anealing

[CPT.CRAZY]

OK hord, who is anealing their cases and how are you doing it? What is the increase in case life? I'm thinking about staring to do it for another round but added life to the Grendel case would also be a plus.

[mongoosesnipe]

only on my bpcr and if I'm forming cases from once fired

[kmon]

I anneal for several calibers every 3rd loading, haven't annealed any Grendel brass yet. Most report great case life with the Grendel without annealing, some reporting up to 20 loadings with Lapua brass without annealing. PPU Brass the primer pockets get loose before thinking about annealing and with Hornady brass often going past 10 loadings why bother is what I remember from some previous threads. Think I might anneal 50 Grendel brass every third shooting of the brass and not for another 50 and see if one group gets better case life than the other.

Part I think has to do with how hard you are pushing the brass with max loads and the Grendel at around 50K is mild compared to lots of other cartridges at 60k or more PSI

I just use a propane torch, cordless drill and socket with a bucket of water to drop them in after heating. Use a socket that the case fits in loosely so it will fall out easily when tipped into the bucket but allows access put heat to the neck and shoulder so for the Grendel case it does not have to be a deep one.

[PredatorDown]

I don't anneal yet, but it's on my short list of things to get set up for. When I start, this is the setup I'll be getting:

http://annealeez.ddns.net

[Daveyboy]

I anneal for several calibers every 3rd loading, haven't annealed any Grendel brass yet. Most report great case life with the Grendel without annealing, some reporting up to 20 loadings with Lapua brass without annealing. PPU Brass the primer pockets get loose before thinking about annealing and with Hornady brass often going past 10 loadings why bother is what I remember from some previous threads. Think I might anneal 50 Grendel brass every third shooting of the brass and not for another 50 and see if one group gets better case life than the other.

Part I think has to do with how hard you are pushing the brass with max loads and the Grendel at around 50K is mild compared to lots of other cartridges at 60k or more PSI

I just use a propane torch, cordless drill and socket with a bucket of water to drop them in after heating. Use a socket that the case fits in loosely so it will fall out easily when tipped into the bucket but allows access put heat to the neck and shoulder so for the Grendel case it does not have to be a deep one.

you quench them in a bucket of water?

[Kimdo]

Check out http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html for the best information I've seen on annealing.
I use the propane torch cordless drill and socket method. It takes 5-8 seconds depending on the caliber.

[kmon]

you quench them in a bucket of water?

Yup,

[Daveyboy]

Do you do that simply so you can handle them faster or what's the reasoning? I know most air cool when they anneal their brass. But, copper alloys can be quenched after annealing, unlike ferrous alloys. I don't see many people water quench them, but it seems like it'd be more convenient since it doesn't affect brass.

[kmon]

Cools it off, less chance of burning myself LOL

That is also the way I learned to do it over 30 years ago and figured if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[SDguy]

Just make sure you do not apply to much heat

I am a fan of annealing. Propane torch, socket and cordless drill for me to. 6- 8 seconds focusing the small blue tip on the shoulder area sounds right on the mark to me. No pail of water for me. A damp towel has worked well though.

Study up if this is your first time around with annealing. This is a easy job to do right. unfortunatly annealing is very easy do do wrong also. To hot and you start to gas-off the zinc content fairly fast. suffice it to say you do not want to get your brass any where close to red hot.

Shoulder neck area is the Oooonly area you wish to anneal.

[rwh]

I have a bench source annealing machine that I use on every firing. I've never had a case neck split so I can't say if it extends case life. The grendel seems to work the brass more than other calibers due to the generous neck clearance in the SAAMI chamber. I don't think it hurts to anneal but I can't give any guarantee that it helps either. I am careful not to overheat the necks because autoloaders need neck tension to keep the bullet from pushing into the case. I heat until the case just begins to glow and then let them drop into a metal bucket to cool.

[CPT.CRAZY]

OK guys, I took some old 308 brass to get a feel for this, and seems fairly easy and straight forward. I did find that the brass I anealed is .010-.012" longer after sizing than the ones that has not been anealed. Is this normal or did I do something wrong?

[IceAxe]

I too use the Bench Source for annealing the Grendel brass. I generally do it right after tumbling the brass and have it set so it only melts only the 700 degree paint. I also use a Gerard annealer for my 6 x 45 brass exclusively. I started doing a test to quantify any delta. I have been using 20 cases; 10 as a control without annealing and 10 annealed cases as a test group. I currently have 8 firings on the complete set. Although I have not split a case yet I can tell the control group requires more force to get the expander ball through when resizing. I kinda lost interest, maybe now I will get back on this.

[6.5 mm Shoot]

I put my brass in a pie pan and fill it with water till it is about a inch from the shoulder. Then I heat the shoulder till they are orange then dump them in a pan of water.

That was the way I was told to do it some thirty five or so years ago. Now I only anneal brass that has turned brittle over working it. Such as when I am making up Hoosier brass.

That is a round that is legal for deer in a rifle in Indiana. For a round to be legal the case has to be 1.8" long and have a bullet of at least 358 caliber. The Hoosier can match the 358 Winchesters FPS.

So you take A 358 Winchester sizing die and cut .1" off it then when you set the die up you hold the ram .1" off the shell holder. Then after cutting 308 brass to 1.8" you run the brass through the altered set up die. I then fire form the cases. After that I then anneal the brass.

I also have annealed 308 brass and 243 that was showing signs of being brittle. I also anneal the Herrett rounds that I shoot after forming them.

[LR1955]

I buy Lapua brass and use Redding bushing dies.

So far I haven't had to anneal any .308, 5.56, 6.5 Grendel, 6 AR, and even 6 X 47.

And I can't say how many firings I have from each cartridge. I lost count. Much of it is using a good sizing die with good lube. And, even with PPU brass, I will open the primer pocket well before I need to anneal.

If you do anneal, I think the drill technique is about the best since it will get the heat evenly distributed. Just watch how far down the brass you get the heat or may rupture the brass when you shoot it. That's why we used to put the brass in a pan of water up to just below the shoulder. The water was a heat sink and protected the rest of the case from getting too soft.

LR1955