New Winchester Brass Soft?

[johnl]

In the 30 years of reloading I never experienced soft brass after one reload ever. I heard of some Starline needing annealing but never Winchester. I have gotten over 15 reloads out of older brass, i usually chuck them when the neck splits. New batch of brass is soft. Cases pictured is 45-70 nice plinking load is 3031 40gr pushing a 404 gas check bullet. I guess I have to fire up the torch and give annealing a try.

 

[Rory McCanuck]

Annealing will just make them softer.

Just checking the easy stuff first, are the mouths well champhered?
Try expanding the mouth a bit more?

A firing or two will harden them up, but it stinks ruining brand new brass because it is so soft.

 

[bearhunter]

Annealing will just make them softer.

Just checking the easy stuff first, are the mouths well champhered?
Try expanding the mouth a bit more?

A firing or two will harden them up, but it stinks ruining brand new brass because it is so soft.

UMMMM? Annealing will only make the brass softer, if you quench the brass in water after heating it up.

If it's allowed to air cool, it should harden.

I actually quit using Winchester brass for many years, because it got way to hard, way to quickly and was a pain in the but to size.

 

[LUTNIT]

UMMMM? Annealing will only make the brass softer, if you quench the brass in water after heating it up.

If it's allowed to air cool, it should harden.

Brass, unlike steel, is unaffected by quenching. Whether air cooled or water quenched it still softens so long as it reached a certain minimum temperature before cooling. The old technique for annealing (softening) brass was to heat them with a torch in an inch or so of water and knock them over to keep the heat from spreading to the bases and over softening there.

I only air cool my annealed brass and there is zero hardening; they only get softer.

 

[Rory McCanuck]

UMMMM? Annealing will only make the brass softer, if you quench the brass in water after heating it up.

If it's allowed to air cool, it should harden.

I actually quit using Winchester brass for many years, because it got way to hard, way to quickly and was a pain in the but to size.

Uh, no.