Fire forming and annealing questions

[Fudmottin]

Should I anneal my brass before or after fire forming?

Does it matter which load I use to fire form the brass? Or does one work better than the others (light and fast vs heavy and slow)?

I think its time to pop the cherry on the 300-221 AR upper I had built.

[dksd39]

No need to anneal your brass and no need to fire form it either. Just load what you want to shoot and shot it especially coming out of an AR. I can not tell one bit of difference between 5x fired brass and my just formed 1x out of a bolt gun.

[Fudmottin]

OK. I thought annealed brass would last longer. I'm not so much concerned about accuracy. I expect my barrel can out shoot me.

[HUNTER2]

I only use bolt and single shot rifles and pistols. The 300 whisper brass is annealed after the first shot. And then for every 5th there after on everything I reload for 50-70-750 through the 20. By then I can feel a difference on how the brass sizes and there is a little more soot on the necks. I could probably get some more firings out of them, but annealing has extended the life of the case to where I have some batches that have been fired 20 times and are still in good shape! You don't have to anneal brass, but this works for me.....

[dksd39]

Hunter- I may have been a bit short sighted for individuals similar to you on brass cycles. I do not use any brass past 10x but even less with my 300 since I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 5k pieces. I would have to agree that you may be able to extend the brass life. I do not think there would be a noticeable improvement in accuracy with a 300 out of an AR. Would like to know if you have documented improvements in accuracy out of your 300 bolt gun specifically from annealing.

[HUNTER2]

No noticable improvement. At least the way I shoot! Don't shoot paper much after I get an accurate load. Just a lot of plinking. Have to do it when my girl is not around, or I don't get to shoot...I have a 22 Clark with a .5 neck and no throat (made from 30-06 brass). The acc. starts going south after the 4th loading.....In an AR you have to load to OAL? Do you ever load any just touching the rifling? The reason I ask, I have a TC that requires touching the lands on first time formed brass, or about 1 in 10 requires 2 hammer strikes...

[Fudmottin]

The most important thing for an AR load is that it feeds from the magazine. Other than that, accuracy works the same way as it would for any bolt gun. Especially if the AR is running with a custom barrel. About the only thing different is the gas port.

The port could shave a bit of brass off. Whether that effects accuracy or not is debatable.

Gas bleed off to work the action may effect muzzle velocity. But that should be a consistent thing. Also the bullet is long gone before the action starts to move.

ARs have been known to shoot as well as just about any bolt rifle. Heavy bench rest rifles probably do a bit better. It comes down to whether you treat the rifle like a bullet hose or a precision shooter.

I've got a brass catcher to help reduce losing cases. 300/221 cases take time to form from 223 if all you have is a single stage press. So I just want it to last as long as practical before risking a neck or head separation. Brass stuck in the chamber can ruin your day when another round feeds into it.