GP-100 Man: Anneal .357 brass?

[Sevens]

I have been known to anneal yellow 357 brass!
They went rite back to shooting very consistently across the chrony!!

I find this VERY interesting. Please tell me more!

I'm still relatively new to using a chronograph and both myself and a buddy have swapped ideas and concerns that case mouth tension/bullet pull has a lot to do with how consistently we can get some of our handloads to chronograph.

And though I've sent MANY different .357 Magnum concoctions through the wickets on my chrono, with MANY different results, the most consistent results I've ever gotten BY FAR and in any caliber, in any platform, has been with 180 grain cast lead slugs going at a speedy pace (1,220 FPS) in .357 Magnum.

I've had the Chrony return disturbingly low ES and SD's, to the point where I almost wondered if the unit was working, but I've repeated the feat and I can't wait for warm weather to try it again.

I'm wondering if the fact that it's a cast lead slug being pushed firmly (and it pushing back due to it's size and weight!) is returning a very consistent starting resistance...which is, in turn, returning a VERY uniform ES and SD.

How consistent, you ask?! I'm talking extreme spread of 2 feet per second. SD that my Chrony Beta Master shows on the screen as "1."

 

[Sevens]

*NOTE* This thread looks like it was meant to be a PM to GP-100 Man and it kind of is, but I wanted to open the discussion to the forum.

GP-100 Man had posted the quoted portion in a different thread and I did not want to drift that thread.

I had not heard of many folks annealing handgun brass, if any. MAN, I don't want to add annealing as a part of my routine. (I'm no good around fire... ) but in the interest of learning more, I want to see discussion on this matter.

So...sorry for the "personal" subject line, but if anyone has experience or thoughts on annealing handgun brass or SHOCKINGLY low ES & SD returns from handgun ammo, I'm interested in hearing your experiences.

 

[GP100man]

Sevens , as you`ve found the heavies are more consistent than the liter counter parts .I feel the difference is the heavies have a larger bearing surface, there deeper in the case & just plain heavier & case tension has less bearing when it all starts moving & upper pressure loads.

Things go a little hinkey with liter bullets & loads , the cases ya see in the pic had very hi ES& EDs , as much as 60, so I had nuttin to lose .

Most misunderstand the annealing process & believe ya have to discolor the brass with heat to relieve the work hardening tensions , you don`t !
or at least in straight walled handgun cases.

The brass in the pic went to 60 back down to the teens with a load of a 358156 or 357446,3.6 grs. of Hodgdons CLAYS, a very lite plinking load & that`s all that brass will probably see.

Would I anneal handgun brass other wise no , but rather rely on a consistent batch of brass & consistent reloading practices.

All my serious loading is done with new ,sized, & trimmed brass & fired no more than 5 times, after that it goes to the plinkin pile.

My process is simple , I take a cordless drill chuck up a 1/4" socket holder & use a (I forget what size socket) socket to hold the case , put the propane flame on low (small hand torch) give it a 3 count while spinnin it in the flame .
This is a qwik easy set up & quenching is optional , but it does stop the progression of heat down the case which does`nt need annealing.