An Essay on Annealing for Accuracy

[Chris-NZ]

Darrel-

 

those are both great groups but being the picky bugger I am, I can't resist pointing out the miniature sample doesn't even begin to pass the statistical test for a "significant difference". It is easily possible for example for a single three-shot group to be worse than another yet in the long run be the far better load.

 

I've forgotten near all of the stats I once knew but I'd say you'd probably would need shoot at least five five-shot groups of each to have any level of certainty. Having said that, I don't do it myself but it's just an anal observation

 

Chris-NZ

[foxing2night]

Darrel-

 

those are both great groups but being the picky bugger I am, I can't resist pointing out the miniature sample doesn't even begin to pass the statistical test for a "significant difference". It is easily possible for example for a single three-shot group to be worse than another yet in the long run be the far better load.

 

I've forgotten near all of the stats I once knew but I'd say you'd probably would need shoot at least five five-shot groups of each to have any level of certainty. Having said that, I don't do it myself but it's just an anal observation

 

Chris-NZ

Hi Chris, firstly the groups are four shot groups not three,,, three bullets in one hole??..

 

Having shot a lot with my 6.5, i could tell by the ease that the groups were shot compered to some of my old brass ( which did not shoot a shabby group)But were harder to get the group,, the annealed brass was better to reload and use and if i can get a bit more use out of them?? then that's even better,, not that i would use my old brass in a comp as i have new brass for all my comps,,

I would use them for long range varminting,,,,

 

 

As you say not an ideal test but good enough for me,, and believe me i am very fussy!!!!!

definitely worth the effort to do,,,

 

Benn out yesterday, shooting out to 500yrdswith very good results,,,

 

All the best, Darrel

[Chris-NZ]

500yds- paper or fur Darrel?

 

Haven't pulled the trigger on a single thing for about a month as I was overseas for two weeks then forced to spend the long weekend in Auckland doing handyman stuff on my son's new house. Actually, I lie as I shot a pesky swallow with the air rifle on Sun.

 

Duckshooting's just round the corner- Opening Morning is the 6th May. Need to dust off the Benelli and dig out the rest of the gear.

I'm overdue for my gunsmith's son to take me to a farm where there are big numbers of dumb fallow. The suppressed .223 with 60 grainers will be just the ticket as they're apparently no more than 80yds away most of the time. Need a couple to make some fancy smallgoods including chorizo.

 

cheers

Chris

[foxing2night]

500yds- paper or fur Darrel?

 

Haven't pulled the trigger on a single thing for about a month as I was overseas for two weeks then forced to spend the long weekend in Auckland doing handyman stuff on my son's new house. Actually, I lie as I shot a pesky swallow with the air rifle on Sun.

 

Duckshooting's just round the corner- Opening Morning is the 6th May. Need to dust off the Benelli and dig out the rest of the gear.

I'm overdue for my gunsmith's son to take me to a farm where there are big numbers of dumb fallow. The suppressed .223 with 60 grainers will be just the ticket as they're apparently no more than 80yds away most of the time. Need a couple to make some fancy smallgoods including chorizo.

 

cheers

Chris

On fur Chris!!!!! you just got to love them 6.5 47,s ,,,

 

just waiting for the next outing now????

 

all the best Darrel

[Guest richness]

Having compared my brass to a friend's recently, both about 9x fired, he had quite a lot of split necks and i have not had a single one. In fact, i've only ever had half a dozen split necks in any calibre, in many thousands of rounds. For that reason alone, annealing must be a useful tool in the reloading arsenal. I wish i'd carefully recorded my group sizes when i compared my Lapua many x fired brass vs annealed ones in my 105gr Amax/243 load. All I have in my notes is this:

 

" June 2010 testing many x fired vs freshly annealed

 

At 235y, annealed brass group much tighter than old brass - nearly half the size! NB

 

Also tested same load a few thou shorter @ 2.112/3" NOT the way to go.

New loads in annealed brass and no less than 2.115" as of June 2010"

 

Anyway, thanks for all your comments on this thread; i'm very proud of it! ATVB Richard Utting

[foxing2night]

Having compared my brass to a friend's recently, both about 9x fired, he had quite a lot of split necks and i have not had a single one. In fact, i've only ever had half a dozen split necks in any calibre, in many thousands of rounds. For that reason alone, annealing must be a useful tool in the reloading arsenal. I wish i'd carefully recorded my group sizes when i compared my Lapua many x fired brass vs annealed ones in my 105gr Amax/243 load. All I have in my notes is this:

 

" June 2010 testing many x fired vs freshly annealed

 

At 235y, annealed brass group much tighter than old brass - nearly half the size! NB

 

Also tested same load a few thou shorter @ 2.112/3" NOT the way to go.

New loads in annealed brass and no less than 2.115" as of June 2010"

 

Anyway, thanks for all your comments on this thread; i'm very proud of it! ATVB Richard Utting

You should be proud lads,, you did a bloody good write up!!!!

Its back to annealing for me?????

 

All the best, Darrel

[Si-Snipe]

What I have found the biggest gain for me is the ability to shoot nearly any age brass and have the same performance (presuming the primer pockets aren't loose) and batch it together after annealing whilst giving nothing up in the way of accuracy in the field.

Gone are the days I was concerned about with mixing brass of the same kind from different load batches. I can put it all together, tumble it, get it annealed, prep'd and go shooting.

I'm not saying that will be match winning standard but for precision long range varminting what I am focused on its certainly doing the job.

I have done this recently with some .17 Rem brass I got with the rifle. Its shooting tiny groups and the brass has all been loaded different amounts.

[John MH]

Promised that I would post a picture of my set up for Spud:

 

 

Cleaned and annealed over 1000 cases yesterday for the Imperial CSR this Summer.

[Si-Snipe]

Promised that I would post a picture of my set up for Spud:

 

 

Cleaned and annealed over 1000 cases yesterday for the Imperial CSR this weekend.

 

Very nice set-up. Does it take any fine tuning to get the flame time perfect? Once its done I can imagine its plain sailing from there. If you then change cases do you have to vary the flame time again? The reason I ask is that my 17 rem cases need 3/4 of the time to anneal than my 6.5x47 cases do due the different quantities/thickness of brass. So I wondered if you have change the settings?

You need some space for that bad boy but I'd quite fancy one if I had the space.

[John MH]

The dwell time the cases are in the flame can easily be changed between 0 to 10 seconds, the hight of the burners needs to be altered to ensure the flame is directed at the case neck, I also use temperature indicating paint to check that the case head is not getting too hot and that the necks have reached a high enough temperature.

[Si-Snipe]

The dwell time the cases are in the flame can easily be changed between 0 to 10 seconds, the hight of the burners needs to be altered to ensure the flame is directed at the case neck, I also use temperature indicating paint to check that the case head is not getting too hot and that the necks have reached a high enough temperature.

 

Excellent. I found my .17 Rem cases take 6-7 secs and the 6.5 cases are 8-9. Does it increase the drum rotation speed to alter time in the flame?

I bet there is some financial damage on one of those?

Si