

Ditto....my time is worth more than the cost of the brass.

Ben

[Tazman1602]

Then it wasn't a stupid question, eh?

Art

[rexherring]

I've never seen a big need to do that unless it's for black powder or Trail Boss loads. It will help seal the neck in the chamber and reduces smoking the cases. I have done it with old .45 colt brass just for that type of load. I just treat the neck area by heating with a low flame on my torch while rotating them with a gloved hand and dropping them in water.

[cbrick]

Better to ask the stupid question than blow myself up. Thanks!

Not at all a stupid question. It is far, far better that you asked rather than just try it. The ONLY stupid question is the question that you don't ask.

Here is an article on annealing that will explain it in detail.

Cartridge Case Annealing

Rick

[mdi]

I rarely try to dissuade anyone from trying something concerning reloading, as long as it isn't dangerous. If you are truely curious about annealing handgun brass, try it. I'm one of those tinkerers, "what would happen if..." kinda guys and sometimes do something just because. Granted .38 Special brass is prolly next to 9mm P for availability, and really cheap, and won't be worth the time to anneal, but the knowledge gained (and the fun tinkering) may be great for you...

Do it.

[uscra112]

Mixing brass brands and number of reloads & thus neck tension can and will open your groups. If your just plinking it probably wouldn't matter but if your goal is to hit a target & or group it matters and the longer the range your shooting the more it matters.

A big AMEN to that. Took me years to realize it. Now, for accuracy ammo, I gage every resized case with a steel plug gage. If a case is either tight or loose on that plug, it gets segregated for plinking ammo. A case that is loose or tight is that way because the brass is either harder or softer, and didn't respond to the sizing operation like the majority did. Out of 100 once-fired cases, I may get 3 to 10 that get culled. I have yet to try annealing any. Not sure I could get it to the exact same state of anneal for every case.

[cbrick]

I have yet to try annealing any. Not sure I could get it to the exact same state of anneal for every case.

That's beauty of the Ken Light BC-1000, every case gets the same heat for the same length of time. Even so it takes practice with it to get the torches correctly adjusted. There is art to the science of annealing.

Rick

[pdawg_shooter]

Five seconds in 750º lead works great. A dip in motor mice before the lead dip keeps it from sticking. A "full moon" clip I made lets me do 6 at a time. Never tried handgun brass tho. Just load them till the neck splits and then move on.

[brstevns]

I use to anneal my 357 mag brass by standing them in a cast iron frying pan with enough water to cover about 2/3 of the brass. . I then use a small propane torch to heat the tops til a color change then dipped them over into the water. worked for me