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August 2, 2019, 11:04 PM | #1 |
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Why anneal the shoulder?
I see the reason to anneal the neck. But why do I want to anneal the brass' shoulder? It contacts the chamber datum to counter the impact of the firing pin. Why do I want it to be soft?
It is not a rhetorical question. Now your turn. Thanks. -TL Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk |
August 2, 2019, 11:40 PM | #2 |
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You cannot possibly anneal all of the neck without annealing a portion of the shoulder.
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August 3, 2019, 12:19 AM | #3 |
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People anneal in a pan of water. The water depth is set to 1/8" below the shoulder junction. That means they purposely expose the shoulder to the flame. Or they could have raised the water level.
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August 3, 2019, 11:56 AM | #4 | |
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Quote:
Annealing: I sat down one day to put a list of rules together that covered annealing. And then? I made an annealing tool based on the few rules I found. Reloading Forums have 'go to people' when it comes to specialties. They do not like competition so I avoid causing members to repeat after me or compete with the 'go to people'. I form cases, when forming cases I anneal to a point below the shoulder in anticipation of where the new shoulder will be formed; it is a mind boggling thing but because my cases do not have head space my shoulder does not move when I size and or form. Somehow my old shoulder does not move and the shoulder I finish with is a new shoulder that was formed from the case body while! at the same time my old shoulder became part of the neck, I have sizing dies that have case body support, it does not seem fair to other reloaders but I accepted the limitations. I can not move the shoulder back, I can not bump it back with a die that has case body support. That leaves a very hard sell, it the shoulder does not move back what does it do? If my shoulder moves forward I want I want the brass to be able to make the turn at the case body/shoulder juncture and at the shoulder/neck juncture. But if you are able to move the shoulder back when sizing you are exempt, being exempt allow the reloader to continue bumping and annealing the shoulder has little to no value. F. Guffey |
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August 3, 2019, 12:32 PM | #5 |
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Annealing doesn't make it soft. It makes it less brittle. Less brittle means the case won't crack as soon. The shoulders need annealing because they work harden just like the neck does.
"...water depth is set to 1/8" below..." It's not set. It's 'filled to just below the shoulder'. Does have to be exactly .125". "...counter the impact of the firing pin..." There's nothing to counter. The FP hits the primer just hard enough to ignite the priming compound. And nothing else. The datum point is just a name for the place on the chamber wall to gauge head space tolerance. It has nothing to do with countering anything. Like F. Guffey says, cases do not have head space. Head space is a rifle manufacturing tolerance and nothing else. The case expands in every direction to the chamber walls to seal the chamber and nothing else. All shoulders get to the side of the chamber. Chamber wouldn't be sealed if they didn't.
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August 3, 2019, 01:25 PM | #6 | |
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Then why should we avoid annealing the brass head?
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I didn't say it does. -TL Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk |
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August 3, 2019, 01:41 PM | #7 | |
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Excessive Headspace?
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If you are using standard dies, adjusted properly, to resize to SAAMI specs, you will not have excessive headspace. You may be able to reduce headspace by backing the die out slightly. I have never heard of misfires due to excessive headspace. You anneal the shoulder because it will be worked when full-length resizing. You do not anneal the case head because you do NOT work the case head.
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............ Last edited by Marco Califo; August 3, 2019 at 01:47 PM. Reason: Excessive Headspace? |
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August 3, 2019, 01:42 PM | #8 |
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I've won more than a few dollars betting cases are typically against the chamber headspace stop when their primer fires.
This is really simple physics most people should be able to figure out. Even easier to learn case heads are not held against bolt faces when fired when case head clearance is greater than zero. The FP hits the primer hard enough to ignite the priming compound then in some thousands more until peak pressure pushes the FP back a ways. And ends up deeper in a dud primer. If case head clearance is excessive, primers won't be dented enough to fire. Most rifle primers need at least .020" deep dent to fire. Ask their maker what specs are. Last edited by Bart B.; August 3, 2019 at 02:03 PM. |
August 3, 2019, 02:11 PM | #9 | ||
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Quote:
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Work hardening of the shoulder due to full length resizing is a valid point. -TL Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk |
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August 3, 2019, 02:40 PM | #10 |
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Shoulders occasionally split, too. They get work-hardened by being expanded under pressure and extruded by the sizing die. It's less frequent than neck splits, but the causes are the same: Work-hardening brass decreases its breaking point elongation until its ability to stretch without breaking is so small that even the small stretch needed to expand to fill a chamber is too much for it.
What most shooters call "annealing" is really just stress relieving, aka partial annealing in the copper alloy industry lingo. True annealing uses a higher combination of time and temperature to make brass very soft and that weakens it by growing its grain size.
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August 3, 2019, 02:54 PM | #11 |
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I agree, unclenick. I recalled seeing one or two split shoulders all these years. When I anneal, I mostly focus on the neck. Unavoidably I have to include at least part of the shoulder as I don't do it in a pan of water. Thanks.
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August 3, 2019, 03:20 PM | #12 | |||
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TL, YOU asked "why you dont?" The answer is clear that there is no reason to try to, and no one suggested you should. You are the only person I have ever heard explain why something that is not done could have bad consequences. BTW, you omitted a word that changes meaning of your post. Are you collating a list of stupid things not to do? Quote:
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August 3, 2019, 03:49 PM | #13 |
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If you take a look at Atlas Development Group's description of their brass, they advertise that they double-strike the heads to get them extra hard for longer reloading life. I also recall Hatcher mentioning he had to get case heads struck extra deeply before he got a case that would withstand a load capable of destroying a Garand receiver. Other attempts to achieve destructive over-pressure had resulted in so much head brass flow that the cases always blew out before he could damage a receiver.
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August 3, 2019, 04:35 PM | #14 |
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Marco. I meant to say annealing the head is NOT safe so should be avoided. It is not because the head hasn't been work hardened, as it has indeed been work hardened by the manufacturer already. Apology for the typo.
I don't want to anneal shoulder myself. But everyone seems to be doing without thinking it. That's why I asked. It is a real question, not a rhetoric to make a statement. I thank you for your input. -TL Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk |
August 4, 2019, 09:31 AM | #15 | |
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Quote:
F. Guffey |
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August 4, 2019, 10:02 AM | #16 | |
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Again, a friend built a few magnificent rifles with wildcat chambers, he made the chamber reamer etc. And then he went to the firing range, he had 5 case head separations our of the first 10 rounds fired. Where was the case? I informed him firing a case with the shoulder of the case against the shoulder of the chamber was a bad habit. I told him it was possible to determine where the case was when fired, and I informed him he could have determined the amount of clearance before he pulled the trigger. He thought it was about something I could get away with and he couldn't. He could not understand how I fired cases with shoulders so far from the shoulder of the chamber the shoulder of the case could not see the shoulder of the chamber. Again, I have fired rounds that were declared 'risky stuff' because in one situation the shoulder of the case was .127" from the shoulder of the chamber. In another the case neck shortened to .217". He could not understand if the case shoulder was against the shoulder of the chamber the neck would not have shortened. And the rest of the story goes something like 'that is the reason firing ammo with the case shoulder against the chamber shoulder is a bad habit'. F. Guffey |
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August 4, 2019, 11:16 AM | #17 |
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Yes I won. Used cases and chambers within SAAMI specs. A realistic test. What 99.999...% of all instances will involve.
Of course, if chamber headspace is long enough to allow a case rim to stop against the extractor claw in .001...% of the time as your example is based on, then the primer can fire with several thousandths case shoulder clearance to the chamber shoulder. This ain't rocket science. And stop putting your thumb on the scale to tip its needle in your favor. Last edited by Bart B.; August 4, 2019 at 11:23 AM. |
August 4, 2019, 12:41 PM | #18 | |
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Quote:
The neck is no safety related but it is longevity related (and may some consistency of hold) Where does the brass change form one to another? And how much heat overshoot into the wrong region (head) can you get? The shoulder is the same as the neck anneal wise and you want to get the neck for sure. How much nit noid effort are you going to put into it to deal with just the neck (impossible, you have to get to the intersections of the shoulder which means you will affect a portion of the shoulder) vs no gain? My take is its just an effort to do a me too about I have discovered America and get an argument gong that it was not the Vikings (actually former Asians and now Native Americans decedents found it first obviously). Sorry I gave away my Beat Your head against this sign when I quit work.
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August 4, 2019, 01:40 PM | #19 | |
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I do not make this stuff up; when my killer firing pins hit the primer the bullet, case and powder (total weight) is setting still. F. Guffey |
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August 4, 2019, 02:19 PM | #20 | |
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Then the case is driven forward to its chamber headspace limit and then the primer gets dented a couple dozen thousandths and then fires. |
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August 16, 2019, 12:56 PM | #21 | ||
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Again, before I got into this silly conversation I chambered a round into a chamber with .127" clearance between the shoulder of the round and the shoulder of the chamber. I pulled the trigger, the shoulder of the case did not move. And then I purchased a military type rifle with a 30/06 chamber that was .016" longer than a minimum length/full length sized case. I chambered a round and then pulled the trigger. Part of the case got longer and part of the case got shortened. Because I measured before and again after I knew the shoulder of the case never made it to the shoulder of the chamber. And then? I formed my cases for that rifle from 280 Remington cases, I formed the cases to obtain that magic .002" clearance. F. Guffey Last edited by F. Guffey; August 16, 2019 at 12:58 PM. Reason: change t to g |
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August 16, 2019, 01:13 PM | #22 |
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As much as I hate to somewhat agree with Guffey and hate to disagree with Bart, I must do just that. My years of fire forming brass for wildcats has taught me that all but the worst extractors will hold a case good enough to ignite the primer. Getting a Rem700 type extractor to grab it in the first place can be fun.
Of course in a properly headspace rifle, the shoulder will contact the chamber long before extractor hold occurs. Last edited by reynolds357; August 16, 2019 at 01:51 PM. |
August 16, 2019, 02:20 PM | #23 | |
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Won't usually happen when extractor fit, cartridge and chamber dimensions are within specs. One exception was Holland & Holland's first rimless version of a rimmed cartridge with an 8 degree shoulder where firing pins drove the cartridge rim against the extractor claw. Last edited by Bart B.; August 16, 2019 at 02:30 PM. |
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August 16, 2019, 02:37 PM | #24 | |
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The 308W when fired in the 30/06 chamber head spaces on the case body shoulder juncture of the 308W case because the case is larger by .014"+ than the chamber at the point of conduct. And then there are all of those threads that you choose to ignore like the one that involved the smith from Denver. He thought it would be a great ideal to ream a 308 W chamber to 30/06. When finished he could not figure out why his fired 30/06 cases were ejected with a ring around the case body. I did my best to get him to understand the 30/06 reamer will not clean up the 308W chamber. I offered to loan him a 30/06 Ackley improved chamber reamer or a 30 Gibbs, after that he was quite happy with the 'ring around the case' problem. F. Guffey |
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