Annealing ???

[pistolfan]

I just bought some Starline brass in 45-70 and read somewhere that I should anneal this before loading it. This made me start to wonder how often you should anneal your cases and if at all. I don't load to max pressures usualy in the middle range. What about nickel plated brass should that be annealed also? I don't have problems with neck splits and I've reloaded some of my cases dozens of times. Just wodering what the thoughts are on this. Thanks for any replies. Peter
 

[Ranger99]

when i first started reloading a long
time ago, a gent told me i had to anneal
my cases or they would all start to split.
well i did as instructed and all i really
did was ruin 100 perfectly good cases.
i've never annealed any since, and never
split one. i believe annealing is just for
when cases are being reformed, not
resized back to factory specs. of course,
it's a personal choice like everything else.
i would advise against it for run-of-the-mill
reloading.

[cybin]

Since I started reloading in the 70's--even though I know how to anneal--I have never annealed any cases. In my experience, that by the time the cases have started to split around the necks, they are probably pretty thin else where and its time to replace them. Using mid range loading data you will usually get a lot of reloads out of most cases--I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule--but I have never come across them.
 
cybin

[revbc]

I have reloaded some starline 45/70 nickel cases over 10x's maybe 20.  Haven't split a neck yet.  I rarely flare the case even with cast bullets with a gas check.  So I probably don't over work the top edge.  I just start it straight and turn the case and slowly seat with minimal pressure.  Don't crimp either, but I only shoot a single shot rifle.

I think annealing works.......but probably more useful on bottleneck cases.