Annealed Brass

[apd_855]

May be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask, because I dont know. I have about 6 reloads on my Hornady brass and feel I should anneal the necks. I have an accurate load developed for my rifle and would like to know, if the brass is annealed, will It affect the accuracy. My thinking is no, but I really don't know. Thanks.

[Sniper338]

No. Anneal it. I anneal every 2 firings.

[apd_855]

[Von Gruff]

May be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask, because I dont know. I have about 6 reloads on my Hornady brass and feel I should anneal the necks. I have an accurate load developed for my rifle and would like to know, if the brass is annealed, will It affect the accuracy. My thinking is no, but I really don't know. Thanks.

Yes it will effect accuracy in a positive manner by making your brass more consistent in sizing springback and neck tension. Another benefit is that your brass lasts for many more firings.

[LR1955]

May be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask, because I dont know. I have about 6 reloads on my Hornady brass and feel I should anneal the necks. I have an accurate load developed for my rifle and would like to know, if the brass is annealed, will It affect the accuracy. My thinking is no, but I really don't know. Thanks.

One thing you may want to do before spending a large sum of money and a huge amount of time annealing your brass.

Take ten pieces and see how many firings you get before the primer pockets open up or you crack the necks.

Annealing the neck won't tighten up loose primer pockets and unless you anneal using the right equipment and the right process, you will ruin the brass and waste your time.

Basically, if you are cracking necks either your sizing process needs to be checked or you have worn out the brass to the point where the primer pockets are also in bad shape so you ought to get rid of them.

Hornady brass ought to get you ten loadings without annealing or so before the primer pockets open up on you. Providing you are using decent lube and a decent sizing die.

Lapua brass ought to get you around 20 loadings without annealing before the primer pockets open up.

[apd_855]

Using the dreaded Lee dies, but they havn't given me a problem yet. I just want my brass to last as long as possible.

[LR1955]

Using the dreaded Lee dies, but they havn't given me a problem yet. I just want my brass to last as long as possible.

Oh no! Not the Lee sizing die!

Anneal away all you want. It won't stop that die from destroying your brass.

There are divergent opinions on this as you see.

I handload only because I have to. I could easily compete with many factory loads today. Not so twenty five years ago. However, just like twenty five years ago, I can't afford to buy the factory loads in the quantities needed to be marginally good in competition. So, I force myself to handload.

Handloaders seem to be of two types.

One like me who does it out of utilitarian reasons and views brass as a expendable item (as it is). The same with barrels. They are used, worn out, removed and thrown in the trash. Time is better spent practicing than handloading so we find the load we like and stick with it, generally for the life of the barrel as a minimum. We will get the best components because they mean more consistency and longer life. Lapua brass, bushing sizing dies, etc. We shoot the brass until the primer pockets open up. Honestly, I have never cracked the neck on Lapua brass in any cartridge. I did crack a neck on a piece of Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor brass a couple weeks ago. Six firings. However, they were pretty stout loads.

I have only cracked necks with the Grendel cartridge when I used Lee sizing die and had to form some 6 PPC brass to Grendel. At the time we couldn't get Grendel brass anywhere. I had to have a custom set of dies made for me because at the time, the only dies available were Lee. Now I use Redding bushing dies. I have shot my Hornady Grendel brass about ten times without a cracked neck but have opened up the primer pockets to the point I would rather throw out the brass than risk blowing a primer into the trigger mechanism of my match rifle during a match. I would shoot the stuff until the primer fell out if I had a bolt rifle.

Then there are guys who handload primarily as a hobby. The purpose is to handload, not necessarily to be competitive in a sport. For these guys, chopping up brass, annealing, reaming, are all satisfying. Some see how long they can make a piece of brass last. Others think all this chopping and heating of brass means better performance. OK -- more power to them. That is their thing.

I have about 600 pieces of Grendel brass in various stages of being loaded. I could care less if they last 10 instead of 12 loadings. I will throw them away when their primer pockets get too loose or I think I have shot them enough. Generally this is when I can't read the headstamp anymore and the rims have been chewed up from repeated extractions.

Use good components -- Lapua brass, top end sizing die with bushings, good lube. Be meticulous about setting the sizing die to bump right and for the bushing to size down enough but not excessively. Use good lube and get some on the inside of the neck. Make sure your expander button is not too big and if you have a good chamber, you will find the brass will neither crack or stretch to the point where it needs to be trimmed except maybe at 10 or 15 firings.

Your Lee sizing die is too small and the expander button too large. It will work harden your brass badly. So, in your case you may need to anneal at six shots. Or get a good sizing die and then you won't have to anneal unless you view handloading as a interesting hobby of its own. If so, some of the guys here know exactly how to anneal so you won't destroy your brass in the process. It will cost you a lot of money and time but if it is something you like, go for it!

LR55

[Jimbo]

After reading all of this and about die quality what is the opinion on hornady dies ? Should I look at buying a better quality die ? I have Always used RCBS ,hornady and Lyman dies in the past , they all seemed middle of the road quality ( not the best but satisfactory ) and have had no complaints but would I be able to tell a big difference in switching from hornady to say a redding die ?

[LRRPF52]

I have been using Hornady New Dimension dies since 2009 on 6.5 Grendel, and have many cases with multiple loads on them. I had my first and only split neck 2 weeks ago after 6 years of running Lapua brass, and I suspect it had more to do with using sizing wax vs. spray-on case lube, as wax will work your brass back and forth much more than the thin spray-on lube.

One thing that I did with my Hornady dies right off the bat was spin and polish the expander ball to as smooth of a surface as possible using a cotton wheel and Jeweler's polishing compound, either white or red rouge. I would agree with the general statement that RCBS and Hornady are mid-range, more than satisfactory dies.

I do like LR1955's approach using the bushing dies, and would listen to his experience with more weight than my own since he's been doing this actively since the 1970's, to include loading for gas guns most or all of that time.

[cory]

After reading all of this and about die quality what is the opinion on hornady dies ? Should I look at buying a better quality die ? I have Always used RCBS ,hornady and Lyman dies in the past , they all seemed middle of the road quality ( not the best but satisfactory ) and have had no complaints but would I be able to tell a big difference in switching from hornady to say a redding die ?

Full disclosure in that I only have a few years experience reloading and I've never used Hornady dies. When I started reloading, I was using RCBS dies across a few different caliber. I've sense switched to the standard Redding Dies (have added the microseaters to my rifle dies) for my rifle calibers and Dillon for pistol.

The quality of the Redding dies are worlds above the RCBS dies and are noticeably better than the dillon.