Case Annealing Question

[IceAxe]

I am looking into buying a case annealing machine and will be happy if it "just" extends case life....but the question I have is: if done properly will it aid in accuracy? Has anyone tested the process to see if there is a measurable change or delta in the ES? I recognize there are a great deal of variables to be considered but wonder what others have found in this area. My initial thought is to number about 25 cases, anneal prior to each load, and record the velocities over a number of identical trial loads to see how much they very.

[spittoon]

Case annealing good question. I do not know the answer but I all ways thought it was for case life to keep the brass soft to relieve stress from "work harding" after resizing or forming.

[IceAxe]

I am certain you are right about extending the case life but I have noticed that while seating bullets I will occasionally seat one that "feels" a little more resistant than the others while going in the case. Since they are all from the same lot I thought it might be attributed the way the bullet was sitting on the case, perhaps slightly misaligned, differences in case lube while the neck was formed or even the rate at which the ram is actuated in the various steps. It does feel like there are slight variances in the neck tension (felt or perceived while bullet seating) which could be attributed to work hardening. My thought is annealing might relieve the brass in the neck area to a nominal hardness and mitigate any (some) differences in neck tension by returning to a baseline. I just don't know. I did a google search but couldn't find any quantitative info from testing on the subject. Plenty of claims such as improved accuracy (undefined) and the case life being extended 10x. I am sure there members here that would have some experiential input, if not test data that would be beneficial for sharing. Thanks

[XC700116]

Interesting for sure, but I would think that if done in a consistent, automated process, it should (along with neck turning) produce more consistent neck tension, so possibly increased accuracy.

[IceAxe]

Interesting for sure, but I would think that if done in a consistent, automated process, it should (along with neck turning) produce more consistent neck tension, so possibly increased accuracy.

Yes I would certainly want an automated process, considering how fast the brass heats, I don't think my response time would offer much consistency.

[paddywagon]

It's been my experience that you do not need a machine to do this. I have sttod mine up in a water bath that comes about half way up the case and heated the necks with a torch until kind of a cherry red color and then knock them over in the water. trick I learned years ago and works well.

[rondog]

A lot of guys use a cordless drill fitted with a deep-well socket that the brass will just drop into and a propane torch. Set the torch up so it doesn't move or burn anything. Run the drill and spin the case neck & shoulder in the flame, drop into bucket of water. Repeat.

[C Ward]

If the case necks are getting cherry red that is way to hot . Go over to AccurateShooter.com , used to be 6mmbr.com , they have a very good article on annealing .

Short answer is yes it helps in my experience .

[IceAxe]

If the case necks are getting cherry red that is way to hot . Go over to AccurateShooter.com , used to be 6mmbr.com , they have a very good article on annealing .

Short answer is yes it helps in my experience .

How Would you characterize the change in accuracy as tighter groups or the mitigation of "fliers"?

[C Ward]

What I have seen is the more uniform neck tension leads to better constancy , closer ES and SD numbers and fewer fliers .

If the load doesn't shoot all ready it isn't going to fix that .

I've got the Bench Source machine and there is no way I'd do this stuff by hand . I can get about 500 cases an hour done after setup is complete .