Annealing brass....

[sailhertoo]

After I annealed my brass Im noticeing it is way more effort to seat a bullit, at least for the first time. Have not had a chanch to try seating after the first firing after annealing.

Any thoughts?

 

[Steve Blair]

Annealing will burn all the carbon out of the neck, increasing friction. Try a little brushing in the neck with graphite. It will reduce seating variation and provide a small amount of lubrication.

 

[limbic]

are you sure you heated them enough?

I resize body, bump shoulder and then neck size after the brass dries/cools.

It took 12-13sec for the lapua 6br to get to 450degrees. Depends on heatsource.

 

[sailhertoo]

Yep, heated enough Im sure. The graphite is a good idea on the first shooting until the neck slicks up again.

 

[Kenny474]

This has been discussed here before, but to anneal brass at 662 degrees it will take 15 minutes. Increase the heat to 750-800 and it will take seconds. Hit 950 and your brass is junk. If you are only heating to 450 for a short time and letting them cool you have essentially done nothing, as brass only starts to change at 495 and will barely be affected at that temperature.
Good article on annealing: http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html

As for seating hard after annealing, I think sleepygator has probably nailed it.

 

[necchi]

anneal brass at 662 degrees it will take 15 minutes. Increase the heat to 750-800 and it will take seconds.

I think the primary difficulty describing annealing temps online is the color and temp issue.
Every place you read say's to bring the color of the neck to a dull red. What's tough too explain, is the brass becomes a "cherry" color before it becomes "red".
The inherent danger is brought on by getting the case body too hot,,annealing beyond the neck/shoulder area

 

[Kenny474]

You can use an infrared thermometer or tempilaq to check for the proper temperature. If you use 750 tempilaq on the inside of the neck, you just stop heating once it burns off.