Annealing Lapua brass.

[Kenny474]

Alex,
I went back and re-read my earlier posts, and I did miss-word part of my earlier post. When I stated "The more consistent the neck tension is, the more consistent your accuracy will be.", I probably should have stated "The more consistent you can make your loaded ammo, the more consistently accurate your rifle will be." The reason being is you need to be very consistent with all aspects of loading, and if you can take many small steps toward making your ammo consistent, it will usually result in consistently accurate ammo. It obviously needs to be tuned to the rifle, but any inconsistency will likely result in fliers or other anomalies that will negatively affect accuracy.

Neck tension is just another area you can try to control to a greater degree by annealing. I feel that every step in loading has a cumulative effect on the final product. A little difference in neck tension, combined with a little difference in OAL, combined with a slight difference in charge weight can all add up to a round that is way off from the other loaded rounds.

When you can control all the different stages to as high a degree as possible and eliminate as much of the tolerance and variance in your ammo as you can, you will have consistently precise ammo, and consistent precision is important to top accuracy.

 

[Kenny474]

Wayne and Alex, thanks for the kind words. They are always appreciated. I try to help when I can. Occasionally I get it right.
I studied annealing for a good bit before I even tried it. It seems to be working for me, so I must be doing something right. Either that or everything else is so wrong it just seems like it helps. Who knows!

 

[6BRinNZ]

Hi guys,

I am looking at annealing my Laupua brass as well. The reason being - some cases on their 4th firing are no longer holding the neck tension and the projectile is falling right into the case. I also found that I was approx 40fps down in MV, I had put it down to the colder weather here at the moment but I am now wondering if it is just the neck tension is significantly lighter (for those cases that will hold the projectile). I am hoping that annealing will "restore" all and I will be back on track.

I would be interested to know if the neck tension could affect the MV to that degree (typically I run .001" - .0015").....yes I will find out when I eventually anneal....just curious on people thoughts.

 

[Kenny474]

6BRinNZ,
What is the rifle chambered in, is it factory or custom, and what brand/type of dies?

I ask only because it seems odd to have that much of an issue with brass that has only been loaded 4 times.

But yes, less neck tension can have an effect on velocity as it will require less shot start pressure to get the bullet out of the case which can have an effect on peak pressure and in turn velocity. I am not sure how much velocity will be lost because of it, but 40fps doesn't sound unreasonable.

 

[Shynloco]

Good Morning Kenny474,
In response to your philosophy in regards to controlling the various facets of reloading to create the best accuracy as possible, I share your thoughts 100%. I use a little different wording when talking about "precise" and "accurate" loading, in that I refer to it as "controling the variables." I've only been reloading for a little over a year and as I think back over that year+, it occurs to me that it is the notion of reducing the variables as much as possible. What started me out on this thought process was simply a good friend (who shoots Benchrest Competitions) taught me a great deal in looking at every single stage and detail in reloading for a new 6mmbr rifle. In my quest for that "five shot - one holer," I quickly learned that the more variables left unattended to, the less accuracy. SO I even weight every finished cartridge now and put them into my cartridge box according to final weighing. Now my finished loads weigh less than 1 grain apart and I've found my groups are the best ever and very consistent. I suspect that, my friend, is your philosophy at work in practice. Take care.

Alex

 

[bozo699]

Alex,
You are exactly right,it isn't any one thing,it isn't the annealing or bullet runout or case weight,ect.ect... It is all those little things combined that makes for great accuracy. If you have a gun that shoots 1" @ 100yds just annealing or whatever won't give you a one holer,but every little thing from your reloading practices,rifle and scope setup,front and rear rests even yourself (mood how your feeling ect.) all these little things put together can and usually does make a huge difference. Its a neverending learning process.
Wayne.

 

[6BRinNZ]

6BRinNZ,
What is the rifle chambered in, is it factory or custom, and what brand/type of dies?

Hi Kenny474,

the rifle is chambered in 6br but a saami spec chamber, so neck is probably somewhere around .274 (I don't know for sure). The dies are redding competition. I suspect that all the problem is; the chamber is big enough to over work the brass, when using light neck tension.

Going forward I plan on simply annealing after every firing as it just makes sense to.....all part of the learning curve

 

[itfliesitdies]

I put 700 degree tempilaq about 1/4" below the shoulder. As soon the line melts down i dip it in water. You can ruin a cse fast once you get much over 800 degrees. The 700 below the shoulder gives you time to stop and cool the case before it anneals to far down and gives the case enough heat by the time you stop to anneal. You can use 750 but be careful going much higher. I have ruined a lot of cases through much trial and error. Different cases turn slighly different colors but mine seem to turn a light maroon where the annealing ends and a straw color where the case is annealed.

 

[Kenny474]

Air cooling gives much more even annealing and also gives it time to work a bit more.

Putting 750 tempilaq on the inside of the neck works much better than anything below, as you are heating the neck, not below the shoulder. You can actually heat the neck well into the 900 range before you reach 700 below the shoulder. Just ask me how I know.

It's very difficult to transfer enough heat down the case far enough to actually matter if you are using a hot enough torch and keeping it on the neck. You will have junked the brass long before the heat ever gets near the case head, as it needs to hit at least 662 to even start to bother it, unless you keep it at 450 for a few hours.

Like I said before, it takes 15 minutes to anneal at 662 degrees, your brass will have cooled long before the case head ever gets near 662, and it sure isn't going to stay that hot for 15 minutes.