Back to annealing

Just got my supplies in from Ballistic Recreations and waiting on the Lee pot to get here.

The question I have to whoever anneals, do you wait until you get a good amount of spent brass to anneal?

When I got to the range with the 204, 6.5 or 308 I will usually shot from 20 to 40 rounds and then come home and reload them. The 223 and 300 BO I might shoot around 50 to 60 rounds. Are most people waiting to have a couple hundred cases before annealing? Doing it my way with a RCBS Rockchucker, I can reload the shot rounds in less than an hour after they have been tumbled.

Speaking of tumbling, do you anneal before tumbling your brass?

I anneal as the last step, it helps me to know at a glance that the brass has been fully prepped.

I anneal in batches, but I do it before I size. I collect enough to make it worth a run in my annealer, probably 50 is my threshold. I do this per-caliber and have buckets for each. I figure sizing (neck or full) is the most strain on the case and it would be better to have the metal softened. I do get that it looks cool when you have the discoloration for the loaded rounds, but there's debate as to if the color change is even right.

I deprime, anneal, size, trim (with a cleaning at the start and end). This way I have brass prepped to load right then.

Annealing BEFORE resizing will help keep more consistent neck tension, also extending the life of the neck. Everyone has their ways, but it is important to anneal before sizing and make sure brass is clean before annealing

I am ordering a PID controller before my first annealing session. It will be a couple of weeks before it comes in but that gives me some time to accumulate some fired brass. I have tons of unloaded brass but I have been shooting the same brass a bunch.

Hmmm, I’ve been annealing as the final step of brass prep, and I do it for every firing.

Now that it’s geen said, it makes sense that I might get a little more spring-back when sizing than if I annealed before sizing.

Do you need to lube when you neck size? I’m not lubing and resizing brass that I’ve prepped, but I would be willing to neck size if I can do it dry.

I usually shoot 30-50 rounds per trip.
I will deprime, wet tumble with SS, dry, anneal, dry, size, then dry tumble with polish.
Seems like a lot, but the drying is done while I sleep, and dry tumble while I'm at work.
I also find that storing brass in a Ziploc bags keeps them shiny.

JimB said:

Hmmm, I’ve been annealing as the final step of brass prep, and I do it for every firing.

Now that it’s been said, it makes sense that I might get a little more spring-back when sizing than if I annealed before sizing.

Do you need to lube when you neck size? I’m not lubing and resizing brass that I’ve prepped, but I would be willing to neck size if I can do it dry.

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I've found that I don't need to lube when I neck size. I also anneal every firing, but most people say 4th or 5th reload. From what I've read, there's not requirement for that, but they might not have an awesome ghetto annealer and hand-annealing takes time.

JimB said:

I anneal as the last step, it helps me to know at a glance that the brass has been fully prepped.

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Salt bath annealing likely won’t show a very obvious annealing line, especially on shiny brass


@KnotRight

I just went through the pros and cons of annealing 224 Valkyrie brass and I looked at the same salt bath kit and Lee pot; could bring it all home for about $160 (including extra salt).

For $150, I could order 500 EXTRA pieces of unfired 224V brass.

Now, I can get about six hot loadings before I start seeing neck failures, 8-9 “regular” loadings before neck failures, and after 10 the primer pockets are usually toast. I had no accuracy issues; seating depth and charge weight is king with the Valkyrie though.

If I decide to revisit annealing, salt bath is where I’m going to wind up. But I’m not sure, due to the price of 224 brass and the lifespan, if it’s worth it even for precision reloading

11B CIB, if I only shot one caliber I would be thinking like you but I will be annealing 308, 300 BO, 6.5 CM and 204 Ruger. Not sure about 223 because it is so easy to get at the range. All you have to do is pick it up.

I shoot and reload for .308, 243 Win, & .30-30 in addition to .223 and 224 Valkyrie.

I’ve only shot 500 rounds through my 224 Valkyrie, about 400 of those were hand loads.

I think once I shoot another thousand rounds I’ll have a better idea of the cost/benefit of annealing vs replacement brass. I gotta do the leg work first and see what the brass tells me