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The only stupid question is the one not asked.

One of the reasons the forum is here is to help.

Always better safe than sorry.

That seems like a pretty small step in fairness. If you're worried about over working the brass then consider annealing every other sizing if you want.

As an example, look at case forming. You radically change the shape of the case neck during the sizing operation. In most of the cases the work hardening can be alleviated through annealing. However, this is different compared to your circumstance because you only case form once, whereas you would be doing this quite often. Might be worth looking for a broken shell extractor for 7.62x54mmR. I've seen them in .303brit, .308win and 7.62x39 but can't say I've tried looking for 7.62x54mmR. I've had case-head and case-neck failures (thanks Sellior & Bellot!) during extraction which were removed using my nice broken shell extractor. Might be worth having one (if they exist in this calibre) if you go down this route.

Case extractor look here http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools ... 24626.aspx I bought mine from here, one for every calibre I use.

Or here. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Broken-Shell- ... 1113518622