By returning your brass to this condition, you will give it a longer life by eliminating neck/shoulder splits whilst realising better accuracy from more uniform neck-tension on your reloaded cartridges. Of course other areas such as the primer-pockets, case stretch and head condition will determine how long your brass will last in a given calibre and type of cartridge.
I remember many years ago I read an article on how to anneal ‘on the cheap’ by immersing the cases in water and heating up the neck with a blowtorch. Well it didn’t work very well and I did not achieve any consistency whatsoever and somehow, I even managed to scorch the work surface on the bench (to the annoyance of the house owner - I was renting at
I had a chat with Grant about the machine and how to operate it and he also explained the benefits of annealing and that it could reduce vertical, which I had plenty of experience of with the 6.5 so this got me thinking. I also picked the brains of fellow F Class shooter, John Campbell, a week or so later who also had a Benchsource machine. I became convinced that annealing my cases would stop or reduce the vertical spreads I was getting at longer ranges. I had used those cases more than 6 times and the neck-tension must have been inconsistent, maybe causing the vertical spreads.
I was not just going to go out and buy an annealing machine without a bit of research as they can be rather expensive, so I read as much as possible about
the time) and the cost to me of replacing the damaged work surface. So, my annealing efforts went west and were long forgotten about.
After starting benchrest many years ago and also shooting in the F Class GB League competitions, the subject of annealing came to the surface again - just like a submarine after taking out an easy target.
It all kicked off last December after heading north of the border into Scotland to pick up my rifle, which had been re-barrelled by Grant Taylor from 6.5 x 55 Ack Imp to a 284 Shehane. (I got a little fed up after being soundly thrashed in F class competitions by those who were using 7mm calibres). After spying around his workshop I noticed a very nice looking machine. It was a Benchsource annealing machine and it is made in the US of A.
annealing on the
6mmBR.com website and checked out the websites of the various manufacturers to gain more information. Plus I read every article on the subject I could find on the web and watched a few videos on You Tube. Some looked excellent and instructive and some just looked downright dangerous and I would not want to be shooting alongside the guy who made his cases glow bright orange/yellow in daylight!
Once I had enough information I decided that I really did want the Benchsource machine and rang up the company. After a ten minute discussion and a few questions I ordered one and it arrived after about 5 weeks (it would have got here far quicker but it was delayed in UK customs). When it finally arrived I opened up the box and got all excited - just like a kid in a sweet shop.
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