So I had an issue today and I’m kind of at a loss. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I was reloading a powder charge test for my 6x45. I had sized all my cases (25) and had charged and seated about half when I took a break for lunch. When I came back in about an hour and a half and went back to charging and seating the first bullet just dropped in the charged case. I thought I had just missed one in sizing but none of the ones that hadn’t been charged would hold a bullet. Then I looked at the cases I had seated bullets in before lunch and I could now push the bullets further into the neck by hand with little effort. On all of them. So I started digging and measuring and now I’m not sure what to think.
Here’s the details
Starline 223 brass fired 4 times
Amp annealed every firing
Reading FL bushing die no expander
Wilson arbor seating die
I don’t clean cases…just brush the inside of neck and wipe off with a cloth.
Dwell in the die 2-3 seconds then turn case and back into die for 2-3 seconds.
Measured with my pin gauges a freshly sized neck using a 266 bushing is .241. But the cases that had sit for an hour had sprung back to .244 which seems like a ton of spring back on annealed brass. So I rechecked my Aztec settings and burned a couple more cases to verify my Aztec code. All is well there.
So I seated a bullet on another freshly sized case and after seating I could push the bullet further in by hand. Then I went to a 264 bushing giving me a .239 neck. Seated a bullet which took a little more effort on the arbor press but still could push the bullet further by hand. Went another 2k smaller. 262 bushing .237 neck and same thing could still push the bullet further by hand with only a small change in the effort it took to do so.
I initially thought because of the spring back the cases were overly work hardened but after trying progressively smaller bushing and not getting any more “neck tension” it’s like the brass is over annealed and has no elasticity.
Anyway long post and I probably missed something but I don’t really know how to proceed.
Also the bushings were measured with pin gauges and are correct ID
I was reloading a powder charge test for my 6x45. I had sized all my cases (25) and had charged and seated about half when I took a break for lunch. When I came back in about an hour and a half and went back to charging and seating the first bullet just dropped in the charged case. I thought I had just missed one in sizing but none of the ones that hadn’t been charged would hold a bullet. Then I looked at the cases I had seated bullets in before lunch and I could now push the bullets further into the neck by hand with little effort. On all of them. So I started digging and measuring and now I’m not sure what to think.
Here’s the details
Starline 223 brass fired 4 times
Amp annealed every firing
Reading FL bushing die no expander
Wilson arbor seating die
I don’t clean cases…just brush the inside of neck and wipe off with a cloth.
Dwell in the die 2-3 seconds then turn case and back into die for 2-3 seconds.
Measured with my pin gauges a freshly sized neck using a 266 bushing is .241. But the cases that had sit for an hour had sprung back to .244 which seems like a ton of spring back on annealed brass. So I rechecked my Aztec settings and burned a couple more cases to verify my Aztec code. All is well there.
So I seated a bullet on another freshly sized case and after seating I could push the bullet further in by hand. Then I went to a 264 bushing giving me a .239 neck. Seated a bullet which took a little more effort on the arbor press but still could push the bullet further by hand. Went another 2k smaller. 262 bushing .237 neck and same thing could still push the bullet further by hand with only a small change in the effort it took to do so.
I initially thought because of the spring back the cases were overly work hardened but after trying progressively smaller bushing and not getting any more “neck tension” it’s like the brass is over annealed and has no elasticity.
Anyway long post and I probably missed something but I don’t really know how to proceed.
Also the bushings were measured with pin gauges and are correct ID
