Annealing Brass - How to videos

[MVP]

I know or used to know some of the Pennsylvania 1000yd (not 1K) deer hunter club guys, more a shootin game than hunting. They told me they always fired a siter at an object 100yds or so left or right of the animal, from a rock solid bench sitting on a stool. Because of the distance, the deer was rarely spooked by the impact of the bullet. They observed the shot and then adjusted the scope to the impact point before shifting the gun to the animal for the next shot. Same technique as we were taught to use when zeroing the 0.50 cal spotter rifle on the 106RR.

Me, I shifted from the high-tech guns to black powder cartridge for hunting. Yup ranges are shorter but I will wager it is harder to get one of these things to shoot well than the latest wouldbe laser. When I got my first Sharps in 1991 I struggled for three-years before I was shown the way and even that only applies in general. I will admit I could have gotten therre earlier but deployments and such slowed me down as well I had no idea who to turn to. Information is now easier to find but the process in loading good ammo is still not easy and fine-tuning involves many more variables that when loading with "white powder". Anway, my latest hunting rifle is a carbon copy of the Remington rolling block George A. Custer is holding in the picture I use as my avatar, the caliber is 50-70 as was his. Unfortunately, that was the gun he "lost" at the Little Big Horn and it hasn't been seen since. Mine I'm keeping a close eye on...

For this rifle I anneal as do I for my Sharps 45-100, the brass from Starline is too hard to use otherwise. I have a few of the modern toys still such as the only remington SR8 (338 L) and 30 Rensi (338 L necked to 30) that escaped the Remington research department. Primer pockets on the Rensi go after 4 shots so the cases get flattened. The Rensi development and performance was written up circa April/May 2000 in "The Accurate Rifle". For 223 and 308 I shoot them until the pockets won't hold.

MVP

[Gene Econ]

Originally Posted by MVP

I know or used to know some of the Pennsylvania 1000yd (not 1K) deer hunter club guys, more a shootin game than hunting. They told me they always fired a siter at an object 100yds or so left or right of the animal, from a rock solid bench sitting on a stool. Because of the distance, the deer was rarely spooked by the impact of the bullet. They observed the shot and then adjusted the scope to the impact point before shifting the gun to the animal for the next shot. Same technique as we were taught to use when zeroing the 0.50 cal spotter rifle on the 106RR.

Me, I shifted from the high-tech guns to black powder cartridge for hunting. Yup ranges are shorter but I will wager it is harder to get one of these things to shoot well than the latest wouldbe laser. When I got my first Sharps in 1991 I struggled for three-years before I was shown the way and even that only applies in general. I will admit I could have gotten therre earlier but deployments and such slowed me down as well I had no idea who to turn to. Information is now easier to find but the process in loading good ammo is still not easy and fine-tuning involves many more variables that when loading with "white powder". Anway, my latest hunting rifle is a carbon copy of the Remington rolling block George A. Custer is holding in the picture I use as my avatar, the caliber is 50-70 as was his. Unfortunately, that was the gun he "lost" at the Little Big Horn and it hasn't been seen since. Mine I'm keeping a close eye on...

For this rifle I anneal as do I for my Sharps 45-100, the brass from Starline is too hard to use otherwise. I have a few of the modern toys still such as the only remington SR8 (338 L) and 30 Rensi (338 L necked to 30) that escaped the Remington research department. Primer pockets on the Rensi go after 4 shots so the cases get flattened. The Rensi development and performance was written up circa April/May 2000 in "The Accurate Rifle". For 223 and 308 I shoot them until the pockets won't hold.

MVP

MVP:

He, he, he. I got my first Shilo Sharps Long Range Express in 1981 while at Devans. Took four or five weeks and cost about $800.00 with XXX fancy Walnut and a spirit level globe front sight that is adjustable for windage and a long range rear sight. Bought a few more in the next few years. I hear it takes over two years to get one now and the prices are out of sight!

I never shot a .30 - .338 but it used to be a 1000 yard rifle before the 6.5 and 6 mm's got developed to the point where they would exceed the performance of those old .30 caliber thumpers with about 1/10th the recoil and blast. Also about 1/10th the cost.

I still have some RCBS basic brass for my 45 - 90. Never annealed it as it is straight walled and didn't need it. My most accurate loads were always with straight black powder. I recall the load was 82 grains of 2F with a simple card wad under a RCBS .457 - 123 (?) bullet weighing in at about 510 grains. It is a bore rider and it shot better than anything else I tried and my experimentation was extremely extensive and expensive. Molds, even then, cost $50.00 plus or minus for a single cavity. I experimented with so many types of grease and card wads that it defies the imagination and none of them did any better than using straight black over a thin card wad behind that bullet.

I messed around with paper patching for a couple of years with various calibers and found it to be problematic. I can't tell you how many different types of paper I tried and different techniques I tried in order to make them consistent. They are only consistent in the minds of those who believe they are. These guys will ignore the ones that blow the paper in-bore and send a shot sailing about ten minutes out of a group.

I also experimented with bullet lubes to include making my own. Didn't matter a bit. Same with bullet sizing die diameters. Didn't matter unless you really sized the bullet down. I shot as good a consistent group with Lee liquid lube and no sizing die as I did with sized bullets using a SACO lubra sizer and Alox.

I did find that the softest lead I could get to fill out a mold was better than an alloy of lead when using black powder. Not a wannabee black powder but Goex black powder.

I bought a original Sharps 50-70 cavalry carbine about twenty five years ago and shot that one too. It sucked beyond belief. That said -- it represented the quality of that era which was engagement ranges of about fifty yards. Sold that one and have not regretted it one bit.

So, pure lead, bore rider, alox lube, straight black powder, and any type of card wad you want to use. That should do the trick. Just don't expect sub minute of angle peformance as they won't give it.

Gene

[MVP]

Gene,

My first rifle was from Shiloh and I eventually discovered it had a bore that was bigger at the muzzle than at the breech. Shiloh refused to fix it, wanted to charge me for a new barrel. Luckily it was 34 inches long so I cut it to 30 and it shot within 1 MOA. Still wasn't happy with it so I sold it and bought two from C. Sharps. I believe they are better guns and you get them within a few months. I don't recommend Shiloh and won't buy another.

I did buy a Shiloh percussion military rifle and converted it to 45-70 in the same manner the original 1859's were converted in 1868. Mine has a Lothar Walther barrel and a breech block from Schuetzen Gun Works (Colorado). Shoots great but it is not a Shiloh...

My 50-70 is from Lone Star and shoots nice one hole groups at 100yds.

MVP

[HOLLiS]

Originally Posted by Medula Oblongata

http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html

This article has much more information than I could hope to convey.

I personally anneal each case after each firing for several calibers that I own. I do this because the brass is either hard to find, or because I've had to form it from another parent case (such as when I form .284 WIN brass to 7.5x55 Swiss); for example my .378 Weatherby (belted magnum) brass is quite expensive, so I need it to last as long as possible.

I have about 200 pieces of Norma 7.5x55 Swiss brass that I've shot upwards of 60x; they're still in good condition, and the primer pockets are tight. Now I shoot relatively light loads with them as all I'm doing is 300M precision shooting with Iron Sights in Swiss Match, so all I need is for the bullet to get to the target.

I don't own an M14 or M1A; so I have no idea what the chambers are like or what they do to the brass, but I do have a G-3 that's terrible on brass because of the chamber flutes. I get about 3 firings out of them before they're trash; consequently I don't shoot it much anymore because getting components is nigh impossible.

-Ryan

I have a target swede, sad part is that my range (1600 m range) was leased out to another farmer who closed it. I am looking at alternatives for a decent range. I have sold a few of my long range shooters because of that. , we just don't have much around here. Near Bend OR, they have a good range and 1000 BP shoots. That is about 3 hours drive for me, one way.

Just really enjoyed reading this thread. Thanks, to all the contributors.

I guess until I find a decent range, I am left to reading about the exploits of others.