Quote Originally Posted by Robinhood View Post
Annealing is for wildcatters and 99% of competitors who reload and shoot with stiff competition regularly.If this is you.....

Divide up a box of Lapua/ Norma or whatever brass. Don't anneal 50 and anneal 50. Make sure you shoot all of the brass the same number of times. Keep records. Measure each case before and after sizing, take notes. Feel the seating force on both lots. Take notes. Note group sizes after you have found a load. Then you will see for yourself. After 5 loadings come back and show us targets of each lot at 300 plus yards.
Well all my big game hunting guns are wildcats, and I usually don't get 5 loadings from them before the primer pockets are toast. And I wont use super glue like some do for one more firing. After two maybe three at most firings they don't go hunting anymore anyway.
So if I anneal the case when new, they get chucked before they get done again.
I don't bother with the small cases like the 223s because I frankly don't really care about great groups anyway.
A bigger concern for me is the welding of the bullet to the case that takes place after they sit around unused for a couple years.
I will as a rule reseat them slightly deeper, maybe a full turn on the seating adjustment before they get used, and some sound like a stick being snapped when you do that.
Thats where the real neck tension can take place, and id bet thats the issue more often than the fact the case didn't get annealed, at least with hunters.