Quote:
Originally Posted by DLab
That's interesting,I'm not a particular fan of that system either,peens the case mouth and inside neck surface too much IMO.
Annealing may not make you a better hunter but it may help make your ammo a little more consistent as far as neck tension is concerned,which is one of the keys to accuracy.If you shoot 20- 50 rounds a year and use range pick up brass,then no it's probably not of much benefit.
Also extends brass life by keeping the necks from work hardening over repeated usage of the cases.
I've been using the same 30 Lapua 6BR. cases that have 14 firings on them,soon to be 15 firings.I expect to use them for the season with out issue.
So ,for me annealing is worth the time.
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That's laughable. In all my time hand loading, I've only ever wet tumbled with SS pins. I have never, ever seen any "peening" on any part of a brass case. And I tumble my brass for 2 hours. The
only reason the guys at AMP don't like wet tumbling with pins, is that sometimes (read: a lot) those pins end up inside the AMP machine. If you've ever seen an induction coil short over, it's a scary thing considering the voltages involved. It has happened a lot with the first Gen machine because of the "catch" pan under the induction coil. The major redesign in the Gen 2 machine solved this issue. But it still doesn't mean people somehow drop those pins into the machine.
The rest of your post is bang on. Annealing will most likely extend the usable life of a brass case. The most important thing IMHO, is the consistent neck tension. I see that after 4 or so firings, my brass starts to show inconsistent neck tensions. This is the main reason why I anneal.
I also fire about 12k rounds in a year. Most (95% or more) are for precision and accuracy. Consistency is my main goal. Annealing helps me in this regard. I get up to 20 cycles with my .338LM cases (and my load is stout and almost maximum). My .308win cases have seen as many as 24 cycles before failing. And if they don't reach 20, it's usually the primer pockets getting too loose. Other factors go into brass life, but I think you see my point of how it helps.
A hunter who fires 20 or 30 rounds a year....I don't think annealing would help anything. That is unless the guy has been using the same brass for a decade or so.
For me, the cost of the AMP didn't bother me. And I've owned both the Gen 1 and 2 AMP machines. I also anneal for 5 friends (all locals). I charge $25/100. If the cases need to be wet tumbled, I add $5. I'm not in it to make money. Or even try to pay for my machine. I do it because before the AMP, I had to rely on someone else "judging" the colour of the tempilaq to anneal my brass. The AMP takes away the subjective part of a flame annealer's process.
So, a no-brainer for a not so smart guy. A problem solved for me. Your mileage may differ. Annealing sure gets people emotional. I tend to listen until I see something that's just plain wrong.
Rant over.