Editor’s note: This article is in reference and review of result of Rod Green’s first article posted in March, 2010. It can be found here.

Back in March 2010, I wrote an article about Hornady’s Case Neck Annealing Kit. I took 100 pieces of Nosler Custom .308 Winchester brass with four firings and annealed 50 of those for a side by side comparison with the 50 I left unannealed. So for the last nine months these one hundred cases were used in my Remington 700 at the range and at three local varmint matches. In March’s article I promised that I would get back with you on the results, so here they are!

The rifle I used was a 1990’s vintage Remington 700 PSS with 6,000+ rounds down the tube (well broken in!) The factory trigger has been adjusted to a crisp two-pound pull and it wears a Leupold FX-3 30X target scope mounted in Burris 1″ Z- rings on top of Farrell bases. For the rifles age and round count, it has been well maintained and still shoots well.

First of all, being a novice at annealing cases, I felt some extra torch time deemed necessary for both safety and confidence. When manually annealing, it is critical to spin the cases at the same speed for even heat dispersion. With the help of a Sinclair timer, I settled on 100 RPMs for six to eight seconds. This time frame proved just right for viewing the color change in the case necks without over heating the cases. After polishing up some Winchester cases, I purposely over-annealed a few cases to see what to look for. If the necks have lost their shine and you can squeeze them with your fingers to an oval shape…they are over-annealed!

WARNING: TAKE CAUTION TO NOT OVERHEAT THE LOWER PORTION OF THE CASE INCLUDING THE HEAD AND WEB OF THE CASE. OVERHEATING THIS AREA CAN CAUSE CASE FAILURE.

The chosen load for testing was comprised of 43.0 grains of Hodgdon Varget with CCI primers and 175 grain Sierra Match Kings. So, for the next nine months two fifty round ammo boxes went with me to each range session and a few matches. As early spring turned into early summer, there were twelve firings on each case. The fifty non-annealed cases still had tight primer pockers and no split necks, but they were getting thinner from the combined twelve previous firings and re-sizing (work hardening). Each full length resizing was getting noisier and required extra effort to run the brass through the die. The die was also adjusted down more to help with casings that were now starting to chamber hard. As for the annealed cases (every 2 firings), they showed no sign of potential problems that I could detect. They all sized easy and bullet seating seemed uniform from round to round.

It was at the VHA Regional Midwest Match in May that the first non-annealed casualty occurred! While shooting a twenty-round match, one of my non-annealed cases experienced a split case neck (firing #14). From then on, case failures started to become more and more frequent during sizing and when seating bullets. After the sixteenth firing I decided that the non-annealed brass was unsafe to shoot in its present condition and continued on with just the annealed cases.

From an accuracy standpoint in the beginning both groups shot virtually the same. As time went on the non-annealed loads went from grouping just under 1″ groups to as large as 2.75″ shotgun patterns before going into early retirement. The annealed cases on the other hand, routinely shot 1″or less groups from start to finish !

After the smoke cleared nine months later I have a total of 84 cartridge casings still standing. There were 38 non-annealed that survived sixteen firings and 46 annealed cases that went the distance with twenty-three loadings on the odometer and ready for more! The four annealed cases that were lost were due to one loose primer pocket, two that were over annealed, and one that somehow ran away at the range! All eighty-four cases have had a long season and will get a good cleaning and put away until next spring. Just out of curiosity, I may try to anneal a few of the out of service cases to see what happens! I’ll also continue working with the forty-six annealed cases, but at a much easier pace.

So, how long will properly annealed cartridge cases last a shooter? Since I am new at case annealing, I really don’t know. I have heard that some shooter’s can get as many as 50 or more firings per case! That seems unbelievable, but after the last nine months, I can see it happening. A deer hunter may start with fifty pieces of brass and be set for the rest of his hunting days, while a varmint hunter or precision shooter could start with a pre-determined number of cases to last him the life of his barrel. The bottom line is that no matter how you do it, case annealing, whether performed in a manual operation or a more automated manner, is worth the time and effort!

Keep ‘ Em in the Ten Ring!

Rod Green
Reloading Technician, Sinclair International
NRA Life Member
VHA Life Member
NRA Certified Metallic Reloading Instructor and RSO