Wildcatting a .50BMG?

I am seventeen.

I don't intend to actually load these cartridges with real gun powder - that could be disasterous. Their pockets are broken up pretty badly. Fortunately, I've got some rings and some eyelets and solder, so I could turn them into keychains!

I tried getting these to neck up for some practice, and to see if there was actually enough metal on the .50BMG cases to actually get them to work, so when I got old enough I could try loading real ones. Since I don't know what kind of pressure to load them up to, that's going to be a bit of a challenge...

The propane torch is running out of gas, I'm going to pick up another can when I go back to Home Depot.

- Dave.
 
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It's me or you use the term "Annealing" wrong?
When you anneal silver or gold, you don't quench them in water since that harden them (see how to harden steel).
Normaly you need to do it until it's glowing red and let it cool by air.

But for brass casing... I might be wrong.
 
different metals act differently. Heat steel for a while, or roast lead just below its melting point for a while then quench - hardens up. Quite the opposite for brass. In fact brass hardens by working it, and softens by heating it
 
My limited understanding of copper/brass is that the quenching in water actually doesn't make any difference. Except that it limits the area that the heat effects, I.E. anealing the base is bad.
 
Has anyone pulled a bullet from a .17 HMR then put it in a necked down .50 BMG . Probably would disintegrate the bullet when fired and barrel life would probably be very short. But it would be a good conversation piece in your gun room.
 
BEARMAN said:
Has anyone pulled a bullet from a .17 HMR then put it in a necked down .50 BMG . Probably would disintegrate the bullet when fired and barrel life would probably be very short. But it would be a good conversation piece in your gun room.
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Just as a gag round, certainly not meant to be fired, I took a 20x102 Vulcan case, stuffed a 50BMG case into the mouth, then stuffed a hunting round of some sort (A 7mm REMMag with the belt ground off, IIRC, then put a bullet into the thing. It stood about a foot tall. If I can find a photo, I'll post it.
 
Icefire said:
It's me or you use the term "Annealing" wrong?
When you anneal silver or gold, you don't quench them in water since that harden them (see how to harden steel).
Normaly you need to do it until it's glowing red and let it cool by air.

But for brass casing... I might be wrong.
Click to expand...

That is wrong.

Ferrous (iron bearing) alloys harden when quenched from critical temperature. When you are annealling gold or silver, quenching actually helps the annealing process. It does as well with brass. Brass can be made "dead soft" by heating to a dull cherry red (as seen in a dark room) and then quenching it. Dead soft is too soft for cartridges as it can then be deformed with a fingernail. That is why you want precise temperature control when forming cases. Soft enough to form, but hard enough to be rigid.

As an aside: Non-ferrous materials can be hardened by heat treatment. Gold, silver, and aluminum can be "aged" by heating them to a certain temperature and then keeping them there for a time. They keep that hardness when allowed to slowly cool down with the furnace afterward. Doing the same thing with steel would result in annealled steel. Likewise, quenching the non-ferrous material from the critical temperature would anneal it. Quenching the ferrous material from the critical temperature would harden it.
 
I've been a steel fabricator (aka Metal fabricator) for all my working life, ~25 years,and still metalurgy boggles me.:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
Yeah it is! Now I just have to get a barrel blank and custom chamber reamer for it.

P5290086.jpg
 
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