Fire Forming Recipe for K-Hornet?

[hoytcanon]

Hello gents... I have been fire forming my K-Hornet brass using 10 grains of Lil' Gun with H45 SP Hornet bullets and spray lubing the cases before firing... seemed to work fine initially, but lately I have been getting split necks... what are you guys using to form your K brass?

[YRUpunting?]

This was from a few months back.  The last post is interesting about cold weather.

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php?topic=262757.0

[hoytcanon]

It is pretty cold up here in Canuckistan... we had the wood stove going in the shooting shack, but the bench would have been pretty cold when we were fire forming these last couple batches... our first runs of fire forming for K-Hornet were with new and once fired Rem brass and 10 grains of Lil'Gun... we only lost one in 200 rounds... these last couple batches though we were loosing 5 out of 10 cases to splits... OUCH! Here is the post that you referred to;
 
"I've never fireformed a case but been with a mate when he did his K Hornet cases and he/we found out one thing if your out shooting on a cold day keep your ammo in your pants pocket to keep them as warn as you can, couse first 10 he shot he had them laying on the bench and 7/10 cracked and after those he put 20 at a time in his pants pocket and by doin that  he got 0/10 cracked..."

It is hard to imagine that the starting temperature of the case will have that big an impact, given the combustion heat and pressure of the shot, but I am willing to give it a go... what the heck. Something was up for sure... we used the same new and once fired brass and the same load recipe and lubed the rounds with a spray lube prior to shooting... although now that I think about it, perhaps in the cold temperature it is the lube stiffening that is cause the problem? Maybe in the cold we should try using a dry case? Whatdoyathink???
 

[geezerbiker]

I've been fire forming .22 K-Hornet rounds for many years without one split case.  I was using all new Winchester and Remington cases.  I've never used once fired brass.

I think it's more likely the cases are brittle.  Try standing the cases half way up in water and quickly annealing them with a mini torch then tip them into the water to cool.

I've always just use the starting Hornet load of 2400 in my RCBS manual for fire forming loads.  It's cheap and I have a bunch on hand.  Then I save the LilGun for varmint loads.

Tony

[bilmac]

I've never had one but a buddy bought one thinking he had a regular hornet. He bought a box of ammo and shot them, I don't recall that he lost any of the factory loaded ammo.

[hoytcanon]

I've been fire forming .22 K-Hornet rounds for many years without one split case.  I was using all new Winchester and Remington cases.  I've never used once fired brass.

I think it's more likely the cases are brittle.  Try standing the cases half way up in water and quickly annealing them with a mini torch then tip them into the water to cool.

I've always just use the starting Hornet load of 2400 in my RCBS manual for fire forming loads.  It's cheap and I have a bunch on hand.  Then I save the LilGun for varmint loads.

Tony

The first 150 once fired brass fire formed perfectly without a single lost case... then all of a sudden the last couple batches were problematic... I debated on annealing, but never had to with the first couple hundred cases we fire formed, so I figured there was another problem... I am going to try warm, dry cases first and then move on to annealing (which is a PITA)... we'll see how that goes.

[gcrank1]

Have you tried the dipping the case neck into the hotpot of lead for x sec. then water quench to anneal?
IMHO, the brass, by splitting, is telling you that it is too brittle, so something has to be done about it. I prefer utilizing the KISS principle, some of those annealing processes seem problematic.

[hoytcanon]

Have you tried the dipping the case neck into the hotpot of lead for x sec. then water quench to anneal?
IMHO, the brass, by splitting, is telling you that it is too brittle, so something has to be done about it. I prefer utilizing the KISS principle, some of those annealing processes seem problematic.

Nope never tried that... do you not get a lead build up on the case, or does it just crack away when you cool it?

[gcrank1]

I tried it way back on some bottlenecks.......held the base with my curved jaw pliers and held the neck in to a good'n hot pot to about 1/4 depth of case, swirled slightly for 3 sec. and pulled, lead slipped right off and I dropped into a pan of water. My problem came then when trying to neck down in too big a step. The neck and all just telescoped into the body! Pretty soft I guess.......I just bought cases then.

[nanuk-O-dah-Nort]

try THIS GUY"S method

I have read about this a few times and the way this guy explains it, matches all the best descriptions I can find.

[hoytcanon]

try THIS GUY"S method

I have read about this a few times and the way this guy explains it, matches all the best descriptions I can find.

Thanks Nanuk... I will use that method if I have to anneal.