How many times do you anneal for 5.7 to .308?

[bigjake]

I annealed once after opening up the mouth, tumbled with ss pins, then drew them down to .305. I then annealed one more time to finish the swaging.

Could I skip the second annealing?

Thanks for the wisdom from the smartest most accurate bunch of men in the whole cast boolit forum :swagemine::-D

[rancher1913]

just wash good and anneal once, doing it twice does not accomplish anything but waste your time. personally I dont like the pins at this stage, just citric acid and dawn, I use pins on the final product.

[jdfoxinc]

But does the brass work harden when sized down?

[rancher1913]

I take 380 down to 357 and no problems.

[MUSTANG]

The base diameter of the 5.7x27 is 0.313 inches. Sizing it down for jackets will reduce it only 0.006. You only need one good annealing.

Neck is a different matter. Taking the neck up to an outside diameter of ~ 0.307 will result in neck splitting if not adequately annealed. (You will loose 15% to 35% of cases due to neck splits if you do not anneal in my experience from early work I did with making 5.7 into .30 caliber jackets.

I only anneal once and do not have any problems with nose forming an 8S Ogive on my 175 grain bullets I make with 5.7 Brass. Just make sure you get a full anneal on the brass when you do it once.

+1 on a good ultrasonic citric acid cleaning on 5.7 cases. I do not worry about tumbling "For Appearance" after the bullet is formed. They "Look Good" if you do a final Shine Finish after making them; but they do not shoot any different.

[bigjake]

Do you all have a mold that has tapered cores? I made a mold with straight cores. I cant push the core in evenly without really, really horsing down on the handle. there are empty spots in the jacket after core seating. when I torch the core inside the jacket and melt it, it seats easy and fills out to .306.5" very nicely.
What is the best and easiest way to deal with this problem?

thanks

[clodhopper]

My core mold is cut with a 1/4" drill.
The 118 degree point goes in first.
The diameter is small enough, the wall thickness near the web of the 5.7 case/jacket is not a problem.

[MUSTANG]

I cast a straight core at .215" diameter. I then swage to .225 diameter to achieve consistent weights. I then swage into the 5.7 Jacket. None have a taper.

[bigjake]

I cast a straight core at .215" diameter. I then swage to .225 diameter to achieve consistent weights. I then swage into the 5.7 Jacket. None have a taper.

Mustang, what weight bullets are your end products?

[MUSTANG]

I swage 175 grain bullets from 5.7 x 28 cases. I get a bit anal on exact weight. When I swage cores to get consistent core weights; I save the small lead thread elected from the core swage die. I then use these (trim as necessary) to bring the bullet up to exactly 175 grains. I weigh the Jacket" and a core; then cut a small extruded wire piece to make it exactly 175 grains. The wire piece goes to the bottom of the jacket and the core inserted on top of the wire so it is at the bullet base and gets swaged into the jacket along with the core and there is no "Weak" point in the bullet.

my .308 swage bullets are an 8S (ogive). A different Ogive point may result in a slight difference for others.