What are the Benefits of Case Annealing

[jasonprox700]

I was just wondering what the benefits were of case annealing?  I have heard a lot of guys talk about it, but I don't really know much about it or the process.  Are there any drawbacks?

[Don Fischer]

Most likely by the time you realize it's time to anneal, the case will have been shot several times to many anyway. Best thing to do with cases that need it is to throw them away. Annealing is a process best done on brand new cases by the factory.

[Chuck White]

jasonprox700

Repeated sizing and shooting of a cartridge will make the case "more brittle" and eventually the case mouth will split or some other damage will happen to the case!

Annealing your brass after a few reloads will soften the metal, making it more pliable, thus lasting longer and therefore you will usually get more reloads from each of your brass!

Not every reloader will anneal their brass, for whatever reason, but it's not a difficult process!

[Savage]

An easy way to anneal you rifle brass is to stand them up in a cake pan with about 1.5" of water in it. Then take a propane torch and heat each case neck until dull red. Then take the tip of the torch and bump the case over into the water quench. Job done!
Savage

edit: Forgot to mention that you will need to put water inside the case up to the shoulder to keep the case in the upright position and to keep the brass cool below the neck.

[Castaway]

Two advantages I know.  As mentioned above one thing it does is resoften the brass so it doesn't split from being brittle.  I do it to get a consistent bullet release.  By annealing, I can make all the neck tension the same or pretty close to the same in my many times fired brass and the results show on paper with tighter groups.

[Don Fischer]

Two advantages I know.  As mentioned above one thing it does is resoften the brass so it doesn't split from being brittle.  I do it to get a consistent bullet release.  By annealing, I can make all the neck tension the same or pretty close to the same in my many times fired brass and the results show on paper with tighter groups.

How do you measure the tension on the bullet from the case neck?

[Castaway]

I guess the bottom line is I don't measure it directly.  I do know that when I've done it flyers have decreased.  Could it be a fluke?  Maybe, but I'm convinced it's worth my time.

[GregP42]

I will give you another reason to anneal cases, reforming to another round. I used to shoot 6.5mm TC/U and 7mm TC/U a lot, if I just used the .223 parent case and ran it through the resizer I could bet on split necks, maybe 8 or 9 out of 100, I know that doesn't sound too bad, but when your going to make 500 to 600 cases it adds up. By annealing the necks before I reformed the brass I would loose maybe 1 or 2 per hundred.

So there are quite a few reasons why to do it, I know BPCR shooters that shoot in national level events that do it ever time they reload a case because they want the brass the same every time, that is a little too much for me, but then I never resize my BPCR brass, just deprime and reload it.

Greg

[cbourbeau32]

So can you anneal factory new brass or does it need to be shout first? Charlie

[GregP42]

So can you anneal factory new brass or does it need to be shout first? Charlie

Almost all factory new brass has been annealed, that is what the dark stain is on it. About the only brass I have seen that needs to be annealed from the factory is Starline, it is very good brass, just a little tougher than most so annealing it helps.

Greg

[skb2706]

Most likely by the time you realize it's time to anneal, the case will have been shot several times to many anyway. Best thing to do with cases that need it is to throw them away. Annealing is a process best done on brand new cases by the factory.

Thats not accurate at all. I make up wildcat cases from new brass and if you do not correctly anneal you will never get any case life. Once made up I want them to last as long as possible...if annealing does that, then so be it. 

[jasonprox700]

Is there a specific temperature that the case needs to get to?  How long at that temp?

[oznbolivia]

It is best done in semi dark place and get a uniform red glow all around the neck. Quence at once.  The darken space helps see the color of the brass. Some use a butane torch on a stand and hold the case in tongs and rotate the brass to heat it uniformly on all sides.
Oz

[351 power]

I'm just thinking about starting to reload. I have been told that the cheaper/military style .223 rem shells are brittle and will split so are not good to reload. Even the white box, 40 count Winchester shells were said to be brittle and split. Can they be annealled?

[Jay HHI6818]

Several years ago I had several 375JDJ cases split while sitting in the ammo case. YIKES!!! Started reading articles on annealing and now I anneal after 5 or 6 resizing. You will be amazed at how easy it is to resize the brass after annealing. I use Varmint Al's method and here's a great explanation of it.  Be sure to read on as Varmint Al explains, annealing and neck tension and the dangers to anneal the case head.

http://www.varmintal.net/arelo.htm#Anneal
 

[oznbolivia]

varmintal is one of my favorite web sites.  Lots of good information on it.

Oz