Annealing brass

Actually you don't want to drop in water. Can cause case head separation. You want gradual annealing through the shoulder area.
 
Mapp may work. Just use low flame on either one. Try a few odd pieces n see how it does. Count to 8 seconds, or whatever you come up with to get desired result and drop out of the socket.
YouTube could be your friend. Eric cortina annealing.
 
popper43 said:
Actually you don't want to drop in water. Can cause case head separation.
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myth.... head separation is caused by other factors.
Fact.... Even the arsenal at Lake City drops the annealed cases in a bath of coolant before going in to the forming dies.
Stop by Starline or ANY brass manufacturer and you will see that exact process done.
Understand I'm not saying you HAVE to drop in water, but there is no harm in doing so, hence my response.
If you don't it STILL works just as good.
 
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KYODE said:
YouTube could be your friend. Eric cortina annealing.
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I seen one of his videos where he over annealed a case supposedly and it wound up working just as well as his other processed ones.
Was interesting. Matter of fact I debated posting a link to his annealing process glad you mentioned it.
 
If you use a socket and drop them on a tray they will cool long before the head can anneal. It should only take a few seconds to get the neck annealed (I put the flame on the point of the shoulder). It takes heat AND time to actually anneal the brass. With so much more mass in the head, the neck would be glowing like a neon sign before there was enough heat in the head to soften it.
 
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LC does a final annealing after the case is formed. The theory is an annealed neck/shoulder will 'grab' the chamber but the hard case won't and causes stretch in the case wall. No gradual hardness change between shoulder and case body.
 
popper43 said:
LC does a final annealing after the case is formed.
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Yes and they anneal prior to that once during the forming, the first forming is done without annealing the second set of dies IIRC is annealed prior maybe the third I'm not 100% sure. Been a while since I've been there. ...... and ?????

popper43 said:
The theory is an annealed neck/shoulder will 'grab' the chamber but the hard case won't and causes stretch in the case wall.
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theory ... hmmm so not a fact?
If a fact I'm sure someone would have wrote a paper in it to the procurement branch. And there very well may have been, and I never seen it, or it was dismissed.

Funny you should mention stretch which is a, if not the factor.

Which fact is more times than not caused by over sizing the case to the minimum, or below from min specs. The main culprit outside the Belted magnum cases being headspace on the belt repeatability onn most other designs it is when the a excessive headspacing occurs when the ammo is at min spec or below which most of us can do with our dies. and a near at maximum chamber dimension ( via wear) occurs. Or in the case of every single time I've seen it done on the M2 Browning MG, the Soldier simply set the headspace Wrong.

Believe what you wish. I only have a problem when a belief or theory is stated as a fact. And no I'm not taking the bait for this rabbit hole.
RANGE Time ... C ya'll later
 
Whatever floats yer boat and fits your particular need/situation.
I have annealed a bit, the old fashioned way; dim lights socket in drill and apply torch until neck first starts to glow. Drop in pan of water and..........
When I was shooting competition, I preferred GI brass and both GI 7.62 NATO (308) & M2, M72 (30-06) was readily available, inexpensive, and often had to be left on the firing line at the matches, so the least case prep the better. I quit annealing completely for match shooting (most of my shooting at the time). Did not consume a sufficient quantity of hunting ammo to make annealing worth the effort. In either case it sure simplified the search for empties. ;)
 
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Sgt_Mike said:
Funny you should mention stretch which is a, if not the factor.

Which fact is more times than not caused by over sizing the case to the minimum, or below from min specs. The main culprit outside the Belted magnum cases being headspace on the belt repeatability on most other designs it is when the a excessive head spacing occurs when the ammo is at min spec or below which most of us can do with our dies. and a near at maximum chamber dimension ( via wear) occurs. Or in the case of every single time I've seen it done on the M2 Browning MG, the Soldier simply set the headspace Wrong.
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Absolutely! That is just one of the reasons to justify the use of a micrometer case headspace gauge in reloading sequence. Measure fired case and use that measurement to set your sizing die to minimum headspace to squeeze the last drop of accuracy by matching ammo to a given chamber with a plus that you resize the cases fired in that rifle minimally, thus extending case life.
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Sgt_Mike said:
Matter of fact pretty everyone whom has responded has a good process in my opinion.
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Agreed. I wasn’t bashing anyone’s process at all as there are quite a few methods that’ll work to skin this cat!! Even the ones who say annealing doesn’t work for them. No matter…load em up and go shoot. They make more brass every day!
 
popper43 said:
I'll try to find it again
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If you find it I would like actually love to see it. Would be better if from a metallurgist, which he very well have consulted with which would make it more interesting.

If it's the one I'm thinking of which would have been 2006ish maybe a little earlier dealing with the M2 Browning which led to a redesign MWO to be done to bring some back up to snuff.
 
I almost never do. Only when making drastic changes in forming one case from another. Don't see any reason to bother as a regular practice.

- DAA
 
I went down the rabbit hole . I tried it all. Ended up with a EP 2.0 .
It works well. The main thing for me is it is consistent. I have always held to the belief that without consistency you are chasing your tail.
Since I have the machine all my brass gets ran through it after every firing.
It takes a few minutes to get it set right therefore I don’t like to set it up for less than 100 rds. Once set up it takes no time to run through 2-300 rds.
Cant prove how much if any it helps, but another step of consistency can not hurt.
 
I'm 1 or 2 firings than anneal, because by the 3rd I can feel the difference when seating bullets. I anneal for case preservation and seating effort consistency.
 
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