Lee Deluxe 3-Die Set 22 Hornet

[wymberley]

blooming heck wyberley, that's a lot of words to describe spring (or metal memory). I don't anneal myself preferring to use the sign as over work and time to change to brass. Hornet brass is so small and thin I have some doubt about annealing it perfectly without investing a lot of cash into the kit- hence I am prepared to buy more brass instead

Ah, but I didn't post for your benefit, but for the not so experienced loaders who may have been mislead not understanding the difference between a serviceable 'soft' case and a work hardened 'springy' one.

 

I entirely agree with this post. You will never get a really tight bullet fit with the Hornet as the bullet will simply reverse the action of the sizer and expand the neck. Crimping a soft case does have some advantages but doing so to a work hardened case is simply treating the symptom and not the defect. As you rightly say, at less than 5p a pop after several reloads, just scrap them when necessary.

[fieldwanderer]

So, what's the right way to go about it wymberley? There's a guy on YouTube heating to blue then dropping them into water - to my mind that's more or less hardening them; annealing I guess.

 

I'd have thought the right way would result in plain brass - so that would be normalising? If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say they need heating to red and cooling down slowly followed by heating until the coulor just begins to change and quenching but that's about the limit of what I know.

[wymberley]

So, what's the right way to go about it wymberley? There's a guy on YouTube heating to blue then dropping them into water - to my mind that's more or less hardening them; annealing I guess.

 

I'd have thought the right way would result in plain brass - so that would be normalising? If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say they need heating to red and cooling down slowly followed by heating until the coulor just begins to change and quenching but that's about the limit of what I know.

As an RAF rigger, I spent a fair time smashing and bashing bits of metal which was going to be installed in an aircraft so a modicum of knowledge and skill was required. If for my own use I wanted to use some brass I had use of the same furnace facilities so have never tried it freehand with cases. As said, with Hornet rounds, it's simpler to bin them and buy new. If I were using Lapua cases in a 308, I might well concentrate my mind.

 

Have a look at bisonballistics.com where there's a good write up. When annealing brass the temperature level is less critical than, say, aluminium alloy and as such doing it freehand with cases is reasonably straightforward. There are several websites on the subject and after a bit of trial and error it should be possible to make a decent fist of it. The one thing to watch is that as you're only annealing a relatively thin piece of material, once it warms up the colour can 'run' very quickly and consequently it's quite easy to overcook it.

[fieldwanderer]

It's not for a hornet, just thought I'd ask while we're on the subject. I've heat treated steel but that's as much as I know. When I served my apprenticeship, I was taught about this sort of thing but my memorie's shot these days.

 

I'll go do some reading

[wymberley]

but my memorie's shot these days.

 

 

And you think that you have a problem at your age! In a couple of weeks we have a bit of a do in Herts celebrating 50 years since we finished our apprenticeship. I'm shedding brain cells by millions a day.

[Amazed]

You can get some die you dab on the case that change colour at the right temp.

 

Or did I imagine this

 

Lol

Karl

[fieldwanderer]

Lol, I do! Funnily enough, my last boss during my apprenticeship said I was "an old man in a young mans body" I don't think it was just a phase.....

Edited August 14, 2013 by fieldwanderer

[wymberley]

You can get some die you dab on the case that change colour at the right temp.

 

Or did I imagine this

 

Lol

Karl

Tempilaq

[kent]

To correctly anneal temperature range should be spot on (hard with thin cases). Pointing out the Obvious there are some fools on u-tube who shoot themselves to" have a see" how good their new bullet proof vest is

[fieldwanderer]

Absolutely - I was using the guy on YouTube as an example of how varied advice out there is.

[ThePestControllers]

The cases that were very slack after the first loading process (bullet fell out ) i just emptied the cases of powder and used the full size hand die to resize them and then put the bullets back in job sorted.

the only thing is after i resized them with the hand die and put the bullet in you can see where the case has distorted or stretched to accommodate the bullet.

but when they were originally resized in the lee deluxe set full length die the bullet hardly distorted the case in fact i could hardly see were the bullet was pressed in

[Amazed]

The cases that were very slack after the first loading process (bullet fell out ) i just emptied the cases of powder and used the full size hand die to resize them and then put the bullets back in job sorted.

the only thing is after i resized them with the hand die and put the bullet in you can see where the case has distorted or stretched to accommodate the bullet.

but when they were originally resized in the lee deluxe set full length die the bullet hardly distorted the case in fact i could hardly see were the bullet was pressed in

You haven't set the collet die right in the press. It needs to compress the case right at the end of the stroke before it hits the stop.

[ThePestControllers]

thanks i will give it a go i have just adjusted the press because not 100% sure the lever was fully pressing down without catching the bench but now i know its totaly clear.

Cheers

Daz