Annealing Cases - Anyone every do pistol cases? 45 Colt
Evening all,
I have reloaded for year, cast my own bullets and for a loooooong time have never annealed cases. Had a bad experience as a kid trying to anneal a bunch of Dad's 222 rem brass. I LOOKED easy in the magazine article! Needless to say it did not turn our as hoped or expected, ruined it all, still surprised that Dad didn't get madder than he did...
Fast forward a lot of years and I picked up a CZ 527 in 17 Hornady Hornet. Of course just when the big ammo scare hit. You could buy it on line for about $60 per 20, not happening. Found another sight that deals with small calibers and they were quite an energetic bunch and thoroughly explained how to form 17HH brass from 22H, more work then you would think but all worked out very well, that rifle is a little laser.
Anyway, as part of the forming process you HAVE to anneal the cases to make it work. I have learned a few things through the years and one is to know my limitations so no more hand annealing "by eye". Did a bunch of research on line and ended up purchasing a Bench Source Annealer. Not cheap but a fantastic piece of equipment, worked great! Since then I've used it on all my bottle neck cartridges and 45-70 brass, again, very good results.
So that brings me to the question, I had picked up a Marlin Cowboy with 24" barrel in 45 Colt. Fun piece but very slow twist 1-38" as measured, and a large and sloppy chamber. So large that it would bulge the cases in the bottom 1/3 and a lot of soot down the side of the case.
I've since sent the rifle to Dave Clay at DRC custom for a rebarrel, 1-20" twist Douglas Premium barrel and good chamber specs. Just got it back today and getting ready to load some ammo and was wondering if I should give annealing a try on my 45 Colt brass? If I shoot it and I get sooty brass I know I will not like it. Granted you cannot shoot pooch loads and expect a good chamber seal but at moderate and above pressures I hope to see relatively clean brass with a good chamber.
I know with a case this short you have to watch for heat going too far down to the head (soft). My main concern is that the neck could be too soft for a good crimp. Primarily reload Starline brass.
Your thoughts? Anyone have experience annealing pistol cases?
Cheers!
Wade
Semper Fi!
Annealing Cases - Anyone every do pistol cases? 45 Colt
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nueces
If you go back and read the earlier thread on salt annealing posted here, you'll find that trouble was experienced by someone raising the salt temperature to a stated 1000F, which is much, much too high for function or safety. Salt bath heat treating is a generations old process and well understood.
Read the thread many times. I don't think it's worth it for case annealing. I'm the one that had it up to 1000. It was the only way to get it so the salt didn't stick to the cases. I was aware that I was well over the temp where it should have worked. People are free to use whatever method they want. There are better options available then a salt bath.