Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters old/new brass

Mule Deer,would you suggest annealing new brass, that is about ten years old,before loading it?

I hope MD says "no." I buy brass for rare calibers and often don't load some of it for 10 years or more. I've never noticed any more neck splitting or other problems.

Only problem I ever noticed in old brass that needs annlealing before loading is 22 hornet brass. Had some sitting here for 20+ years and when I tried to seat the bullets 3 out of 5 split so I dumped the powder and annealed the rest and didn't split another one. That said other calibers new brass that was old never had a problem with it even once fired that sat here for some time. I would guess also it would depend on how the brass was stored too

The reason that I ask is that I have had necks split on factory loads that were of old manufacture.

I'll chime in with a qualified "yes" as to annealing old brass. It depends on one's definition of "old". I don't consider 10 years to be old. I think of old as being older than myself, and I was born when Truman was president. When I was a kid and starting out in handloading, my source of brass for my rifles was 30's vintage gov't '06 brass, and .30-40 brass that was a lot older than that- and annealing was a foreign concept to me back then- and had nary a problem with it. I'm currently working with a huge batch of once fired WCC-54 .30-06 brass that is simply beautiful in shape, no annealing necessary so far. Waiting in the wings is a pile of late 50's Frankford Arsenal match brass, Lake City match brass from the early 60's, and more LC-69 brass, and I expect no issues with any of that stuff either.

Really, where I concentrate my annealing efforts is with brass that will be fire-formed into something else.

If I opened a box of "old" factory ammo and there were split necks to be found, I wouldn't mess with them at all probably.

The old factory loads split when they were fired.

Empty brass I think wont' ever really matter.

Loaded is another, because the bullet seals to the brass over time, and then the expansion contraction issues, especially if not climate controlled storage work the brass.

If I"m going to load stuff for long term, I anneal it period. ANd it seems to help if you have coated bullets of some type. Moly is one way.

But non reannealed and bare copper bullets in 308 that sit a few years in the garage in big ammo cans, will probably split 50% or more of the cases.

I've had empty brass thats old... that never splits if you just load it today and fire it say in the next months or year..

I'm convinced that one factor is copper and brass expand and contract at different rates hence as that happens you are work hardening the brass.

But regardless I've not had issues with empty, but loaded is another thing totally.

The flip side too, IMHO its never bad to anneal...

Over pressure

Old loaded ammo "welds" the copper to the brass.....this happens with time

I have pulled thousands of bullets from old ammo and can tell you they are sometimes very tite

I now seat the bullet in all old loaded ammo to be taken appart .025/.050 deeper

Doing this you will feel it break free and hear the "pop"

As to annealing old brass just because it is old....no

Autofive

Everybody's brought up the pertinent points already--especially about brass "cold welding" to case necks (which is one reason I don't clean brass much, letting the powder fouling inside the necks form a slight barrier between brass and bullet).

But I don't usually anneal new brass, no matter how old, unless something indicates it might help. Sometimes new brass wasn't annealed right at the factory.

I have some Remington and Federal brass for the 7x57 Mauser that the headstamps say R/P 7MM and FC 7MM. No 7x57 or 7MM Mauser like you see today. Anybody have an idea how old that stuff is? This is brass sold as reloading components. I didn't get into reloading for the 7x57 until 1973. I still have one box of that Federal brand I bought in "73" and it's marked 7MM Mauser.I'm inclined to think pre-WW2 or sometime shortly after the war maybe. Good looking brass though.
Paul B.

I have some 20 year old once fired 6mm Rem cases that are developing neck splits at a fairly rapid pace. They were fired out of the gun I am still firing them for. Either I am overworking the neck, they need to be annealed, or it is a bad batch of brass. I think they need to be annealed.

Thanks to all that have responded.The loaded factory rounds that split at the neck was some old W-W Super X 7x57.The new /old brass that I have inquired about is 257 roberts brass.Thanks again for all of the info.

If I fire old loads, whatever doesn't split, is annealed again for the next go round.

Other than that I anneal every 5 loads... YMMV.

Seat them deeper before you shoot them and your slots will go away

While building my 9X57, a friend gave me an old box of Remington 9mm ammo intended for use in either 9X57 Mauser or 9X56 MS. Don't know how old it was, but it has been around for decades.

My smith asked for a couple of them to test fire after chambering the barrel. Both misfired. I decided to pull the bullets in the rest to salvage the brass and bullets (280 gr RN). Used an inertia puller and found that most of the case necks split vertically during the process so all the cases were put in the scrap bucket.

BTW, the powder looked like new and was similar to 4895. There no deterioration inside the case at all, but somehow the primers were dead.

I have been reloading since the early 1970's and have never annealed any brass. Old ammo is subject to neck splits due to metal fatigue, I'm not sure that annealing can remedy that. I have also had old ammo split down near the base, for this reason I always start reloading for a new caliber with recently purchased brass or once fired cases. Once I start getting splits in cases I retire that lot of cases and replace with new.