I've been given 95 new, Starline .32-20 cases. Can I neck these down to .25-20 for my Marlin 1894 CL rifle ? I have Lee .25-20 dies. E
In a word, yes you can. But, you gotta think it through and proceed slowly - the brass is very thin and you'll experience a large percentage of ruined cases if you just slam them into a .25-20 die. Anneal first, of course, and figure out an intermediate shaper if you can that'll allow it to be done in stages*. At the very least go into the .25-20 die incrementally by withdrawing and wiping/relubing maybe a half dozen times as you slowly inch your way down the case. I did it a couple times and still wrecked a few cases, then I stumbled onto a stash of .25-20 brass and all was right with the world.
*I turned a crude intermediate die on my lathe that created a 7mm neck. Helped a lot before continuing down to .25 in the regular die.
You might try what I do, run new 32-20 brass through a new 32-20 FL sizer die withot the expander ball. It will sized to 30-20. Then FL size the 30-20 to 25-20 with the .25 expander ball. The annealing of the very thin case mouth is just an instant from the burn off point.
If you want to anneal, turn the lights off in a dark room and only turn the mouths a light pink, not red.
Yep. In my world the .32-20 case is one that benefits from the candle method of annealing.
It makes me scratch my head why the brass companies (Starline excluded, sort of) seem to have gone from occasional/seasonal runs of brass such as these, and .30-40 Krag, .32-40 and others in the same boat, to none at all. There were huge quantities of guns made for those cartridges and a big percentage of them are still out there and in use (or want to be used). Are we (am I) a dying breed and the world has ordained that the past is past and old cartridges are best buried along with the bones of flathead Fords, Marylin Monroe, and morals and ethics in general?
I’ve formed many hundreds of .32-20 cases to .25-20 without annealing, the gentle shoulder helps a lot. The secret is to use new brass (which the OP has) and to take your time. Start with the .25-20 seating die, it has looser dimensions and works the brass less than the FL die does. Relube and then into the FL die. It’s not a race but it produces very workable cases.
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