Annealing

It softens a copper bullet.
When heated with a torch until pink and quenched in liquid copper anneals or turns dead soft making it easier to obturate or swell inside the bore
It also makes an otherwise hard to size projectile softer and much easier to get thru the die.

Some copper bullets are milled (CEB, Hammer, other?) and are very hard. Other copper bullets are cast and are much softer. Barnes are cast. For me, the milled need annealed so I wont worry that I’m damaging my full sizing die. I worry too much😊.

Annealing not only makes the bullets easier to size, but they obturate much easier, especially with lighter loads. But, there’s even more- the terminal performance is much better, imo. I always get exits , but annealed bullets expand more thus transferring more energy into the animal and leaving a larger blood trail on those rare occasions the deer isn’t DRT.

Annealing - easer to size, obturates easier (bore sized or saboted) , transfers more energy, larger blood trails. That’s why I anneal them all, cast or milled.

Thanks for the explanation Steve.. I have always been curious about annealing copper bullets..will he be able to use the Hankins smooth die on annealed copper bullets? Excuse my ignorance on this subject lol

Annealing is easier said than done. I haven’t tried it in sabots but just might as sews experience makes sense. Annealing certainly makes a hard machined CEB easier to size (softens it and makes it smaller before sizing OD). Annealing really helps the round expand better on big game and that’s important to me (I like giant wound channels). Annealing helps obturation and accuracy normally is better. On some (not all) setups -copper fouling issues in just a few shots occur. This happens with full sized bullets. You can have 2 identical muzzys side by side with the same ingredients. 1 will shoot 100 times the other 2 shots and have to be cleaned. Direct ignition seems to help likely due to a better seal. Faster powders also do better with less fouling. Non annealed bullets don’t copper foul as much but aren’t as accurate and can zip (pencil hole) through animals - so I recommend annealing them for full sizing and reliable expansion - at least on hard machined bullets like CEB.

Bill, your load is so much hotter than mine. As we’ve discussed, your velocities do cause the bullets to be more frangible than my lower energied setup.

Your pic is perfect to show a full anneal of a bullet -thanks for sharing.

For my copper fouling issues I tried a partial anneal with decent results. You can use a home gas cooktop and set the bullets on the burner surface that’s flat. You watch the bullet until it turns black (black is the oxidization raising to the surface). It usually takes 5-10 minutes for the color change. Stove tops aren’t as hot as the torch but are around 700-775 degrees if I remember correctly. When the bullet turns black use a kitchen tablespoon and butter knife to obtain the black bullet and immediately drop it in a deep pan of cold water. This type of annealing isn’t as soft as a full (cherry red) anneal - but helps cut down copper fouling in barrels that copper foul easily. It’s what I call a hybrid anneal. It’s important for the bullet surface to be completely black so patience is required. Several bullets can be done at a time - but be cautious as there are cold spots where the flames come together. With a short learning curve this method might work as well. Again it’s a partial anneal not a full.

The pic above is the perfect example of a full anneal with a container beneath it to cool the bullet- thanks for sharing.

I used CEB's this year in a sabot in my Scout. In factory form they completely shredded the sabots and if they happened to hit my backstop, they were sideways.

I annealed them with a torch and then they stacked holes, recovered sabots were perfect and speed was 2600fps using a duplex of 10/47 N110/I4198. I was only able to take a doe with them but results were great at 120yds. 2/3rds high double lung liquified and several petals made it to the heart making it unrecognizable. Complete mush cut in half with just a little bit intact on the outside. When I show people the picture they have no idea what they are looking at!

Happy so far with the performance! Looking forward to see what Hammer is working on for us!

I used CEB's this year in a sabot in my Scout.



What grain bullet may I ask? Light seems likely for 2600fps?

I annealed and had .408 CEB bullets coated to increase their diameter to .4095. These were smooth sized and pushed down a .416 bore to attempt smooth sizing instead of normal full sized .416 bullets. Rounds that hit the target - hit it sideways. This is a bad example of what you are looking for. I should have tried some .416 bullets but didn’t.