In depth study on case annealing

[PRDATR]

Someone posted this on FB and I thought I'd share.

 

https://www.ampannealing.com/articles/40/annealing-under-the-microscope/

[lancetkenyon]

Good read. Technical, but informative.

 

In layman's terms: shoot, size, clean, annual, load. In that order to retain the most consistent neck/shoulder brass hardness and neck tension.

[Mike S]

Thanks for posting. It's making my head hurt though...

 

and I have a Professional Engineering license ;-)

[Cell4soul]

Pretty nice annealing set up they make. That may be in my future.

[buddydog]

LancetKenyon, you say anneal after you size and before you load?? Thanks

[lancetkenyon]

Yes. I have always done it that way, as the resizing process work hardens the brass, and not always consistently. Annealing softens it back prior to loading. Also, if you need to trim/chamfer, it is easier to do that prior to annealing in my observations.

 

Look at their data of brass hardness. They try different operational steps, and their findings show the same. Shoot, resize, clean, anneal, load... gave them the most consistent brass hardness time after time. Whether loaded 3x or 10x on a piece of brass, this practice was the most consistent.

[Cell4soul]

Yes. I have always done it that way, as the resizing process work hardens the brass, and not always consistently. Annealing softens it back prior to loading. Also, if you need to trim/chamfer, it is easier to do that prior to annealing in my observations.

Look at their data of brass hardness. They try different operational steps, and their findings show the same. Shoot, resize, clean, anneal, load... gave them the most consistent brass hardness time after time. Whether loaded 3x or 10x on a piece of brass, this practice was the most consistent.

Are you full length sizing or just bumping the shoulders?

[lancetkenyon]

Depends on cartridge and how many times the case has been fired. Some FL every time, some neck sizing 2/3 of the time.

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

Ya that seems off to me, if the case is getting hardened the when you size you won't be getting a consistent sizing? I am set up to anneal but have not hit that point yet with my cases. I planned on trim then anneal and going from there. Seems if you sized then anneal you might need to neck size again to get consistent neck tension.

I know when I neck size I pin check every neck and I see variation even with turned necks.

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

I guess if you annealing every load it would work fine. I have done every 2 or 3 loads for now. I've yet to put together a long range gun so I'm not doing every load.