Cleaning/neck tension/annealing

[mousegunner]

Does annealing help neck tension in cases that have been left squeaky clean by SS pins?

 

[zipollini]

This sequence works for me. My SD for a 10 round sample of my 6XC loads usually run around 5. Not saying this is the only or best or easiest or fastest way but I have found that it works for me.

1. Anneal
2. SS tumble
3. lube outside and inside necks of case with One Shot spray lube
4. FL size with bushing die and without expander ball
5. expand necks with Sinclair Gen 2 expander
6. Trim and chamfer inside and outside of necks
7. re uniform primer pockets
8. SPIN A BRONZE BRUSH COVERED WITH 0000 STEEL WOOL IN CASE NECKS - THIS IS THE MAGIG SOLUTION
9. Clean off One Shot lube with 99% isopropyl alcohol
10. Spin nylon brush inside neck and rinse again
11. Dry

 

[Zero333]

Nope.

That's why I don't wet tumble with SS pins.

Imperial Dry Neck Lube is what you need.

Another thing that might work is to deprime, ss wet tumble, and leave sizing for last and use the Hornady One-shot spray for sizing the cases.

This way the Horandy One shot will be inside the necks so after sizing some of it will remain in there.

 

[Sniper338]

Try a next size bigger bushing in your size die... i use ss media... thought that was my problem too.. everyone said the same things... ended up i really needed a atd bigger bushing in the aize die, no problems since...

I anneal, then drop em straight into the tumbler in the water... then turn it on qhen its full..

 

[msinc]

Nope.

That's why I don't wet tumble with SS pins.

Imperial Dry Neck Lube is what you need.

Another thing that might work is to deprime, ss wet tumble, and leave sizing for last and use the Hornady One-shot spray for sizing the cases.

This way the Horandy One shot will be inside the necks so after sizing some of it will remain in there.

This!!!! My only exception to the above post is that I had no idea Imperial made a dry neck lube...I just used a very small amount of Imperial Sizing Wax on my bullets...never affected anything but neck tension and in a positive way. Will try the dry stuff though. I have also done exactly as above with the Hornady One Shot...works just fine for me.

 

[sparky123321]

I always anneal after the brass has been deprimed and cleaned in SS pins because I figure the dirty brass doesn't heat as consistently as the clean brass does. Also, much less smoke when using an induction annealer. I then lube and resize the brass. After resizing I throw the brass into a vibratory cleaner with untreated corn cob for a 10-20 minutes just to remove the excess lube.

 

[Lapua40X]

Does annealing help neck tension in cases that have been left squeaky clean by SS pins?

Others seem to see more in your question that I do so I apologize if this responses is less adequate than you expected.

Short answer - yes. But not because of the stainless steel pin cleaning (squeeky clean or not)

Annealing is important for more than just neck tension and neck tension is more than just squeeky clean case necks. Every time brass is fired it increases in hardness (work hardening) which means it yields less to applied force, and is more prone to split.
Full explanation is too lengthy for this thread. Here's some stuff you can read that should help:

http://www.massreloading.com/annealing.html

 

[Endyo]

This sequence works for me. My SD for a 10 round sample of my 6XC loads usually run around 5. Not saying this is the only or best or easiest or fastest way but I have found that it works for me.

1. Anneal
2. SS tumble
3. lube outside and inside necks of case with One Shot spray lube
4. FL size with bushing die and without expander ball
5. expand necks with Sinclair Gen 2 expander
6. Trim and chamfer inside and outside of necks
7. re uniform primer pockets
8. SPIN A BRONZE BRUSH COVERED WITH 0000 STEEL WOOL IN CASE NECKS - THIS IS THE MAGIG SOLUTION
9. Clean off One Shot lube with 99% isopropyl alcohol
10. Spin nylon brush inside neck and rinse again
11. Dry

I'm going to bite. What results have you found with the steel wool?

 

[jlow]

Does annealing help neck tension in cases that have been left squeaky clean by SS pins?

What you need to understand is the “neck tension” you feel with squeaky clean brass is due to increase in friction between the case neck and the bullet. You deal with that by lubing the neck as Zero333 have said. Annealing on the other hand affects the degree of work hardening of the case neck, i.e. it softens the neck and as such what it does is it affects how easy it is to stretch the neck open to accept the bullet and of course the “squeeze” it puts on the bullet.

Both affect “neck tension” which unfortunately is a very general catch all term but in actual fact has nothing to do with each other in terms of how it affects "neck tension".

 

[zipollini]

I'm going to bite. What results have you found with the steel wool?

Annealing tends to leave the brass surface kind of rough and SS tumbling can ding up the necks and leave them super clean which is why I trim and rechamfer after each firing. The steel wool treatment smooths out the inside chamfer or any chips left by the tool and the steel wool also really super smoothes out the inside of the neck seating area. I NEVER have to use and type of mica or graphite lube on the bullets or inside of the neck while seating bullets. They just glide in super smoothy. I also use the 21st Century hydro press so I can really keep an eye on bullet seating pressure.

 

[Ned Ludd]

If your original question is in reference to difficulties seating bullets due to excessive neck tension, annealing won't really help. However, annealing is essential for uniform and consistent neck tension from reload to reload. If you're having trouble seating bullets, try a bushing that will give about .002" neck tension (i.e. neck diameter before seating bullets is ~.002" smaller than after seating them). I use stainless steel pins for cleaning and have no issues seating bullets, whatsoever. You only need to clean cases in the tumbler for 30-45 min, not several hours as I have seen reported occasionally. Longer tumbling with the pins will cause peening around the case mouth.