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Posted: 4/22/2012 5:51:29 AM EDT
When Tim Clausen shot his 600 yd 1.677" groups he said that one of his tricks was to anneal after each firings to assure case neck tension. I want to anneal after four firings and bought the Hornady kit which has three aluminum case holders to fit most cases. The small one being perfect for my 223 cases. The kit also has a bottle of Tempstix which I'm happy to say I don't need now that I understand the case neck/shoulder color change that looks like my new LC mil cases. I use a cordless screwdriver and hold the case neck/shoulder in the propane torch flame for a 9 count watching the color change spread down the case followed by a quick dump in water. This is a fast easy process, and the cases look amazing. My test cases are RP cases that have been fired/reloaded six times and I was starting to get split necks and unexplained flyers. I want to see if annealing makes any difference in this case lot. Regards
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I've started to anneal all my cases after every firing. It's helped out a lot with accuracy. I watched this video on YouTube that really helped with setting up a good annealing machine. The guy in the video give the brass to much time to heat up I think but still a good video.
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http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_6_56/ai_n56225198/ Good Luck. My results have not been good using a torch. My thoughts on the subject. > Annealing is best left to the brass manufacturers , as it needs specialized equipment to do it correctly. A misfire can be caused by improper annealing. When the shoulder becomes to soft, the firing pin strike can set back the shoulder. If the round fires, the brass expands, leaving no evidence of set back. I was shooting 223 Federal brass on its 6th loading. Having cracked necks, i decided that annealing might get a few more firings out of the brass. Even tho 40 years ago, annealing did not work on some 243win brass, making the necks to soft. The 223 misfire would not fire on the 2nd strike from the firing pin. At home, measurements show the shoulder was set back .014" when measureing to the datum line. L.E. Wilson's case gage shows the brass head below the lowest step. All loaded rounds had been gaged before firing. More testing was needed. Took 3 annealed brass with used primers and chambered them. After 2 strikes with the firing pin, shoulder set back was between .010" & .012" The used primer already had the firing pin dent in them, so the blow from the pin was not as great as new primers. The primer involved in the misfire was placed in a different non-annealed piece of brass. It did fire on the 2nd firing pin strike. A total of 4 hits on the primer, till it fired. I feel the primer may have been damaged from the first 2 misfires. Savage Axis bolt action 223 less than a year old. 722 rounds fired. Loaded with IMR4198-20.5gr-CCI400-Win. 55gr FMJBT-Federal brass-RCBS Dies made in 2010. There are Hornady Annealing Kits available & Tempilstik & Tempilaq that may help. But when you overheat the brass, there is no way to fix it. 3/28/12 Photos
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http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_6_56/ai_n56225198/ Good Luck. My results have not been good using a torch. My thoughts on the subject. > Annealing is best left to the brass manufacturers , as it needs specialized equipment to do it correctly. A misfire can be caused by improper annealing. When the shoulder becomes to soft, the firing pin strike can set back the shoulder. If the round fires, the brass expands, leaving no evidence of set back. I was shooting 223 Federal brass on its 6th loading. Having cracked necks, i decided that annealing might get a few more firings out of the brass. Even tho 40 years ago, annealing did not work on some 243win brass, making the necks to soft. The 223 misfire would not fire on the 2nd strike from the firing pin. At home, measurements show the shoulder was set back .014" when measureing to the datum line. L.E. Wilson's case gage shows the brass head below the lowest step. All loaded rounds had been gaged before firing. More testing was needed. Took 3 annealed brass with used primers and chambered them. After 2 strikes with the firing pin, shoulder set back was between .010" & .012" The used primer already had the firing pin dent in them, so the blow from the pin was not as great as new primers. The primer involved in the misfire was placed in a different non-annealed piece of brass. It did fire on the 2nd firing pin strike. A total of 4 hits on the primer, till it fired. I feel the primer may have been damaged from the first 2 misfires. Savage Axis bolt action 223 less than a year old. 722 rounds fired. Loaded with IMR4198-20.5gr-CCI400-Win. 55gr FMJBT-Federal brass-RCBS Dies made in 2010. There are Hornady Annealing Kits available & Tempilstik & Tempilaq that may help. But when you overheat the brass, there is no way to fix it. 3/28/12 Photos Some of the best shooters in the world anneal their own brass. Most after each firing, and they use a torch! Score Shooter of the Year Joe Entrekin has 40+ reloads on his regularly-annealed brass. The smallest 1000-yard 5-shot group ever shot in IBS competition was done with brass annealed after every firing.
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| OK, I did the shoulder set back test(cases with fired primer) on three of my RP cases that I annealed. Set back was .006 So, I loaded up three of my once fired/resized LC cases with factory only annealing and the results were the same at .006 Tested on my INNOVATIVE TECH gauge. Now perhaps tommorrow I will test this first lot at the range. |
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OK, I did the shoulder set back test(cases with fired primer) on three of my RP cases that I annealed. Set back was .006 So, I loaded up three of my once fired/resized LC cases with factory only annealing and the results were the same at .006 Tested on my INNOVATIVE TECH gauge. Now perhaps tommorrow I will test this first lot at the range. Did you do this in an auto? If so, just chambering from the mag will set back the shoulder that much. 'Borg |
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We-rBorg I was trying to do the "test" as much the same so as I happen to have a savage bolt 223 I used it. It was a non event in there was no diff between my annealed cases and factory.
THANKS Muddydog, it was made from scrap wood and metal that I had in my junk box. I wanted something to securely hold the torch at eye level and my cordless driver sets on the brace in an attempt to get it the same everytime. Regards |
| Update from the range. Recall this is from a lot of 300 RP cases that had been fired six times and split necks and one shoulder sepration (it left just the neck in my die) and all the flyers caused by inconsistant neck tension were becoming common. Today I fired 77 rounds from my annealing process and there were three split necks. The remaining 74 were back with good groups. So, my plan was to learn to anneal on this tired lot of brass, and I will now anneal my cases without fear every three times fired to assure more consistant neck tension for my long range games. Regards |
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Annealing isn't rocket science or best left to " ammunition manufactuers." It's simply a stage in rifle handloading process as we are manufacturing ammunition.
I'm using propane torch with custom manufactured, drill mounted case holder to a count of six. It is similar to Hornady case holders. It's not neccessary to flame brass to color of LC. I heat just enough brass starts to turn from golden brown to burnt brown. Blackened brass is bad, makes case neck too soft. .223 anneals every third loading and .308 anneals on 2nd loading because of match tight chamber in my rifle. |
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historical note..back in the early days of my IHMSA silhouette shooting (1979-80) we prepped .223 brass to be made into 7TCU by just standing them neck deep in water, and tipping them over when the color changed.... Thats how I learned to anneal brass and I still do it this way.... |
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