How long does it take to dangerously anneal a case

[Brians356]

This annealing thing has turned into a nice fun hobby for so many chaps. Ditto tumbling cases into sparkling jewels. Are any of you also shooters or hunters?

I started my reloading with 223 Rem. I have a bunch of 20-year-old Winchester cases that have been reloaded 10+ times, running real stiff loads, which have never been annealed or cleaned. Never had a split neck or a case failure. What am I doing wrong?

 

[itchyTF]

Looks like it may have touched the coil. Just guessing though.

No, the case was centered. I did this as an experiment just to see what would happen.

But I don't do this kind of experimentation (at least not anymore) -
(BTW, this is not me)

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=565296253566049

 

[Hntndad]

This annealing thing has turned into a nice fun hobby for so many chaps. Ditto tumbling cases into sparkling jewels. Are any of you also shooters or hunters?

It does seem to have become a hobby that is entirely separate from the shooting sport. I read some of these posts and it seems a lot of folks are annealing with the goal in mind of Not ruining the case head.

Keep in mind what you are trying to accomplish with annealing. It may be uniform neck tension. It may be brass longevity. Whatever it is please understand that a case is essentially ruined before the case head is compromised. If I were shooting a firearm with a factory chamber and easily obtainable brass, why anneal? It is doubtful that you will see any significant increase in accuracy with a huge factory chamber and all that brass movement with annealing. Over anneal slightly and the case shoulders become too soft and the case will lengthen very quickly with every resize. I've seen .010 in case growth with each partial full length resizing. 3x fired brass at that rate starts risking case head seperation. How does that contribute to case life?? Safety? "Well, the head of the case never got too hot! Must be ok!" (?)

Might as well shoot em a few times and pitch em.

Only way to anneal correctly is with measurable consistency. Hard to do with a drill, socket, torch and a dim light. Not impossible, but difficult. Is it really worth it? It's a lot like spending a ton of $$ and TIME concerned with and trying to correct .003 or .005 in bullet runout. You most likely won't see a difference on paper. Especially if you don't get out from in front of your reloading bench.

There are those who spend lots of $ and/or time with our hair splitting tolerance rigs. Spending a few more bills on a easily repeatable and consistent annealing machine at that point may certainly be worth it. Results can be measured. You may find that it is everything you read about and hear of...or the opposite.

I'm just trying to encourage my friends...don't be a sheep. Not everything I read about has to apply to me. Sometimes the juice just isn't worth the squeeze. Get out and shoot. That will be more productive then anything we do at the bench. Be safe. Fully understand what it is your doing so that you can continue to enjoy the sport. Respectfully,

 

[Tozguy]

Overdoing something is very relative. Perfecting our understanding of a technique or process in itself can be a star. Winning the Super Shoot with a minimum of effort can be another star. Being a sheep can be yet another star. We are all following our own star and it is all good. Even hecklers play a role to help us stay focused on our star.
No I haven't been drinking.

 

[furmaster]

My inductor heater in low light is easy peasy. The inductor coil doesn't put out its own light and I cover the led. Wait for minimal faint orange and drag it off counter into pan. After a few u can just count in head.