How many of you anneal your brass?

[bulletstuffer]

I feel like a kid asking so many questions.  How important is this process.  I have never done it but I am venturing into fire forming 22 hornet brass into 22 k hornet brass.  Does it make any difference if I don't anneal before fire forming?


Thanks for all the help!!!


Bulletstuffer

[1armoured]

Fire forming shouldn't require additional annealing.


Working the brass with forming dies,...........maybe ?

 I experimented with some 30yr old .222 brass, that I thought might have become brittle with age, and found that annealing was pretty much a waste of my time, besides being a tricky art in itself.


If you've invested in 'State of the art' annealing gear, then by all means use it, but I would shoot the formed brass first and see how many loads you get.
You might be trying to solve a non-existent problem,
and when you look at the overall cost of reloads, (I estimate at less than .40c each), then again I ask,

Is it worth it ?

cheers,
SS

[Iowa Fox]

I do. I found it makes a big difference in fire forming loads and regular factory brass which has been loaded a few times where I use bushing dies to load. I hate the job but the results for me have been worth it. I have been reloading for 52 years and annealing for about 15. I first tried annealing about 40 years ago and not knowing what I was doing did not have very good luck at it. If you want to try it start with some junk range pick up brass to practice on.

[Iowa Fox]

Perhaps to better answer your original question I have two differnt K Hornes I load for. I find annealing brass whether new or fired I get much better fill out and zero splits by annealing first.

[Steve P]

I anneal after fire forming.  Over working the formed brass is what caused most of my failures.  I tried annealling first and the brass was too soft and deformed when trying to size/load.  Hornet brass is thin and soft to begin with.  I would question the need for any annealing with it.  Don't have the K hornet, but do have the 270 Ren which is a hornet case blown out to 270.  Never annealled any of them.
 
Steve

[Forsberg]

I feel like a kid asking so many questions.  How important is this process.  I have never done it but I am venturing into fire forming 22 hornet brass into 22 k hornet brass.  Does it make any difference if I don't anneal before fire forming?


Thanks for all the help!!!


Bulletstuffer

Going from Hornet to K-Hornet is not to radical so just shooting in a K-Hornet chamber will do the job. I would anneal before fire-forming to extend case life and to get better fill-out.

[Win 1917]

If using new brass, it's in an annealed state from the factory so no need to before fireforming. Afterwards it might be a good idea. I'd use a candle instead of a propane torch. It's a much cooler flame and will help to not overheat the thin brass   

[LaOtto222]

To anneal brass it needs to get to 475 degrees F or there abouts. If the head gets annealed, the case is ruined, so the head area should not be heated to 475 degrees. In order to anneal the neck/shoulder without ruining the head, you must heat up the neck fast so that the heat does not migrate to the head. Brass is a good conductor of heat, so not only is the neck heated fast so that the heat does not go to the head, the head is heat sinked by setting in water or some other way. Hornady makes an annealing "kit". It has three different sized aluminum spinners and some heat sensitive paste. The aluminum spinners act like a heat shield to protect the head area. You put some paste on the shoulder and when it melts, the case is annealed and should be dropped into water to cool the case quickly. Some people set the cases into water and when the case mouth gets up to temperature the tip the case over into the water. After you use the paste a while you learn the color of the case and do not need the paste any more.

Brass gets work hardened over time, from squeezing the case down stretching it back out from firing, the redoing it. Depending on how much the brass is "worked" it will get brittle and split or fail sooner or later. Some people simply throw their brass away when it reaches this point, which can be 5 times being reloaded, 10 or 25, depending on how much sizing is taking place and case design. In the case of some wildcat cases, the case neck can split after as little as 1 firing. If cases are annealed, it can dramatically extend its life. If you put all the time into forming, then fire forming loads, you do not want to loose a case after 1 or 2 reloads. You can increase the life of regular cases by annealing and with the cost of new brass or factory loaded ammunition, so why not anneal?


BTW - I do anneal cases, but do not anneal before fire forming the 22K Hornet. I only neck size my 22K brass and shoot mild loads so it takes several sizings before they need annealed.

Good Shooting and Good Luck