PSteinmayer,
You brought up something I forgot to mention, Remington brass is what I have. They are probably all are a little different.
Every new case I have noticed has some heat tinting on the neck, if it is brass. I do not remember any manufacturer's brass not having it.
I have noticed some quench their cases in water and some do not. I do not think it effects the hardness of brass at all, I do it to make the brass safer to handle, you do not want to pick up a hot one.
Used to anneal stainless cable fittings (water quenched from 2200F) the fast quench there kept them from getting a course grain structure. That stainless was annealed then moderately cold worked as received. That annealing let me get an extra 500 breaking strength out of the 1/8" cable assemblies.