Anneal... before or after sizing?

[PigPknHeat]

For those of you who anneal do you do it before or after sizing, or both?

I have had two people that make good ammo and shoot many matches tell me different things. Just looking for some input. I tried my 1st batch this weekend which was annealed after sizing. They worked well but seating was a bit rough and Im thinking that either tumbling them after annealing or just doing it before sizing might change that.

 

[UJay]

When making 300blk from 223 casings, when I annealed after sizing, the projectile would fall right through when seating.
I would say anneal before with past experiences, since the purpose is to soften things a bit anyway

 

[NavelOfficer]

Don't know if it's PC, but I anneal before sizing (not that I do it that often, mind you). If you soften things too much, you'll crush the brass while sizing, however. That's a sure sign that you overdid it.

 

[mac1911]

When I did my 300 from 223 I annealed 1st as the brass I used was a good 5x loaded already plus the portion you use for the 300 brass most likely had very little annealing ever.
I will anneal any brass I am converting 1sr them form, resize, trim and load.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Before

 

[dhuze]

After it's loaded. It's way more interesting that way.
If not go with what Eddie said.
Annealing softens the brass from the overworking it got from constant resizing it. The harder it is the easier it is to crack so you anneal it before you rework it.

 

[highscore]

For those of you who anneal do you do it before or after sizing, or both?

I have had two people that make good ammo and shoot many matches tell me different things. Just looking for some input. I tried my 1st batch this weekend which was annealed after sizing. They worked well but seating was a bit rough and Im thinking that either tumbling them after annealing or just doing it before sizing might change that.

Heating the cases swells them somewhat so do it before.

 

[Hummer]

I decap using Lee Universal decap die. I do not use expander as it tends to pull the necks making them longer. Then I fun them in FL die and next tumble them in stainless steel pins (Ivory Dish Detergent/water) which removes all carbon from inside cases and primer pockets. Every third loading I anneal necks for 4-6 seconds in a turning holder and propane torch. Then before loading I expand them with custom expanders I make on my lathe. My across the course ammo for bolt gun will have .001 grip on the bullets and the long range ammo will have about .0001". My expanders are like .3086 so when I run them in they spring back just enough to hold bullet tight enough that I can't turn them with fingers.

I rarely have to trim to length as I am not stretch cases with the expander. My expanders expand on a down motion.

 

[SteelPlateAssassin]

Anneal before as it can warp the brass slightly I have found, tumbling is up to you, then resize. That's seems to work best for me.

 

[hv55maxx]

anneal before sizing to soften the brass and make it more workable

 

[Uzi2]

Before.

 

[akma]

The purpose of annealing is to keep the brass from being work hardened and splitting so as others have said do it before. Also for reforming to another caliber helps reduce stress on the brass. It can be a little challenging if you are using mixed or range brass. You can over do it and make it unusable. Your times for heating will vary with brand and composition. I do it in as dimly lit as possible. Just as the brass starts to show red on the neck I drop it into water.

If you are going to tumble with ss pins I trim and chamfer after the tumbling process. The reason is I have found it tends to roll the mouth and fatten it slightly. Yes it does extend the life of your brass. Experiment to see what works best for you.

 

[Ranger007]

Before

 

[Fixxah]

Giraud makes an awesome machine for annealing. Jasper was the first one I know of to buy it. It is a good investment if you shoot a lot of ammo.