singleshotbuff
12-02-2006, 11:45 PM
Gentlemen,
As mentioned in a previous thread or 2, I was unhappy with the neck tension produced by my new 8X57mm Lee collet die. The rounds shot good, but I could move seated bullets with my fingers.
Anyway, I ordered an undersized mandrel from Lee (which I finally recieved today), in the mean time I tried resizing cases that I had annealed.
I know there are 9 thousand ways posted on the web to anneal cases. I simply held the cases in the flame of a propane torch, with a pair of pliers, until I could see the color of the brass change below the shoulder, then dropped them into cold water. Probably not the best or most consistent way to do it, but it has worked for me in the past.
I resized these cases with my Lee collet die, using the original (loose) mandrel.
It made a HUGH difference in neck tension! I can not move these bullets by hand like I could before. I CAN push them further into the cases if I LEAN on the bullet against the side of my bench, but it takes some effort. I'm fairly sure these rounds will survive the trip from the magazine to the chamber.
I plan to shoot these rounds tomorrow, and I'll feed them from the magazine.
I also plan to load my next batch using my new "undersized" mandrel from Lee. I may even try some annealed cases with the undersized mandrel, just to check neck tension.
I'm guessing the annealing eliminated some "springback" from the sized brass??
SSB
As mentioned in a previous thread or 2, I was unhappy with the neck tension produced by my new 8X57mm Lee collet die. The rounds shot good, but I could move seated bullets with my fingers.
Anyway, I ordered an undersized mandrel from Lee (which I finally recieved today), in the mean time I tried resizing cases that I had annealed.
I know there are 9 thousand ways posted on the web to anneal cases. I simply held the cases in the flame of a propane torch, with a pair of pliers, until I could see the color of the brass change below the shoulder, then dropped them into cold water. Probably not the best or most consistent way to do it, but it has worked for me in the past.
I resized these cases with my Lee collet die, using the original (loose) mandrel.
It made a HUGH difference in neck tension! I can not move these bullets by hand like I could before. I CAN push them further into the cases if I LEAN on the bullet against the side of my bench, but it takes some effort. I'm fairly sure these rounds will survive the trip from the magazine to the chamber.
I plan to shoot these rounds tomorrow, and I'll feed them from the magazine.
I also plan to load my next batch using my new "undersized" mandrel from Lee. I may even try some annealed cases with the undersized mandrel, just to check neck tension.
I'm guessing the annealing eliminated some "springback" from the sized brass??
SSB