Gents
I have been shooting a 204 Ruger with my reloads. I have been using Hornady brass. I have reloaded the brass 4 times but I have not seen any cracks in the neck. The brass was trimmed to 1.840 initially and has grown to the upper limit of 1.850 and needs to be trimmed.
My question is whether I should anneal the cases at this point or just trim and wait till I start seeing cracked necks.
I use RCBS dies and FL size the brass.
What is your recommendation.

Unless you are well versed on annealing it should be avoided whenever possible. There are more cases ruined, or not affected at all, than improved by people that do not know what they are doing.

I anneal rounds like that and my STW, and RUM at 3 or 4 firings. Brass that is pricey. I never take the brass up too hot, its probablymore stress relieving than a accurate anneal, but I usually can get 6 shots out of it. I don't even bother annealing 270, 308, 30-06, or affordable brass.

In loading 22-250 WW brass I anneal before the 5th loading and throw after the 10th time it is shot.

Before you see split necks you will likely feel variability in neck tension when seating bullets. This variability can be due to the brass "work hardening". If you can feel this variability in your press and test a few cases to make sure that is the problem, you will know at that point how many times you can fire and resize before you need/want to anneal. Of course the quality, lot number, etc of the brass can have an effect on this number.

If done correctly I have found it is another trick to enhance accuracy. If you are not confident with your method (at first) take a few cases and try it.

Jim

Thanks for the input guys. The process of annealing that I have seen in magazines is to do it in a dark room and heat the necks until you see a little red and then douse the case in water.
Is this an acceptable way or is there a better way to do it

Make sure you do it uniformly. If one side of the neck is softer than the other the bullets will seat off center.

quote:

Originally posted by Ammus:
Thanks for the input guys. The process of annealing that I have seen in magazines is to do it in a dark room and heat the necks until you see a little red and then douse the case in water.
Is this an acceptable way or is there a better way to do it

I spin the case to insure uniform heating from a propane torch and time the process for each casing to stop about 1-2 seconds short of dull red in a dark room. I quickly quench in a bucket of cold water.

This is my own personal method, and it works for me.

Jim

Heat to cherry red and tip into the water immediately.That's exactly what Norma says in one of their booklets. So it's perfectly acceptable !!

quote:

Is this an acceptable way or is there a better way to do it

Using Tempil Sticks or Tempilaq is the best way to get uniform results!

Hornady has an "annealing kit".

When using a propane torch is there a recommendation for the flame length or the part of flame to be used?

Not critical . In general the outer cone is oxidizing ,the inner [light blue] cone is reducing, the tip of the inner cone is the highest temperature. Therefore I use the tip of the inner cone for almost anything as it's faster.

quote:

Originally posted by b beyer:
Unless you are well versed on annealing it should be avoided whenever possible. There are more cases ruined, or not affected at all, than improved by people that do not know what they are doing.

Of course, the only way to get the knowledge to "know what you are doing", is to do some Annealing, count the number of reloads you get from those cases and see if you extended the life.

1. You can stand the cases in a shallow pan of water, heat the Case Mouth as "mete" described and then tip them over as the Case Mouth turns red.

2. You can hold the Case Head between the fingers of one hand, then heat the Case Mouth as "mete" described and drop them into a bucket of water as soon as you feel "heat" in your fingers which are holding the Case Head.

Method 2 is the one I use and have no need for any Temp Sticks.

Do 3-5 cases, fire them 5 times, re-anneal, refire, re-anneal, etc.and see how many Loadings you get. And have another 3-5 cases that you do not anneal for comparison.

Maybe it is because I've done it so long, but it just isn't all that difficult or complex to me.

Best of luck to you.

I anneled cases years ago. I never do anymore as they seldom last long enought to warrent it. Someone said more cases are ruined with annealing than saved. He's right!

I am obsessed with the idea of making an automatic annealing machine using inductive heating.

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:


2. You can hold the Case Head between the fingers of one hand, then heat the Case Mouth as "mete" described and drop them into a bucket of water as soon as you feel "heat" in your fingers which are holding the Case Head.

Method 2 is the one I use and have no need for any Temp Sticks.

Hot Core, one of these days, someone is actually going to follow your advice and get hurt.

Pray, Tell, how are your fingers able to measure the temperature on the case neck, on cases ranging from 223Rem or a 375 H&H? They can't; you can't. It is just terrible advice. What in the world are you trying to prove by discouraging the use of a $12.50 Tempilstick or a $20 bottle of Tempilaq?

It's not what you don't know, but what you think you know, but don't, that'll kill you. JMO, Dutch.

quote:

Originally posted by Dutch:
...Hot Core, one of these days, someone is actually going to follow your advice and get hurt.

I disagree. Perhaps it is because you simply misunderstand what is trying to be accomplished.

quote:

Pray, Tell, how are your fingers able to measure the temperature on the case neck, on cases ranging from 223Rem or a 375 H&H? They can't; you can't.

Actually you are 100% correct that my fingers placed on the "Casehead" can't tell what the temperature is on the "Caseneck". My eyes do that.

But, it can tell me what is going on with the Casehead, which will prevent it from getting too soft and having unintended Casehead Separations.

If the Caseneck is heated too slowly and the Casehead reaches a temperature that is uncomfortable to hold, the only bad result is the Caseneck is "under-annealed". If the Caseneck is heated quickly to the Red to Cherry Red tint that we desire(when viewed in a slightly darkened room), by the time the Casehead gets "uncomfortable" to the touch, the annealing will have already been accomplished.

No need at all for the Temp Sticks. If however someone wants to use them, then they should.

The first time I saw mention of the Temp Sticks was back on HA when the infamous "howl CARET Factor Award"(howl Complicating Any Relatively Easy Task) first came into existance.

quote:

It is just terrible advice. What in the world are you trying to prove by discouraging the use of a $12.50 Tempilstick or a $20 bottle of Tempilaq?

Try what I described on 3-5 cases and feel free to use the Temp Sticks to see if the results are good. Then let me know how it goes for you.

Without being mean, I'd guess you will see what I was talking about - if you just try doing it. I look forward to seeing what you find.

Best of luck to you.

Just buy the Hornady annealing kit and be done with it.