Annealing Pistol Brass?

[Steve4102]

I anneal a lot of my rifle brass. It keeps the neck from work hardening and helps them last a long time.

I was thinking about my Starline 10MM brass. It's hard to come by, it's expensive and I have read that it can develop split necks after only a few firings.

What about annealing pistol brass to soften the case mouth and increase it's useful life? Can it be done and have any of you successfully done it?

Thanks
Steve

[The_Shadow]

Hello Steve, The percentage of brass that gets ruined really doesn't warrant the annealing of the 10mm brass for my use.  I may loose a piece more often than before it splits.

However, it may be more useful in my 9x25Dillon uses because of the amount of neck work being done.  I set my dies with that cartridge to fit the chamber and headspace with almost no slack.  I get a few splits with reused brass from time to time.

There have been some nice systems to provide the annealing process, but the 10mm case is short.  The 10mm case gets worked in some chambers more at its web than at its neck...

[REDLINE]

The cost is actually quite reasonable ordering direct from Starline by the thousand.  Less than .16 cents per brass cartridge case shipped.  Just ordered a few thousand myself.

[Steve4102]

  Yeah I know, I have a few K of Starline among others and I will be purchasing more when it becomes available.  My point is that things are pretty tough out there, everything is in short supply, I would like to know what I can do to breathe new life into used brass when and if things get really tough.  Don't forget, this Administration is not going to give up until he has his way.  Some say things are getting better and will soon be much better.  I have my doubts, I think this is only the beginning and I want to be prepared for the worst.

[blastfact]

Steve

If you can do it right go for it. BUT I wouldn't waste energy on *-*. I've bought and shot there 10mm brass and I don't like it. It seems to soft right out of the box. And the primer pockets seem to get loose in a hurry for me. I buy the Winchester Brass at twice the cost and treat it like gold.

One thing that has scared me about *-* 10mm brass is the little black spots if find here and there on the other case wall. When I clean that area and put it under magnification my eye see a pin hole. Please be aware ,,, I'm one of those nut case's that always load max and above and have thrown mag primes in the mix and like Blue Dot! So I admit I live on the edge concerning 10mm,,, and I like it!

I'm one of those guys that would give his left nut for small primer 10mm brass. I have one and and would love to have 10k.

Good Luck

[REDLINE]

One thing that has scared me about *-* 10mm brass is the little black spots if find here and there on the other case wall. When I clean that area and put it under magnification my eye see a pin hole.

Interesting.  I know the little black spots you mentioned.  I'll have to inspect them a bit closer and check for a pin hole.  I'm newer to handloading and so far have never got to the point of actually reloading any brass.  Just working up loads at this point with different powders and whatnot.  But I'll check out the already spent ones I've loaded and fired.

If or when I can find some I think I'll have to get some Winchester brass to compare.  So far the way I've looked at it is that it's been outside my scope of reason to spend the extra for the Winchester (practically 3X the cost of Starline).  But maybe after some side by side comparison with the Starline I've been using, I'll reconsider.

Won't make a hill of beans a difference for now though, as I can't buy any bullets to save my life (not that I want anyway).

[The_Shadow]

I also found the Winchester brass better strength wise.  However I find it to discolor or tarnish faster than any other brand.
Now I have about 12 or 15 of the small primer pocketed 10mm brass, yes I like them also.  I wish i could find more of those, I'd use the for the 9x25Dillon projects. 

[sqlbullet]

The challenge I see is this...To anneal down as far as the brass gets worked, you are only .25" or so above the case head.  Hard to soften the brass at the top to any effect without possibly having a negative effect on the brass you want hard.

And, the benefit even if you do overcome this hurdle is minimal considering brass loss and the general life of the brass anyway.  Straight wall pistol brass doesn't get worked in 10mm like a bottleneck case does in a semi-auto rifle.

[blastfact]

I also found the Winchester brass better strength wise.  However I find it to discolor or tarnish faster than any other brand.
Now I have about 12 or 15 of the small primer pocketed 10mm brass, yes I like them also.  I wish i could find more of those, I'd use the for the 9x25Dillon projects. 

To date I've not had any issue's with tarnish or brass color issues. I read your post concerning that and went to check some of my stored Nuke once shot loads. All looked good. The brass was shot with over book Blue Dot and Fed Mag Primers. And that's how they are loaded now.

What got my attention after I bought some Win 10mm from a LGS was the Win Brass weighed more. On average 3gn more. Light bulb went off and my three brain cells woke up. Well one woke up, the other two are over loaded with pain. With 22lb springs and 24ib springs the *-* brass always had deeper if not brass ruining dents from extraction hitting the slide. The worse the Win ever had was a little ding. Then came the little black dots from the *-*. I like all shooters have seen the little black dots on there brass. And little black dots on the brass gets my attention concerning otherwise perfect spent brass. I also noticed the primer pockets loosened up. I did not like that and black dots.

I use a mixture of Fed, Win, Rem and Russian primers. They all pattern out the same and the heavy Glock spade point has never ruptured any primers. With Glocks IMHO one needs to look at edge primer flow. Little blisters coming off the edge of the spade strike before, ie flatten primer. They hit hard, large and deep.

It's one thing if I'm beating hell out of my G20 and 500 rounds into a wonderful day at the range and see black case wall dots. Could be a flake of powder that got the smash. But when I know the chamber is clean and black dots show up..... Hummmm here comes the magnifier.

IMHO *-* is what you take to the recycle place if your a balls to the wall 10mm shooter.