question on annealed brass

[possum1]

I'm shooting a factory bolt Savage 223 and alway's neck size with Lee collet die. Just started annealing the brass for the first time and after neck sizing noticed they are hard to chamber. Seem's like the round goes in fine until about half way then I really have to force it to chamber. Does brass grow after the annealing process ? Measured with caliper and the fired cases measure's 1-2 thousanth's smaller than the unfired annealed case's. Chamber fine after FL sizing. Would rather just neck size. Can anyone give me a idea what is happening ? Am I doing something wrong with the annealing ? Thank's for any help.

[MikeCTX]

Don't think it is the annealing process but it is the neck size. When you neck size, you will need to FL size every so often to bump the shoulder back is all that is happening. Others here can explain it better than I can, but think that is your issue (you found the answer when you said they where ok after FL sizing)

[possum1]

Thank's for reply. Just don't understand, they were fine before the anneal and chambered fine. after the anneal they got tighter. Also If I extract the unfired round they go back in chamber and feel fine with no resistance.

[BillPa]

It could be from the brass expanding from the heat and not going back to it's pre-annealing state, especially in the shoulder area. I anneal then FL size, trim and etc, so I haven't noticed the difference before the case prep step.

Bill

[possum1]

Guess I'll just FL size after annealing. Thank's for the input.

[dcloco]

Yep...anneal first, then size.

[possum1]

Could someone post a pic of an annealed case that has been junked by over-anneal ?

[Elkbane]

I don't have a picture, but the surface will have a speckled appearance where you've burned the zinc out of the brass. It gives off a smell when you do it also. You can cut down on this a little by putting the center point of the flame on the case shoulder and not on the neck............Stop when you see a bluish appearance just below the shoulder. I set my torch up to have the center blue flame about 1" long and it usually takes about 6 seconds on 308 sized cases and 8-10 seconds on 300WSM sized...Maybe less on 223 smaller cases - don't know - never done it on .223.
Elkbane

[oldguy]

I full size every 5th loading and trim if necessary use the lee for neck sizing in between. Have not had the problem
you described when annealing case but as someone suggested I anneal then full size.

[DannoBoone]

I'm shooting a factory bolt Savage 223 and alway's neck size with Lee collet die. Just started annealing the brass for the first time and after neck sizing noticed they are hard to chamber. Seem's like the round goes in fine until about half way then I really have to force it to chamber. Does brass grow after the annealing process ? Measured with caliper and the fired cases measure's 1-2 thousanth's smaller than the unfired annealed case's. Chamber fine after FL sizing. Would rather just neck size. Can anyone give me a idea what is happening ? Am I doing something wrong with the annealing ? Thank's for any help.


I had the same problem with an Encore .25-06. The Lee collet die actually crumpled the shoulder, even with non-annealed brass. After
measuring the chamber length and gap between barrel and receiver, I realized the fire-formed brass was .008" LONGER than it should
have been. Lee's neck dies depend on length of the cartridge from the head to the top of the shoulder to properly size the neck. Your
Savage chamber may be a thou or two longer than the die was made for, in which case wouldn't be noticeable with the harder brass.

I wonder if the Lee die would size the annealed necks if you backed off the die just a tad?? That is, just enough not to push out the
diameter of the case body?

[possum1]

I wonder if the Lee die would size the annealed necks if you backed off the die just a tad?? That is, just enough not to push out the
diameter of the case body? That's what I ended up doing, took me awhile with some experimenting, that's how I solved that problem.

[Tnslim]

After annealing and full length sizing I noticed I had to trim the cases a fair amount using the Lee length gauge and ball cutter. I had no problems chambering. I always neck size for 6 firings then anneal and full size. This is on a 22-250 VLP.