22 R2, Lovell - old brass - can it be saved?

[cheggie]

I've got a bunch of formed brass for my grandfather's 22 R2 Hiwall. Some is loaded, and it is very old - I don't think he continued reloading after dabbling with it in the 1950's. A lot of the loaded stuff has evidence of cracked necks on the brass, but the empty brass looks good. Can I do anything to try to save this 70 year old brass? It's based on a 25-20 single shot case, not impossible to find anymore, but expensive.....

[Mk42gunner]

It is worth a try anyway. I would practice on something that is readily available and cheap first.

Robert

[Bent Ramrod]

You can anneal the necks of the good stuff and should be able to go on using it. Back when those cases were made, the metallurgy of cartridge brass was such that a phenomenon called "season cracking" would occur. Stressed parts of the case, particularly the necks, especially if they held bullets for a long time, would spontaneously crack. This could happen in new ammunition if stored long enough.

It probably didn't help that the 2-R Lovell was developed during the velocity craze and loadings for it tended to be quite hot, shortening the life of the brass anyway.

I save every one of my neck cracked .25-20 Single Shot cases and trim them down to .32 Long Rifle length for use in my .32 Long Ballard and Winchester rifles. These cases are slightly longer than the original .32 Long cases and use the hollow base, inside lubricated boolit. Gives the old cases a new lease on life and I haven't seen a one of them fail yet. If they crack further, I'll trim them again to .32 Long length and use the outside lubricated boolits. Waste not, want not.

[EDG]

Captech International (Jamison brass previously) makes that brass now. it is expensive but it should last forever if you are careful.

http://www.captechintl.com/products.php?cat=7

Yes the old brass can be annealed.
Figure out a way to spin it with a drill.

Heat it with a propane torch until just the neck and shoulder turns a wet looking aquamarine color.
Do no heat the case head. Cool the case in water.

Do no heat red hot. Do not let the heat get to the case head.

[cheggie]

Well, I probably won't shoot this one a whole lot, but it's good to know the brass might be worth saving. A lot of it was not loaded, the stuff that was did exhibit a lot of "season cracking" at the necks. I broke those down, but I expect to loose the loaded stuff when I fire it. There are probably 75 cases that were not loaded, and I will try to save those. As I found it, it looked like Grandpa played around with reloading in the late 40's early 50's, and never did it again. Found one rusty can of fluffy yellow IMR 4198 - sprinkled that outside, can was also too rotten to save. Still, I inherited this rifle, and I reload, so all's well that ends well. It included a custom "hammer" die set, like a lee loader.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Be happy. Just try and find brass for an OM 70 22 Hornet converted to the 22 Lindahl Chucker...