How do brass manufacturers perform annealing at the factory?

[mikecr]

Brass brand is only a beginning. IMO, they will end up exactly as you make them, per your plan (or lack of).

I have Winchester reloading cases with over 60 reload cycles on them.
And I can think of no reason any other brand wouldn't do as well.
So I wonder, when you suggest that a brand is different, what are you really talking about?

 

[dcali]

Brass brand is only a beginning. IMO, they will end up exactly as you make them, per your plan (or lack of).

I have Winchester reloading cases with over 60 reload cycles on them.
And I can think of no reason any other brand wouldn't do as well.
So I wonder, when you suggest that a brand is different, what are you really talking about?

In my experience, Remchester brass tends to just be sloppy on the tolerances, particularly the primer pocket. I lose more of them more quickly to loose pockets. I'm not sure if that's a hardness issue, a dimensional tolerance, case head design or what, but they just seem to give up the ghost faster and less consistently. Maybe it's an effect you only see when pushing the brass hard.

Lapua and similar brands don't suffer from that inconsistency (again, in my experience, which in the big scheme of things, is limited). When I buy 100 Lapua cases, I almost always have 100 usable Lapua cases after 8 firings (for example). When they die, they seem to die fairly quickly - I don't lose a few each firing. It just all basically goes bad at once.

But I have no doubt that you can coax a good life out of cheaper brass. It's just easier with the good stuff.

I'd be curious to know if others have noticed this, or if it's just something I'm doing.

 

[mikecr]

I have no doubt that you can coax a good life out of cheaper brass. It's just easier with the good stuff.

I agree.