C5rider
Member
Started preparing some new 30-40 Krag brass for my 25 Krag. I've had the dies for some time and my cousin has reloaded ammo for me before. I believe the dies to be set accurately as I've not played with them since he reloaded. The shells he reloaded worked in my gun.
I started with fresh brass as the ones that he reloaded all had cracked necks. I assume that they were not annealed and therefore, the reason for the cracking.
I annealed 20 cases and started running them into the die. I used Lee lube in my RCBS sizing die. I hadn't trimmed the necks for length as I assumed that I should do that when they are sized, just in case it might change the length once sized.
when I ran the first one through the die, it crushed the neck down. I tried another with similar results. I ran an old shell casing into the die and it worked fine. I then tried a casing that I've not annealed yet, with lube. It went in but the neck is not straight. I rememeber seeing some of this on the shells when I first fired them (before my cousin re-loaded them) and they fire-formed to the chamber when fired. It didn't bow in like the others.
I then tried another one that was annealed and it didn't bulge in but, I'm wondering if I should size before I anneal the rest? I thought with the amount of sizing I would be doing, that annealing first would be beneficial. Now I'm not so sure. I didn't over-heat the brass and make it too soft (I don't think) and if anything, I felt that I was a little light on the heating.
Any insight will be greatly appreciated.
thanks.
Here's a picture of the brass. The first ones to the left are fired casing (cousin's reload), the annealed (squished brass), the next two are annealed (but not squished) and then the last one is not annealed and re-sized.
I started with fresh brass as the ones that he reloaded all had cracked necks. I assume that they were not annealed and therefore, the reason for the cracking.
I annealed 20 cases and started running them into the die. I used Lee lube in my RCBS sizing die. I hadn't trimmed the necks for length as I assumed that I should do that when they are sized, just in case it might change the length once sized.
when I ran the first one through the die, it crushed the neck down. I tried another with similar results. I ran an old shell casing into the die and it worked fine. I then tried a casing that I've not annealed yet, with lube. It went in but the neck is not straight. I rememeber seeing some of this on the shells when I first fired them (before my cousin re-loaded them) and they fire-formed to the chamber when fired. It didn't bow in like the others.
I then tried another one that was annealed and it didn't bulge in but, I'm wondering if I should size before I anneal the rest? I thought with the amount of sizing I would be doing, that annealing first would be beneficial. Now I'm not so sure. I didn't over-heat the brass and make it too soft (I don't think) and if anything, I felt that I was a little light on the heating.
Any insight will be greatly appreciated.
thanks.
Here's a picture of the brass. The first ones to the left are fired casing (cousin's reload), the annealed (squished brass), the next two are annealed (but not squished) and then the last one is not annealed and re-sized.