Annealing 6.5Cr Hornady brass

[EventHorizon]

At what fire count is best for this? I'm talking component brass as opposed to fired factory ammo brass. My previous brass stopping being able to be neck sized at the 12x fired point and then the brass was useless. When should the first round of annealing be applied and how many times can this brass be annealed? I assume I will need to anneal more frequently if multiple annealing is possible.

Thanks

 

[JGorski]

Im getting my 6 CM brass annealed after 6 firings, of course it was annealed at Hornady before they sent it to GAP, and you can anneal it as many times as you want but your primer pockets are going to grow as well, depending on how hot your loads are.

 

[EventHorizon]

Thanks JGorski - how many times have you annealed the brass now? What's the firing count on your brass? I'm not using hot loads so primer pockets shouldn't be taking too much of a beating.

 

[AKONA]

It really depends on how hot you go with the loads. When you start getting a darker more metallic/gloss color and see some tiny hairs on the case mouth
that later turn into splits, then it is time to anneal and trim. 6 firings sounds about right for many brass. Be careful don't over do it. I put my
cases in water and use a lazy susan to do it. I can prep 100 cases in around 1hr. w/o rushing.
With lapua brass I have been able to reload sometimes up to 50 times for accuracy loads. With winchester or hornady I will be lucky if I get 25-30 times depending on loads.
The primer pockets can be swagged and fixed as soon as the other dimensions do not swell too much but I hardly do that and do a final milder reload
to keep loaded in stock for a contingency or shoot in places it is hard to retrieve the brass.

 

[Skigolfmike]

I'm annealing every time I reload my 6.5 CM brass. I haven't lost any necks yet, but I have lost primer pockets at anywhere from 6-12 firings. I also trim every time. Usually the first 2-3 reloads I'm only trimming .002-.003" after that it's .006-.012" every reload. Also, I use a primer pocket uniformer and I noticed that It usually cuts after every firing. To me, that means the web is moving.

I wouldn't say I load all that hot, 42.6gr of H4350 with Berger 140 Hybrids, Fed 210 primers. If Lapua made 6.5 CM brass - that would be great, but they don't.

 

[Break Bad]

I can concur with Skigolfmike. I usually use from 42 to 42.5 H4350 with my 140 class bullets and I have brass that is still going after 15 firings. I do anneal every firing. I usually don't primer pocket uniform, or do it once on virgin brass, and haven't had any primers come loose...but I do feel just a few slippery seatings.

 

[AKONA]

Hi,
The 260 lapua is very easy to form. The 308 small pocket (palma) is just amazing but will require a tad more work and turning.
Great options for many of the 308 bolt face offsprings. One could even form from lapua 22-250 but will end up with a slightly
shorter case. No turning necessary.
You invest more up front but then it pays off later on.

 

[EventHorizon]

Are you guys full length resizing or just neck sizing? I have only one rifle in 6.5CR and so only neck size. I never saw any splitting of the necks, just that I couldn't neck size anymore as the bullets would practically fall through the necks when seating. In regards to pockets, the only time I had loose pockets was when I over loaded due to bad throws.

 

[Trevor300wsm]

Are you guys full length resizing or just neck sizing? I have only one rifle in 6.5CR and so only neck size. I never saw any splitting of the necks, just that I couldn't neck size anymore as the bullets would practically fall through the necks when seating. In regards to pockets, the only time I had loose pockets was when I over loaded due to bad throws.

A bad throw? Are you saying you don't weight each charge?

 

[Skigolfmike]

I am full length resizing with a Redding S type bushing die with the expander ball removed. I weigh every charge I throw on an RCBS Chargemaster.

 

[EventHorizon]

A bad throw? Are you saying you don't weight each charge?

I wasn't at the time. I was charging with a lock'n'load and the charger mounted. At first I was weighing and it was always spot on and then I weighed every few charges and that's when I missed some over charges. It blew the primers but no real damage as I was using light loads anyway. I was as lucky as I was dumb...

I weigh now every time.

 

[JGorski]

I havent annealed my creedmoor brass yet, probably send it off next year when I shoot the rest of them up, got about 70 or so to go, might make it through the 600yd BR season if Im lucky. I'll be working on another 6 Creedmoor as soon as Chad decides to finish it, so that rifle will be getting more of a workout than my current 6 Creed.

 

[6brshooter]

My load in hornady brass is 43 gr h4350, i can only get 8-10 reloads before pockets are gone. i have yet to see a gain in annealing brass, win and hornady brass is done inside of 15 reloads. I cannot see any velocity or accuracy issues on cases with 12-15 reloads. I fl size with a bushings that provide .002" nk tension, never have any bullets not seat with tension. 2 yrs ago nobody annealed other then 1k br and wildcatters, oh i'm sure others did, but the majority of shooters here did not. Hell, damn few on 6mmbr.com did. Now i hear people here say that if u didn't anneal every time or every other time ur brass will turn to dust. Now to each their own, but my experience and findings tell me if u shoot tact matches or steel for fun annealing is not going to matter. If u load softball loads then yeah cases will last, i just never wanted a 300 wm to make it a 308 for longer case life. My 6 br brass used in matches have upwards of 30-35 firings never annealed, and shoots itty bitty holes and has ES of 8-9 and SD of 2-3. Sounds like if i anneal my group size and consistency numbers might be a negative figure.lol