New production Winchester 22 Hornet brass: go or no-go?

[Bill K]

either one. Just watch the flame.

[Wiserfool]

Originally Posted by Bill K

With a small socket to hold the case and a blow torch. Depending on size of brass, just time it to the point of starting to turn orange/red.

Likewise Bill. A man after my own heart. All that stuff about machine consistency, repeatability, etc is primarily marketing hype. If a guy has the coin, sure, drop $200 to $750 on the latest annealing machine. But if a guy is careful and meticulous, the pawn shop $.50 socket and $5 3/8 electric drill do just as good a job. It does take a bit longer, but I enjoy my hobby so that's fine with me.

[Flynmoose]

I have found that Nosler 22 Hornet brass works for me. I have also used PPU in 22 Hornet and 7.62X39 does OK.
Bill

[georgeld]

When annealing watch the case at the very mouth.

Soon as it starts to change colors QUIT!

Bill if y9u heat it til red, that's TOO hot.

[Wiserfool]

Originally Posted by georgeld

When annealing watch the case at the very mouth.

Soon as it starts to change colors QUIT!

Bill if y9u heat it til red, that's TOO hot.

I agree George. There will be a quick flash of orange in the flame just as the brass reaches over temperature, then another second or two until you see the brass start to turn red. I sacrifice a couple of brass and get the time down when the orange flash in the flame occurs (zinc burning off or something, can't remember) then anneal my main bulk of that calibre by stopping about a second before the flash would occur. Has worked well for me.

[long shot]

I recently loaded a couple hundred Winchester 22 Hornet "new red bag" brass prior to heading out on a PD shoot in May. 21 cases out of 200 split lengthwise in the body of the casing on the first firing. I actually bought these to make them into 17 AH but the brass would not form, it simply collapsed. I've used the same forming method using about any type of brass you can imagine and this is the ONLY brass I've encountered that would not form properly.

Aaron

[T_the_Tinkerer]

Originally Posted by long shot

I recently loaded a couple hundred Winchester 22 Hornet "new red bag" brass prior to heading out on a PD shoot in May. 21 cases out of 200 split lengthwise in the body of the casing on the first firing. I actually bought these to make them into 17 AH but the brass would not form, it simply collapsed. I've used the same forming method using about any type of brass you can imagine and this is the ONLY brass I've encountered that would not form properly.

Aaron

That's disheartening to hear, but needed nonetheless. I may just use the 180 WW brass that I have on hand (blue label), just anneal the top half before I fireform.

So let me get this straight. You loaded 22 hornet loads to shoot in a 22 hornet, and you still lost about 10%? The old WW stuff got at least 8 full powered loads and I have yet to split a single case. I really am thinking I may not want to invest the money in these new brass...

[TinMan]

Reloads before the onset of cracking depends on the chamber that round was shot in. I have four standard 22 Hornets, all with their factory chambers. I segregate the brass to the rifle, and only neck size the brass after the fire forming new brass to that rifle. The rifle with the sloppiest factory chamber will start to crack necks after 4 firings. The tightest chamber will start to crack after 15 or 16 reloads. The middle two chambers will start to crack after 7 or 8 reloads. All the brass is older blue bag WW, and use SR primers, usually WSR. Just an FYI, if it helps anybody.

[T_the_Tinkerer]

Thanks for that, TinMan. The only issue here is that 'long shot' split cases on the first firing, not the first reload, but the first firing. That's cause for concern. I'm sure by how he describes the account, that this isn't typical.

[WyoBull]

Butane torch for me as well but I use a drill bit and insert it in the case mouth. After getting too high a percentage of split necks the past several years after just one, possibly 2 firings, I now anneal all of my new brass.