Rabsob, before the Internet, Roy Dunlap, gunsmith, said annealing took skill, brass has not changed, some of the brass I use was around when he published the information in his book on gunsmithing, 1950 + or - a few years.[/align][/align]If I thought the cases were brittle, lacked elasticity, had the wrong percentage of copper to zinc ratio, etc., I would neck-up 5 of the cases as in 280 Remington to 35 Whelen or 270 Winchester to 30/06, brittle brass that does not have elasticity will result in a high percentage of failure as in necking up nickel cases, when necking up nickel280 Remington to 35 Whelen, as many as 33% will split.[/align][/align]Split necks: something that is lost when reloading, the # ONE thing we are dealing with is a 'hot high pressure metal cutting gas', that can cut the bolt face if primers are unseating due to excessive head space, cut the throat and muzzle under normal useor cut the receiver like a cutting torch when there is a catastrophic failure of the case.Point being, how well does the case handle the heat and escaping gas? Would the results have been different had you loaded 10 cases with one different component likea slower burning powder like H4831 or H4350,if usingthe slower powder resulted in fewer or'no splits' it could be said the case had the ability to expand with the slower burning powder but couldnot tolerate the fast expansion caused by the faster powder, or, if you have multiple splits and cracks, did the escaping metal cutting gascut the necks?[/align][/align]To an extreme: I offered to form 25/06cases to be used in a 22/6MM Remington Improved chamber, seems the failure rate was 80 out of 100 when they tried 6MM Remington cases, there was nothing about their techniques or methods I agreed with but the influence of the Internet is overwhelming, they are using OatMeal, Cream of Wheat, Cheerios? Wheaties? and pistol powder, I believe the burningpistolpowder expandsfaster than the casesability toabsorb the expansion, and the unknown, 'meets and or exceeds' the receiver'meets' the requirement to absorb the shock, how closedid the pistol powder come to 'exceed' the ability of the receivers abilityto absorb the shock? I formed the cases with a +.020 shoulder to case head, this would allow die adjustment for head space and extra long necks, they choose not to use the cases because of the 25/06 head stamp, I had hoped they would size the cases so they would just chamberand trim, this would allow me to form cases that could be chambered and fire formed, I am waiting to see if they have reamers and dies.[/align][/align]The short fat case (WSM, WSSM)was to be the best way to shorten the action to make it more rigid (stronger) and sell more rifles, dies and ammo, it would appear nothing changed, case, bullet, primer and powder, the difference is in appearance, the cases are shorter and larger in diameter, this could require different thinking. The column of powder is larger in diameter, powders that have been around for years havebeen designed to work in cases long columns and small diameters, it would appear little thought has been given tothe change in column diameter and length of powder in the case.[/align][/align]Annealing: forget the Internet, but in real life I have talked with people about annealing with interesting results, two reloaders with a total of 60 years experience building rifles and reloading said they gave up after trying everything they read on the Internet, some of the advise cost one individual $200.00, long story, the other said he tried the 1" of water deal, My question was why stop at 1", why not run the water deep enough to come up to the shoulder, his reply, " Because the water boils at the point the heat comes in contact with the water" I explained to him that is called 'spheroid', meaning the case at that point was 212 degree F and the only way he could get the water to stay close to the case was to pressurise the air around the case, each increase ofl Lb. ofpressure increases the boiling point 3 degree (not an easy thing to do) or increase the boiling point of the coolant (water), both came to visit, I put together a project, I am not ambitious, convincing two people it can be done correctly is more than I started out to accomplish.[/align][/align]F. Guffey[/align][/align]