Old brass, never fired cracked necks

[sandwarrior]

I have this old 25-20 WCF that is hard to find brass for. I recently got on auction, a 50 rd. box of new Rem 86 gr. It's yellow and green so I suppose it's from the 1970's? At least that's what I remember the branding as.

The first three brass cracked when we fired them. I didn't want to shoot any more of them as I thought possibly pulling the bullets and annealing the brass (and popping primers out) might save the rest of the box.

Anyhow, I know brass age-hardens. I started pulling the bullets, none of which survived so far, and am wondering if it's going to do any good to anneal the brass. A couple pieces of brass were cracked already. I just wonder if some chemical got on the brass and annealing won't help.

Contacting Remington won't really help I think as they haven't run 25-20 WCF in thirty years.

 

[DJSBRS]

I would pull the bullets and primers and then anneal accordingly.

DJ
DJ's Brass Service
djsbrass.com
205-461-4680

 

[gman47564]

You might try seating them just a hair deeper before you try pulling them.. might help break that cold weld loose.. if you can get them out annealing might help .. i dont know.. worth a try..

 

[Whisky Tahoe Foxtrot]

Now I'm curious, should all old ammo be "reseated" a few thou to break the bond before firing.

 

[Ggmac]

Now I'm curious, should all old ammo be "reseated" a few thou to break the bond before firing.

It helps !

 

[Big Mc]

I have this old 25-20 WCF that is hard to find brass for. I recently got on auction, a 50 rd. box of new Rem 86 gr. It's yellow and green so I suppose it's from the 1970's? At least that's what I remember the branding as.

The first three brass cracked when we fired them. I didn't want to shoot any more of them as I thought possibly pulling the bullets and annealing the brass (and popping primers out) might save the rest of the box.

Anyhow, I know brass age-hardens. I started pulling the bullets, none of which survived so far, and am wondering if it's going to do any good to anneal the brass. A couple pieces of brass were cracked already. I just wonder if some chemical got on the brass and annealing won't help.

Contacting Remington won't really help I think as they haven't run 25-20 WCF in thirty years.

Seat what you have +/- 003. Then anneal . DJ is on the right track. Just my two cents. Tommy Mc

 

[sandwarrior]

The rounds I pulled had 8 gr. of a ball powder.

 

[JTEX]

Been there with some old brass. Pull the bullets, deprime and anneal. You'll be good to go.

 

[dellet]

Brass just hasn't been worth spit since U.M.C. Sold out. Luckily I have enough to shoot a match of two with, and just found a few more.

 

[Minshooter]

Winchester still makes 25-20 brass.
Black Hills Shooters Supply, Inc. shows it in stock.
But, they are a wholesale business, and only sell to dealers, NOT to the public.
So, have your dealer order some for you. They will sell a dealer even one single bag of 50 pieces.
Don't bother calling to ask if they will sell direct to a non-dealer; the answer is: no.

 

[tsyarnall]

Might find a local gun shop that could order the brass for you. You may be beating a dead horse trying to save your brass. New brass might be a better way to go.

 

[GotRDid]

Sadly, you just missed this offering.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?403381-(WTS)-25-20-Winchester-Center-Fire-Brass-(NJ)
GotRDid.

 

[sandwarrior]

Might find a local gun shop that could order the brass for you. You may be beating a dead horse trying to save your brass. New brass might be a better way to go.

It's been a lot of beating a dead horse either way. The stuff I still have was from Load-X. I should have just gotten more from him. Only thing is he only sells loaded ammo. And, he was out six months ago. I didn't look back to him and saw a good deal on auction. It ain't the sellers fault. All the brass was new. The other thing is, since these are hard to come by, it's worth trying to get them to work. I cycled a few to see.

 

[Ropemaker]

Another option for NEW brass would be to get some 32/20 from Starline and gently size them to 25/20. I think they will sell direct.

 

[bozo699]

It appears Remington still does too
Wayne

 

[nicholst55]

Graf's has Winchester 25-20 brass in stock.

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/category/categoryId/676?

 

[epc308]

Another option for NEW brass would be to get some 32/20 from Starline and gently size them to 25/20. I think they will sell direct.

I did that very thing a few years ago. In the case of the ones I had from Starline, they were quite hard, making annealing a must. I tried to move the metal From 32-30-28-25. I promptly crushed the first few before I annealed the whole batch.

 

[matman_eod]

I don't know if it will be helpful term, but brass may cause a phenomenon called intercrystalline corrosion over the years. It seems that the metal may crack and/or break.
I had experienced over 20 years ago, a primer cup was cracked by that phenomenon.

 

[nicholst55]

I don't know if it will be helpful term, but brass may cause a phenomenon called intercrystalline corrosion over the years. It seems that the metal may crack and/or break.
I had experienced over 20 years ago, a primer cup was cracked by that phenomenon.

General Hatcher wrote about this in Hatcher's Notebook. This phenomena was encountered during the pre-WWII years with ammo manufactured during the Great War. Funny that the abundance of .30-06 ammo in War Reserve stock (one billion rounds) was the reason cited by the Chief of Staff of the Army General Douglas MacArthur for insisting that the Garand rifle be redesigned to shoot that cartridge - while that same ammo was busily deteriorating in storage.