J E Custom
Well-Known Member
With cartridge brass so hard to get in some cases I have had to add a step to my reloading process
and will share it with anyone interested.
Recently I discovered that not all new brass has been annealed. some brand new brass showed signs of splitting after the first firing. first I though the neck chamber may be to big. (This was not the case). so I checked the hardness of the same lot for hardness. It had not been annealed after all of the forming.
Knowing the manufacturer starts with annealed brass to improve forming all I can guess is that some have left the final anneal out to save cost and improve profit. I looked/checked some other new brass cases that had been tumbled thinking that maybe they had been annealed but the tumbling had covered up the heat rings from the anneal. with some of the much older brass, this was the case. but some of other brands were not annealed and then polished. "SO" it looks like we have three choices, ether buy a brinell hardness tester, buy cartridge cases with the heat rings from annealing to be sure or anneal and new cases that don't show signs of being final annealed . The new brass that did not have a final anneal was as hard as cases that had been fired 3 or 4 times. so with this brass I was starting with essentially new brass that had been fired many times.
#1=Now I anneal all new brass that doesn't show signs of being annealed from the factory as the last step.
#2= after fire forming in the chamber It is used only in that rifle and neck sized only, unless it needs a little sizing to chamber well. I prefer to use a bushing die to reduce the number of sizing's by 50%. this extends brass life also.
#3= I try to avoid maximum loads when possible also.
Cartridge brass has become a problem in many cartridges and anything I can do to extend the brass life I will.
At the moment I have only found a few brands that for sure do a final anneal and try to buy them if they have the cartridges in their brand, otherwise I plan on annealing all new brass to get the most out of it.
J E CUSTOM
and will share it with anyone interested.
Recently I discovered that not all new brass has been annealed. some brand new brass showed signs of splitting after the first firing. first I though the neck chamber may be to big. (This was not the case). so I checked the hardness of the same lot for hardness. It had not been annealed after all of the forming.
Knowing the manufacturer starts with annealed brass to improve forming all I can guess is that some have left the final anneal out to save cost and improve profit. I looked/checked some other new brass cases that had been tumbled thinking that maybe they had been annealed but the tumbling had covered up the heat rings from the anneal. with some of the much older brass, this was the case. but some of other brands were not annealed and then polished. "SO" it looks like we have three choices, ether buy a brinell hardness tester, buy cartridge cases with the heat rings from annealing to be sure or anneal and new cases that don't show signs of being final annealed . The new brass that did not have a final anneal was as hard as cases that had been fired 3 or 4 times. so with this brass I was starting with essentially new brass that had been fired many times.
#1=Now I anneal all new brass that doesn't show signs of being annealed from the factory as the last step.
#2= after fire forming in the chamber It is used only in that rifle and neck sized only, unless it needs a little sizing to chamber well. I prefer to use a bushing die to reduce the number of sizing's by 50%. this extends brass life also.
#3= I try to avoid maximum loads when possible also.
Cartridge brass has become a problem in many cartridges and anything I can do to extend the brass life I will.
At the moment I have only found a few brands that for sure do a final anneal and try to buy them if they have the cartridges in their brand, otherwise I plan on annealing all new brass to get the most out of it.
J E CUSTOM
