The 2025 Precision Rifle Series calendar will see an unprecedented integration of brass preparation into the competitive landscape, following the announcement naming Annealing Made Perfect (AMP) as the 'Official Annealer of the 2025 PRS Season.' While initial reactions from the community were predictably focused on sponsorship implications, ColdBore has confirmed that the partnership extends far beyond mere branding, introducing mandatory ‘Thermal Cycle Proficiency’ stages designed to test a shooter’s holistic understanding of cartridge integrity.
These new stages will require competitors to cease fire, retrieve pre-selected brass from their match pack—specifically 6mm Dasher or 6GT cases from a prior string—and rapidly execute a full annealing cycle on an AMP Mk2 or AMP X unit provided at the firing line. The freshly annealed brass will then be visually inspected and scanned by proprietary AMP-developed sensors to assess neck tension uniformity and grain structure integrity.
Penalties will be assessed for any deviation exceeding a 5% variance in critical neck hardness across the brass, as well as for cases exhibiting runout greater than 0.001" post-anneal. Sources indicate that a ‘cold annealed brass’ shot, one fired immediately after the process, may also be required to demonstrate stable velocity nodes and negligible SD/ES before proceeding to the next target array.
This paradigm shift elevates brass processing from a meticulously performed garage chore to a live-fire skill, forcing competitors to master not only wind calls and barricade technique but also the precise thermal management of their cartridge cases under time pressure. DOPE cards, traditionally focused on ballistic trajectory, will now need to factor in dynamic neck tension changes, potentially requiring mid-stage truing of velocity data based on immediate post-anneal results. The competitive advantage will undoubtedly shift to those who can maintain sub-MOA annealing consistency while simultaneously engaging PRS barricades and managing spin drift, demanding a level of sartorial elegance in brass preparation previously confined to laboratory environments.
