Getting Neck Splits on new 7.62 NATO

[MEHavey]

Ordered one today, Danny (along with heads/cutters/locks for .223/30-06/300WinMag/243Win and he's looking at what he can make for the 375H&H).

Thanks for the heads-up. This may prove to be right up there w/ the RCBS ChargeMaster in changing my attitudes toward case prep.

:-)

[Danny]

Good luck with it. I'm sure you're going to love it as much as I do, and you'll be able to spend that time saved on other projects be they reloading or not.

Danny

[MEHavey]

Danny, I sent you a note off-line regarding the Tempilaq thinner.....

[Danny]

Danny, I sent you a note off-line regarding the Tempilaq thinner.....

Ok, thanks. I just got that Tuesday Night. I was out of the country starting on the day that you had sent that to me. I've replied to you offline on that.

Danny

[MEHavey]

Got it.
`Will send... :-)

[Danny]

Thanks,
I really appreciate that help.

Danny

Got it.
`Will send... :-)

[Danny]

Ok,
Here's the update after annealing my batch of 1000 RA 64 unfired cases. I annealed them down just a bit farther than MEHavey did, to mimic USGI Brass, and they came out pretty well using the Tempilaq Fluid. I went to reload 75 rounds for a Mid-Range Highpower Match and 3 of the annealed rounds split upon seating the bullets (I could feel a difference in seating) and I found 2 of 72 cases that I was able to recover had neck splits. THe splits were light, but there. This is much reduced over what I first had, but as you can see, there are still some splits. What do you guys think? I would think that I would want to anneal them again before reloading them the second time, but I'll see what you all think.

Danny

[MEHavey]

Danny,

The necks upon pulling the expander ball out should feel dramtically smoother as the first test an effective anealing. And as you note, there should be uniform pressure/feel as the bullet seats as well.

Where do you aim the inner blue flame?
(I think you said you went back and got an original/traditional torch tip)

[Danny]

I did go back and get the traditional pencil tip and started to use that, but as the gas started to go low in the "bottle", I switched back to the wide tip to compensate for the heat loss. After I got the hang of where to place it, I got equally good results. I'm placing it about where you are, but I'm more watching that the flame contains the neck and the shoulder when I rotate it. I think I did a bad thing, which I was thinking about, which now comes to mind after reading this. I didn't resize after annealing the necks, so I don't know how it feels when pulling out the expander ball. I can tell you one thing. What I reloaded didn't hurt my Highpower Scores a bit. As can be expected, the bullet seating was not always uniform.

Would using Mapp Gas allow the necks to get slightly hotter in relation to the rest of the case, and more quickly, using the same equipment and Tempilaq? That might allow just a bit more annealing than I'm getting and eliminate the last of the cracking.

I've noticed that the cases as originally made have less annealing signs showing than what I'd expect to see.

Danny

Danny,

The necks upon pulling the expander ball out should feel dramtically smoother as the first test an effective anealing. And as you note, there should be uniform pressure/feel as the bullet seats as well.

Where do you aim the inner blue flame?
(I think you said you went back and got an original/traditional torch tip)

[MEHavey]

Mapp gas has a high concentration of hydrogen which (may/may not) affect embrittlement. (Great theory, but I haven't checked in practice. I do know that industry doesn't use it for welding for that reason, but does use it for brazing.)

I'm thinking that concentrating the flame more on the mid neck with the traditional tip would probably give you best results. (I tend to do things by muscle memory now, so I didn't really notice that when I aneal/took the picture above, I hold the case at a natural angle to the flame that causes that flame to fully encase the neck region.)