When to anneal?

waco

waco

Springfield, Oregon
I'm tumbling some old once fired 30-06 brass, military, anywhere from '45-56
It's decapped, been soaked in boiling citric acid for 10 min, and is now in the tumbler with crushed walnut with a bit of mineral spirits ans NuFinish car polish. My question is do I FL size first then anneal, or anneal first then FL size? Does it matter? Thanks again guys for your help.
Walter.
 
Chris

Chris

Well-Known Member
Well, that's just what I do because it works... but others may have a compelling reason to do otherwise.

BTW, you had bought some Hornady Unique lube... you like it?
 
Chris

Chris

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I think so too. There's lots of good lube recipes... and then the old Imperial Wax... but I think Unique is better than most.
 
Chris

Chris

Well-Known Member
Waco, there is some stuff comes in a little push-spray bottle called Zims Crack Creme. My wife and many others swear by it and I've seen it heal cracks in a day or two. Maybe you could find some.
 
waco

waco

Springfield, Oregon
Thanks. Tried it years ago. never really worked for me. I really need to go see a doctor. I have some serious skin issues with my hands splitting.
 
Chris

Chris

Well-Known Member
Yeah, some people get it bad. Sorry for your problem. You probably tried Bag Balm then? Which BTW makes a passable case lube.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
anneal before sizing too.
I like a run or two through the sizer to add back a little hardness to the cases.

I have been doing a bunch of mish mash [dunno how many times they been shot] 308's recently and some of them are getting a little long in the tooth.
so I run them through the auto annealer, then the Dillon size-trim die, champher the case mouths, run them through the size die to punch the primers and open the case mouths to the size I want.
then into the dry tumbler to clean my home made swaging lube off.
after that they go to the priming tool.
I have knocked a couple of loose primers back out of two or three cases and tossed them in the brass bin.
it seems like a lot of effort to get to this point but I do get to inspect the cases several times and at each step of the way I get to look at a different part of the case.
 
JWFilips

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
I like to anneal before my first resizing also. I find it stabilizes the case neck tension a bit better then firing a case that has been sized first then annealed
 
waco

waco

Springfield, Oregon
Thanks guys. I'll be using a very primitive set up. A propane torch and a cordless drill on low speed.
 
Chris

Chris

Well-Known Member
waco said:
Thanks guys. I'll be using a very primitive set up. A propane torch and a cordless drill on low speed.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I do. It works great (but slow) but pay attention to neck color in a slightly dimmed room. I keep my index finger of left hand touching the cartridge head... no way can the head be overheated this way. I quench in a glass of water. Slow but very consistent if you are watchful.
 
JWFilips

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Fiver,
I 'm with you on the extra handling of the cases....It may ad a bit more time but you get a chance to re-check the cases a number of times

Your " add back a little hardness to the cases" is exactly what I was saying with my reference to stabilizing.
I think you said it better
Jim
 
waco

waco

Springfield, Oregon
Jim. I'll do my best. I'll get a good count on time and go from there. I'll dump them into cold water to make sure the head does not get hot.
 
358156 hp

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
Back to the cracking hands- I have similar problems and usually apply a good hand lotion like Lubriderm to my hands at bedtime every night. I use quite a lot of it, it'll soak in while I sleep. Then limit hand washing during the day if possible.
 
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