This is my method as well. Clean, anneal, size. I figure if you are not getting the neck hot enough to fully anneal, you are not able to say with certainty that all the necks are softened to the same degree. Some might argue that fully annealed brass is too soft to be usable, which I also do not subscribe to. I anneal the necks to be hot enough to be annealed soft. Then size them to provide a nice little bit of work hardening.Clean, Anneal, and Resize in that order.
(Minimizes resizing stress on the case/neck/shoulder)
Kilotanker22,This is my method as well. Clean, anneal, size. I figure if you are not getting the neck hot enough to fully anneal, you are not able to say with certainty that all the necks are softened to the same degree. Some might argue that fully annealed brass is too soft to be usable, which I also do not subscribe to. I anneal the necks to be hot enough to be annealed soft. Then size them to provide a nice little bit of work hardening.
I think worth noting is that since I have been annealing prior to sizing, I have less than .001" variation in cartridge base to shoulder datum with both my 308 Winchester and my 6.5 Creedmoor. Additionally, I have realized a significant reduction in my velocity spreads across the board. I do not know if my way is the right way, but the evidence, at least through my specific experience seems to suggest that I am headed in the right direction.
Me too man. I anneal after every firing for the sake of consistency as well. I figure every time you work the brass it will harden slightly. The only way to make sure the brass is in the same condition every time I fire it, is to use the exact same process every single time. So far, it has been working wellKilotanker22,
You are getting better neck tension and seal on the bullet reason for better deviation. I asked the question because I see some people that anneal is there last step before bullet seating.
But I currently wet tumble after decapping which my decapping method is using a lee collet die to make the necks perfectly concentric. Then I will anneal then I run thru a sizing die minus the expander ball then I will resize the necks on the lyman m dieTrim if need too. then last final polish in corn cob.
My method is little harder on the necks but anneal after every firing because I wanted to be consistent.