Annealing pistol brass?

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horseman
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Annealing pistol brass?

Post by horseman »

If it's of interest and you read up on pistol accuracy and consistency shot to shot you'll find that there are more than a few "expert pistoleers" who state that their "best" results are with new brass. Without doing a bunch of testing my small amount of experience was with my 45 acp loadings. Trying to achieve a particular load parameter MY best results as far as ES and SD were using new brass vs "once fired" (?) range brass. I would "assume" it works similarly to rifle brass that annealing helps with consistent neck tension, ergo, better accuracy and consistency potential. Lot of rifle competitors anneal every firing, some at a 3 or 4 etc; So, my question is, does or has anyone ever annealed their hand gun brass? Know anyone who has, and their results. Interesting idea to me, may give it a try. May not really help with accuracy within the distances I shoot but I'm more interested in the "consistency" as to ES and SD. Just my OCD kickin' in. Thoughts?


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Re: Annealing pistol brass?

Post by Ohio3Wheels »

I just ordered an Annealeze mostly for the big straight wall cartridge including the 45 Colt. I have plenty of brass for the most part and want to improve its longevity so the desire to anneal. With the 45/70, 40/65, and 38/55 the only cases I've lost have been due to neck splits. I suspect with the Annealeze cases smaller than the 45 Colt may be problematic.

I'll let you know.

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Re: Annealing pistol brass?

Post by Ranch Dog »

I don't anneal semi-auto pistol brass. Not much to work with without effecting the case web. I've run into similar problems trying it with handgun (revolver) brass.
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Re: Annealing pistol brass?

Post by horseman »

Ranch Dog wrote:I don't anneal semi-auto pistol brass. Not much to work with without effecting the case web. I've run into similar problems trying it with handgun (revolver) brass.
I can see where that could be a problem with "shorter" brass, ie: 45 acp, 40, although I did find one person doing 40's with an annealing machine and some doing 45 Colt. I would suspect that these would maybe be better served sitting in a pan of water and using a temp stick. But you would have to be cautious for sure, no more than probably 1/4 inch. I may try a few, 20 or so fired cases and compare to un-annealed fired cases and see how they compare across the chrony. Should be interesting at the very least. :geek:

It will be awhile though, to dry to shoot right now.
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Re: Annealing pistol brass?

Post by larryw »

IMHO, no, 45ACP .40 stuff like that nothing to be gained, to much of a pain. Bigger stuff, hot 44mag, .454 you bet. Also .30 carbine.
I had one of the first Anealez ??? Machines, I did have to make a
1/4" plywood spacer to put on over the operating wheels, to bring
the short handgun cases out, to get the flame away from the wheels.
Worked absolutely fantastic. Definitely a case life increase especially
with the little .30 carbine. Just to add, didn't see much of a difference
at all with hot .357mag ????
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Re: Annealing pistol brass?

Post by horseman »

larryw wrote:IMHO, no, 45ACP .40 stuff like that nothing to be gained, to much of a pain. Bigger stuff, hot 44mag, .454 you bet. Also .30 carbine.
I had one of the first Anealez ??? Machines, I did have to make a
1/4" plywood spacer to put on over the operating wheels, to bring
the short handgun cases out, to get the flame away from the wheels.
Worked absolutely fantastic. Definitely a case life increase especially
with the little .30 carbine. Just to add, didn't see much of a difference
at all with hot .357mag ????

Good info Larry, and appreciate all responses. I guess I'm still going to have to give it a try. I'm not from Missouri but my Grandparents (and their's) on my Dad's side were....my Mom's side were from North Texas, also known as Oklahoma....(think that's where they ran out of food and money after leaving Texas) no offence Michael and others, no offence... :lol:
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