I went with one of these for $275. Gonna add a digital volt meter so I can record my voltage for each case.
http://www.annealeez.com/dbprod/annealeezannealer.asp
That's almost half the price of the one I'm looking at. Hmmmmm, With a torch system, why would you need a voltmeter?
I'm still trying to justify annealing all together. Ive reloaded brass 6-8 times without being annealed and I'm sure I could have gotten a few more reloads if they were annealed but is it worth it?
It might help with accuracy if shooting 400+ yards but's that well beyond my skills anyway. Decisions, decisions.
I'm still trying to justify annealing all together. Ive reloaded brass 6-8 times without being annealed and I'm sure I could have gotten a few more reloads if they were annealed but is it worth it?
It might help with accuracy if shooting 400+ yards but's that well beyond my skills anyway. Decisions, decisions.
It does make a difference in uniforming neck tension in addition to extending case life. I see a difference in concentricity in cases that are resized after annealing and ones that have had several firings. Not much...maybe .001 or .002 and not in every case...but it all adds up.
More uniform neck tension will also tend to lead to more consistent bullet release and more consistent velocities. Less extreme spread leads to less vertical dispersion at distance.
I'll be honest and say that the effort I put into brass prep I'm sure has diminishing returns due to my shooting ability (or lack thereof).
I do it because I like reloading as a hobby (almost as much as shooting) and I can't stand to think that there is something I could do to reduce variance and MAYBE coax those bullets into the same hole.
Each must decide for themselves if the juice is worth the squeeze
One other thing to try....imperial case lube on the inside of the neck and on bullet for a more consistent "release" from the neck seems to help also. I'm got 9 firings and still haven't annealed my brass and seems to be doing fine.
Hmmmm....interesting. I would think that might help with inconsistent bullet release and improve velocity consistencies...but I wouldn't think that would have anything to do with case longevity.
The length of time a case lives has more to do with work hardening the brass and how much it "stretches" during firing. The more it gets moved (tight vs. loose chambering and full length sizing vs. neck sizing only) and how much pressure is exerted ("light" loads vs. max to over max loads) the quicker they will get tossed.
Annealing reduces/resets the work hardening the brass has had on the neck.
Reloading is part science, part art, part voodoo. I've tried polishing necks with a brass chamber brush and 0000 steel wool chucked in a drill press to help uniform bullet release. That seemed to help a little. Case lube certainly seems like less effort for similar benefit.
All this annealing talk reminds me that I’ve got to finish my DIY model soon.