To anneal or not

[hornady]

Over the years I have never felt a need to anneal my brass. Bass has always been cheap and available. However I added a new chambering, A very nice M24 /47 in 8MM Mauser. I have ads on a couple forums and a couple PA, sites for buying and selling firearms related items. But no luck in over a week of looking for 8MM brass, and no one has new in stock.

I have a very large supply of  30.06 brass, I have never attempted case forming. As with all things reloading and casting, no one dose it the same. I have read and seen on you-tube guys forming 8 MM from 3006.

I have read and saw some anneal before case forming, others say not to. I have a Redding Big Boss press so I don’t think I will have a problem with the actual case forming. I load bullets that I cast so I use the Lyman M-Dies, I am thinking opening up the case mouth should not be a problem if I run the brass through the 30 and then the32 caliber M-die.

I am concerned with bumping the shoulder back on the 3006 brass to form 8 MM. Those who said anneal said to be careful not too over anneal as if too soft the case will just collapse on you. They also said if not annealed a large percent of you brass would fail in the forming process

So as the title says would you anneal or not in case forming..

[jedman]

  I have made 7 x 57 and 8 x 57 cases from 30-06 brass.  Different brands of brass act differently but I would start with once fired if you have it, I usually take some fine steel wool and polish the neck and shoulder area then wipe with LEE case sizing lube or Imperial wax and run them thru your die with the decapping stem removed.
 Then trim off the extra neck and deburr the case , If they formed good run them thru your full length size die with the decapping stem / neck expander installed lubing the inside of the case neck lightly first.
  Then if you want to anneal do it now as it will sort of stress relieve the new neck / shoulder area .  If you have lots of brass and dont want to spend the time to anneal dont bother as some brands last many times sized before cracking .   I personally like to anneal brass, just dont over heat it , anneal in a dark room and when you just see the brass turning red drop it in water.   I have seen youtube videos of guys heating the brass until orange / cherry red before quenching but its junk by that point.


  jedman

[hornady]

Thanks I have a pretty good supply of 3006. I don’t want to mess up my new or once fired brass I use in my Hunting rifle, however I do have a bunch of 3006 brass I shoot cast bullets in another Mauser, I load the older brass light 12 Grains of red-dot pushing a Lyman 180 grain bullet. With this brass and light load I do not think it has been work hardened a lot. After multiple loads I have not needed to trim these cases, I do know there must be some hardening and brittleness from multiple runs through the FL sizing die. I have not gotten my order from Mid-South with the dies yet. I guess I will just try it both ways and see what happens with this brass. I will let you know how it works out. I also ordered a new Lyman mold for the 8mm as my primary load for this rifle will be Red-dot and a cast bullet the pressure should be low. 

[RaySendero]

hornady,
 
You got any 1X fired Winchester?

[D Fischer]

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but beside 7x57 case's you should also be able to make it from 6mm rem case's.

[hornady]

Sorry the once fired stuff I have is all Remington, And I have a new bag of Federal, I really don’t want to part with any of it. I have Two coffee cans of mainly mixed Mil-surplus. And commercial brass, but I would not want to guess how many times it has been reloaded. Once it goes in the plastic coffee cans it’s only used for light cast loads.

Yesterday Federal express dropped of my Mid-south order. I think I was expecting case forming to be a bigger deal than it is. Old and being afraid of doing something new I guess.

I took 60 Remington brass the worst part was trimming them down. I chucked my ½ drill to my RCBS case trimmer then trimmed cleaned all the shavings off the brass. I then put a small amount of lube inside the neck of the case and lubed the cases as usual. The only Die set Mid-South had in stock in 8 MM was the Hornady with the zip spindle,

I moved the brass through the FL Die and then needed to do one final trim on the brass. After I cleaned the brass I cycled the Case formed brass through the Rifle. It all feed very well.
I also ordered a Lyman 8 MM mold and Lube/size die as well as the 8MM Lyman M-Die. Some how everything was in stock at Mid-South.

So now if this mini ice age ever ends I can fire up the Pro-Melt and cast some bullet. I am running low on 7MM and 308 cast bullets as well so I need to cast some of them to
I think I will try my hand at annealing the formed cases. It’s too cold to cast or shoot anyway. Thanks for the advice all.

[RaySendero]

Sorry the once fired stuff I have is all Remington, And I have a new bag of Federal, I really don’t want to part with any of it. I have Two coffee cans of mainly mixed Mil-surplus. And commercial brass, but I would not want to guess how many times it has been reloaded. Once it goes in the plastic coffee cans it’s only used for light cast loads.

Well...I was thinking we could do trading.
I'll just send you these 11 cases, if it will tide you over til you can find more 8mms.
 
 

[hornady]

Let me go threw the coffee cans and I will see what I have, a friend just gave me some 7MM Remington Mag brass and about 4 boxes each of 3006 and 270. I can not guarantee it’s once fired and I did not look at the head stamps on it. And that is a good idea-keeping loads separate by head stamp. I drink gallons of coffee so plenty of the plastic cans. I keep all my brass with notes as to what it is as too use in cast or jacketed loads on the cans. And good records on loaded boxes.

[RaySendero]

Let me go threw the coffee cans and I will see what I have, a friend just gave me some 7MM Remington Mag brass and about 4 boxes each of 3006 and 270. I can not guarantee it’s once fired and I did not look at the head stamps on it. And that is a good idea-keeping loads separate by head stamp. I drink gallons of coffee so plenty of the plastic cans. I keep all my brass with notes as to what it is as too use in cast or jacketed loads on the cans. And good records on loaded boxes.

 
 
hornady,
 
Don't matter - PM me your address and I'll send them to you.