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does annealing alter bullet seating resistence/feel

Without going into the minutia of very specific details, in general, do you feel (or not) an increase in resistance during bullet seating after annealing? i.e. do they seem to seat a little harder after annealing?

My thought being, work hardened brass has more spring back than freshly annealed brass. Accordingly un-annealed brass will seem to seat easier than annealed brass with less spring back.

I use a Lee collet neck sizer, and annealed LC brass just seems to require more effort to seat a bullet than in un-annealed brass. If my theory of annealing and spring back is incorrect, then I need to look elsewhere for my perceived change in bullet seating resistance.
 
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I always tumble after annealing...Dont like seating bullets in freshly annealed cases.
It burns the residual carbon in the neck and the brass seems to be sticky or less smooth in seating my bullets.
just my2c on how i do it.
 
Maybe what you are experiencing is because the brass is softer now, and the bullets don't seat in a hard brass neck as if it was like a shoehorn guiding it in.

All I know is that annealing has made the tension feel more the same across the board when I seat. Those few cases that were very tight became less tight, and those cases that were already too loose stayed loose and still had to be discarded.
 
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Most times you will have to tweak your load after you start annealing, adjusting neck tension sometimes as well. I would brush out the necks with a nylon brush in & out the same # of strokes and found my seating to be very consistent.

Regards
Rick
 
I can't comment on if it makes seating easier or harder but it makes them all feel the same. I anneal after every firing, and yes it does burn off the carbon in the necks. There are several ways to eliminate that problem, I choose to shoot coated bullets.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd
 
. . .do you feel (or not) an increase in resistance during bullet seating after annealing?
No, they seat easier after annealing, unless you neglected to dry-lube the necks in which case you're skidding a clean copper bullet down a clean brass neck and possibly galling at the interface.

You can dry-lube with a quick dry-tumble, or get fancy with mica or graphite. Less is better.
 
Two points:
Is the neck ID the same on the annealed brass as the work hardened brass? If not, that could be the difference.

Are you using flat bottom or boat tail bullets? I find boat tails guide in more easily.

I always use dry neck lube when seating bullets. That eliminates weird frictional effects and helps the bullet guide smoothly. Just something to consider.
 
Most times you will have to tweak your load after you start annealing, adjusting neck tension sometimes as well. I would brush out the necks with a nylon brush in & out the same # of strokes and found my seating to be very consistent.

Regards
Rick
My experience as well.
PopCharlie
 
Now, I anneal after every firing, prior to that every third firing. Back then I got good seating and performance, because of the carbon in the neck giving a good release. Now, with freshly annealed cases I still get a smooth seating, but I only load right before a match, IMO if those bare bullets sit in those squeaky clean cases for too long a bond is created between bullet and case that changes the bullet release.
So, why did I change to annealing each time? More accurate sizing, less work hardening, better case life, still with good seating consistency. My loads are very consistent, very minimal waterline out to 1K, so what I’m doing seems to pay off on the target. With that being said, I do have some graphite and may play around with it to see what it does.
 
My experience is different. I find that generally the necks size more and are tighter after annealing. Smoothness can be affected by using a costing in the neck after annealing.

I have experimented, increasing the anneal time. The more annealing, the tighter the necks get to a point. And then when over heated, the brass will loose all ability to hold.
 
My thought being, work hardened brass has more spring back than freshly annealed brass. Accordingly un-annealed brass will seem to seat easier than annealed brass with less spring back.
You can qualify this or rule it out by measuring case necks.
 
Now, I anneal after every firing, prior to that every third firing. Back then I got good seating and performance, because of the carbon in the neck giving a good release. Now, with freshly annealed cases I still get a smooth seating, but I only load right before a match, IMO if those bare bullets sit in those squeaky clean cases for too long a bond is created between bullet and case that changes the bullet release.
So, why did I change to annealing each time? More accurate sizing, less work hardening, better case life, still with good seating consistency. My loads are very consistent, very minimal waterline out to 1K, so what I’m doing seems to pay off on the target. With that being said, I do have some graphite and may play around with it to see what it does.
I anneal after each firing as well. I get consistent neck tension as well. I tried graphite lube on the inside of the case necks, dipping the cases. Then tried dipping the base of the bullets in the graphite lube. Then I tried applying the lube with a q-tip to the inside of the neck. With each method I found I had to stop every 12-15 rounds and clean the excess lube out of the die. Especially, the seating sleeve and stem. With excessive lube built up, it would induce runout on the seated bullets. It doesn't take much lube build up to throw the seating process off. So I stopped using graphite neck lube. I switched to brushing out the necks with a nylon bore brush. That seems to make them smooth enough to seat consistently.

PopCharlie
 
I anneal after each firing as well. I get consistent neck tension as well. I tried graphite lube on the inside of the case necks, dipping the cases. Then tried dipping the base of the bullets in the graphite lube. Then I tried applying the lube with a q-tip to the inside of the neck. With each method I found I had to stop every 12-15 rounds and clean the excess lube out of the die. Especially, the seating sleeve and stem. With excessive lube built up, it would induce runout on the seated bullets. It doesn't take much lube build up to throw the seating process off. So I stopped using graphite neck lube. I switched to brushing out the necks with a nylon bore brush. That seems to make them smooth enough to seat consistently.

PopCharlie
I anneal each firing also, then brush necks. Like you, I tried all three methods with dry Imperial. I decided on the Q-tip method with a light tap to clean any residue from case neck.

I have experienced zero fouling of seating die from dry lube, as there is no contact with inside of case neck, where the lube is.
 
Me three. Anneal with AMP Aztec, one pass with RCBS case neck brush, and I achieve consistent seating on my hydro seater. I have also found that using the correct size expander button vs just a bushing helps with seating consistency as well.

I have the rcbs prep center and use it for brushing. I would like a AMP but have two Ken Lights so I guess I’m stuck there and I use the K&M with force restoration system but I think I’m gonna give John a call and get one of his hydroseaters coming,.... I have one of his arbor presses can I buy hydro part and upgrade or is it a whole setup I need?
Wayne
 

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