Fireforming older brass.

[TylerFromMS]

Is there a consensus or has anyone ever tried to fireform say a BRA or dasher from Lapua BR brass that has a few (3-4) firings on it? They have been annealed after every firing with the primer pockets still very tight, and I have only had to trim very little after resizing. I figure the shoulder would be the first thing to fail, followed by the case head, but I cannot feel any ridges in the case with a dental pick.

I literally just load, jam, and shoot to fireform. I know it isn't the preferred method but I only lost 1 out of 101 in the batch I did this with. And I am lazy.

 

[Bill K]

If cases are in good shape, annealed and used, there should be no issues in using them.

 

[dfry]

I have done it with a bunch of my old 6BR brass for my 6BRX. I would anneal first, you will loose less cases that way. You may still loose some, but it helps. I had a bunch and I mean a bunch of firings on That brass as 6BR before I fire formed it to BRX.

And by the way, it shot fine. I didn’t care if I lost some cases since I didn’t have a BR any longer.

Dave

 

[TylerFromMS]

If cases are in good shape, annealed and used, there should be not issues in using them.

It’s that “should” word that gets me. Once I get ahold of a smaller bushing I'll try some. You're thinking along the same lines as I am, though.

I have done it with a bunch of my old 6BR brass for my 6BRX. I would anneal first, you will loose less cases that way. You may still loose some, but it helps. I had a bunch and I mean a bunch of firings on That brass as 6BR before I fire formed it to BRX.

And by the way, it shot fine. I didn’t care if I lost some cases since I didn’t have a BR any longer.

Dave

Good stuff. Thanks Dave. I'm just trying to avoid kabooms.

 

[CaptainMal]

Simple.

Anneal. Then Fireform. Then anneal again.

 

[dfry]

It’s that “should” word that gets me. Once I get ahold of a smaller bushing I'll try some. You're thinking along the same lines as I am, though.



Good stuff. Thanks Dave. I'm just trying to avoid kabooms.

I hear you, I’ve had none, but after fire forming check for head separation to be sure, and initial annealing should let the cases form to size. Its your face to be concerned about! I haven’t had any issues, but then again, I’m already ugly!

 

[dfry]

I hear you, I’ve had none, but after fire forming check for head separation to be sure, and initial annealing should let the cases form to size. Its your face to be concerned about! I haven’t had any issues, but then again, I’m already ugly!

You could always do the cream of wheat method just to see the results.

 

[TylerFromMS]

Simple.

Anneal. Then Fireform. Then anneal again.

Sounds fantastic in theory. My concern was if the brass has enough “stretch” left after repeated firings to fireform to another case without incident. I like to learn from other people’s mistakes, and in my experience usually they’ll chime in pretty quick to discourage the idea.

 

[TylerFromMS]

You could always do the cream of wheat method just to see the results.

True. I’ve got no pistol powder laying around, though.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Itll be fine if the brass is good to start with

 

[oldduc]

Sounds fantastic in theory. My concern was if the brass has enough “stretch” left after repeated firings to fireform to another case without incident.

I don't see a problem with annealed brass. Brass always has more "stretch" left. Just depends on how thin you want it.

 

[thatguyshm]

I've been slowly fire forming Norma brass that's got one firing in my wife's BR into dasher brass. Only up to 11 right now, tried 10 on purpose and grabbed one by accident when I was reaching for the new brass, haven't lost one yet. No annealing either. That is the next step after it's formed.

 

[biggun2869]

I don't aneal, I have nothing against it and I'm sure it is a good thing all around but these guys recommending you do it a lot is I think unnecessary. The extent of my journey has been 7mm TCU from 223 that had been fired at least 3 times but they were made from Redding dies that were made for it. Also 22 BR from NEW Lapua brass. The 7TCU went really without incident (maybe a failure of 1 or even 2 in 100 but no more. I had a few along the way with the 22BR that crushed the shoulder area of the Lapua 6BR cases but to me acceptable.
I am just a regular shooter, I don't compete but for me at least these cases have performed well for me.

 

[skiutah02]

I transformed 3x Dasher brass (so 1x formed from br to Dasher, and 2x as Dasher) to BRX brass successfully. Now have 4x on it (1x to BRX and 3x as brx). I annealed, sized with BR die and shot. Seems perfectly fine and groups are good, so I have to believe starting from 3x BR brass would work too. My $0.02. Drew

 

[TylerFromMS]

I don't see a problem with annealed brass. Brass always has more "stretch" left. Just depends on how thin you want it.

Basically more stretch than this:

 

[oldduc]

Basically more stretch than this:

View attachment 1154476

Well, looks like an angled shoulder doesn't easily move to a Gradle bottle neck shape in really old brass. Obviously, it is possible to get anything to fail if you get crazy with it.

 

[TylerFromMS]

Well, looks like an angled shoulder doesn't easily move to a Gradle bottle neck shape in really old brass. Obviously, it is possible to get anything to fail if you get crazy with it.

That was virgin br brass, the 1/101 failure. Just clarifying. I’ll load some of the old brass up and try it out. Worst case, it doesn’t work. I just hadn’t found any cases of folks trying it, but now I have. Thanks!

 

[oldduc]

That was virgin br brass, the 1/101 failure. Just clarifying. I’ll load some of the old brass up and try it out. Worst case, it doesn’t work. I just hadn’t found any cases of folks trying it, but now I have. Thanks!

Wow, no offense, but if that's virgin brass, you may have other problems. That thing looks nasty. Looks like blow by and debris embedded in the side of the case.

 

[TylerFromMS]

Wow, no offense, but if that's virgin brass, you may have other problems. That thing looks nasty. Looks like blow by and debris embedded in the side of the case.

Nah, it’s all good. Thin spot in that piece of brass blew out. Even good stuff has defects at times.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

One less piece out of the 98 that came in the box. Hopefully you dont get the usual 3 blown out