what is brass annealing ?

Flame heating the neck to restore metallic properties of the case.Some shooters have constructed pretty sleek contraptions to do this automaticly.The trick is heating for the right length of time.

I have never done this though,I only shoot RF BR
 
Indeed,holding force of the bullit is more uniform between cases.
 
Abbiboy

A little more info.

Brass work hardens as it is flexed and distorted. This is what happens every time you fire a Rifle, then resize the case. The numerous times it expands, contracts, then is squished down in ordertohold the bullet, causes the brass toloose some of it's ductility.

Annealing the brass does what the others say,it returns that part of the case to the originol softness that it had when new.

If you look at cases made by Lapua, you can see the Factory annealing in the shouklder and neck area.

While we are talking about this, I might add that NEVER heat the head portion of a case like this. The brass at that point has a certain strength that the annealing would destroy, leading to a case that is compromised in that criticle area.

When I anneal cases, (not very often), I stand them up in a shallow pan with about 1 inch of water. I heat the necks with a small propane torch untill they have a good even redness, then just tip them over.

The rapid cooling has no affect on the proccess. It is simply to keep too much heat from conducting into the base.........jackie
 
All factory made ammo and brass has the neck shoulders annealed. The difference between most brass is Lapua and U.S. government brass is they are not polished. The last step before packaging and or loading is polishing for private sells. Rest assured the neck and shoulder areas are flame annealed,

In my personal experience with annealing brass, I get 2 to 3 times the life from annealing ever third loading. Not with all brass but the majority.
 
While your attention is on the subject...
What do you guys think of annealing by twirling the case between your fingers while heating up the neck? A good enough method?
 
It might be more exact to call it "Partial Annealing" as the last thing you want to do it fully Anneal any part of your case. You will get a lot of different opinions on how best to do it but remember it is a function of time and temperature. Most find a method that best fits them but we all probably destroyed many cases to get to our own comfort level.

I built a jig and I anneal by time and not color. I also anneal every firing. My goal is stay under the level Jackie mentioned (I never want to see them glow or change color) and I guess you could call it "less annealing". I used everything from a laser thermometer to heat markers and heat paint to get it down to a timing issue. Even with my "shorter time in the flame" method it would not be a good idea to hold them in your fingers unless you are loading really long cases so I think you will find that will not work well for you.

No one method stands out as the best...you just have to find what works for you but please be care of over annealing. Get some extra cases and do crush test on a new factory case and one your just annealed. If you don't have a way to measure it just do it by feel with pliers or use the spring back method with some vise grips.
 
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