brass case annealing

[middaycowboy]

just started reloading .357 pistol calibre, reloaded the same cases 5 times now and was wondering if the cases harden, seem to remember at school that brass hardens with age and when being worked and has to be annealed now and again to soften it, seems that to keep sizing and crimping may make them brittle, any thoughts please guys :confused: cheers Tezz

[dicehorn]

just started reloading .357 pistol calibre, reloaded the same cases 5 times now and was wondering if the cases harden, seem to remember at school that brass hardens with age and when being worked and has to be annealed now and again to soften it, seems that to keep sizing and crimping may make them brittle, any thoughts please guys :confused: cheers Tezz

Hi Tezz

Firstly don't do it myself because having read a few articles about it and in particular this site:

http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html

decided to do it right, was going to be fairly expensive especially as I do not have a bench rest rifle - read it for yourself and judge or perhaps there are forum members who can give you information based on their experiences of annealing cases.

Peter

[Treebone]

Midday,
Dont bother mate, its not worth the hassle, bin the lot and buy a new batch.

TB.

[Simon G]

Agree with treebone, keep loading them till they split, then bin them. That said, I have some .357 and .38 cases that are probably close to 20 years old!!

[MikB]

If you're using suitable bullets - usually semi-wadcutters - you can taper crimp instead of roll-crimping the casemouth. That would reduce working of the brass and make them last longer. But trying to anneal 357 cases is probably too tricky to be worth it - too much risk of softening the case web and head, without a helluva lot of fiddle-faddle - unless you've thought of a clever way to do it.

Regards,
MikB

[middaycowboy]

thanx for all the info guys, didn`t realise it was so involved, after paying £12 for 100 Starline cases I shant bother, cheers Tezz :)

[harricook]

just started reloading .357 pistol calibre, reloaded the same cases 5 times now and was wondering if the cases harden, seem to remember at school that brass hardens with age and when being worked and has to be annealed now and again to soften it, seems that to keep sizing and crimping may make them brittle, any thoughts please guys :confused: cheers Tezz

Hi

Make sure that when you 'flare' the case mouths - you only do it just enough to get the bullet in that way you are not working the brass too much.

As Simon G has said - I also have cases that are easily 20 yrs old & have been reloaded many many times !

However :o:o if you do want any once fired either 357 or 38 sp - mail me :D

Cheers

Roy

[Marlin.45]

If you are loading with BP then annealing is worth doing. The softer mouths open up better with the 'softer' BP charge and seal the chamber better. At least that is the case with the .45 Colts cases in my Marlin 1894.

But, with nitro rounds I have never bothered and have no reason to start. I still have Winchester brass that has been re-used at least 20 times without any signs of case hardening...............yet :rolleyes:

Paul