Case annealing

[Josh89]

So I've been seeing a lot about case annealing on this Facebook group I joined. I read up on it a little bit and was wondering if anyone here does it. Right now i only reload for 223/5.56 and it's only for plinking ammo, so I didn't know if it would be worth it the money and another step for me to do it. Most of the stuff I read was about the rounds being more accurate but some about them making the cases last longer. Just wondering if someone with more experience could way in on this.p

Read More

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

i dont do it. i loadm and shootm

 

[P7M13]

I've never done it for 5.56. I just trim those.
So far, the only cases I've done it for are magnum bottle neck cartridges: 338 Lapua, 338 Edge, and 7mm LRM. It makes a huge difference on those, you can feel it in your press when you seat the bullet.
Does it make them last longer? Yes. Brass "work hardens" and becomes brittle, easier to crack.
Though I have considered and not yet annealed any of my 308 cases, I have had some necks split on those, I believe due to hardening.

 

[Lilhigbee]

Here is a link to a thread I started about annealing. It was mostly about annealing when reforming, but some of the info applies to annealing in general.

Brass forming/annealing question

 

[DizzyJ]

Can't say I've ever shot a single piece of brass enough times to require it.

 

[Goosebrown]

Can't say I've ever shot a single piece of brass enough times to require it.

I use Lapua brass. I anneal every five firings or so and have never lost a neck. I get new brass each season and retire the previous years brass. I still don't have a single case that I can't shoot if I wanted to.

I spend a lot of time on case prep. Annealing keeps my work from being wasted.

 

[Member 5605]

if you have expensive precision brass and you want to keep it's lifespan as long as possible.. then anneal.

If you shoot 5.56/.223 and buy brass in bulk or pickup range brass... why bother?

 

[Goosebrown]

if you have expensive precision brass and you want to keep it's lifespan as long as possible.. then anneal.

If you shoot 5.56/.223 and buy brass in bulk or pickup range brass... why bother?

Yeah. Only reason to bother is if you prep the cases. Ream primer pockets to remove military crimp or trim and chamfer. That takes time. I also use a sharpy to mark my prepped brass so I can pick it out from the others on the ground at the range. Only brass worth annealing is that which you want to keep. it is not necessary if you aren't doing some harder core handloading.

 

[Bon Sauvage]

I have annealed 45-70, .43 Spanish and .44 Special cases. I was loading them with black powder and needed to ensure the cases would open up and give a good seal with the lower pressures involved.

It worked great! I would chuck an appropriate socket into my hand drill, place a case in the socket and spin it in the flame from a small propane tank. I'd drop the case into a water filled, towel lined, plastic waste paper basket. EZ-PZ and very satisfying.

 

[P7M13]

Yeah. Only reason to bother is if you prep the cases. Ream primer pockets to remove military crimp or trim and chamfer. That takes time. I also use a sharpy to mark my prepped brass so I can pick it out from the others on the ground at the range. Only brass worth annealing is that which you want to keep. it is not necessary if you aren't doing some harder core handloading.

A lot of my brass doesn't make it past 3 loadings: FC, LC and some R-P. The primer pocket loosens. If I extract a case and note the primer is gone, I toss it (ahem, recycle. This is Portland, after all.)

 

[Goosebrown]

Probably good idea if the primer comes out...

 

[ma96782]

So then, annealing.......

OK...my brass when fired through my M1a in 7.62 x 51 mm doesn't last long. Maybe, 3 times for me. I buy surplus once fired brass. I load by lot. Call it at 100 cases to a lot. So, if/when I get failures (you decide what is enough to condemn the lot).....well, that lot is DONE. Trash can time. Annealing....well, I don't feel that it's worth it, being that the brass lasts for such a short time.

Bolt action shooters.....well, some like to anneal because their brass life can be extended. Annealing will extend brass life.....usually long enough to make it worth it. Especially with hard to get or expensive brass cases.

But, if you're rich....LOL. Who cares about overly extending your brass life?

For me.....5.56 ammo......it's the same thing (like my 7.62 brass). Well, brass is easier to find. So, it's not entirely true for me (all the time). 5.56 seems to last longer. Anyway, if you're shooting it through an AR, you might want to try loading your (once fired) brass as lots. And if/when you get failures....well it's a SIGN. Maybe. Depending on how cheap you wanna be.

Aloha, Mark

 

[2ndtimer]

I have never annealed cases, but in the past couple of months, I have experienced a lot of split necks in my .223 brass. Much of this is older brass that has been loaded several times, much of it being range pick up. Since I recently retired, I may have to consider annealing to preserve as much of my brass as possible, since buying new brass is not quite the easy option it used to be when I was working.

 

[AMProducts]

Generally speaking, if you're shooting out of an auto-loader at a public range, unless you're actively capturing all of your brass annealing is simply not worth it. Brass has a hardness gradient it want's to maintain, every reloading/firing cycle increases the hardness a bit until it eventually stress cracks and fails. However if you simply anneal the brass every time you have no idea what the hardness will be after because you don't really know what the hardness is going in.

Annealing is a necessary process if you're forming brass, or if you're trying to extend the life of a known quantity and quality of brass. For range-pick up, it's simply not worth the labor at best, and can be dangerous at worst. Annealing is a highly technical process, a lot of people who are doing forming, or are shooting a single lot of brass repeatedly will learn what works and what doesn't, the equipment to check the anneal is expensive and somewhat rare, you need a DPH (vickers) hardness gauge to determine the brass hardness going in, and obviously would need to test again coming out. For mixed or unknown lots of brass you would have to test every piece.