Henry Rifle Forums

Read on the Starline brass Instagram that they don't anneal their 45-70 brass.
If you shoot Black Powder they suggest you anneal the case mouth.

I would think that would go for low pressure smokeless loads? Maybe?

Load 'em and shoot 'em. Starline 45-70 brass is good stuff. Straight wall cases don't stretch a lot unless you're loading them hot.

all I can say is, I've loaded hundreds of the heaviest possible loads as well as even more Cowboy Actions loads using Starline brass as it comes out of the box and in all cases they are doing just fine

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Annealing is heat treatment, right? How do you do that to just the case mouth?

Ojaileveraction wrote:Read on the Starline brass Instagram that they don't anneal their 45-70 brass.
If you shoot Black Powder they suggest you anneal the case mouth.

When I loaded for shooting long range with black powder in my sharps I would get a shallow pan like a cake pan fill the pan with some water. Then stand the cases up in the water and heat just the mouth of the case with a propane torch. When the mouth turns cherry red use a rod to tip them over into the water. Always worked good for me.

BigAl52 wrote:When I loaded for shooting long range with black powder in my sharps I would get a shallow pan like a cake pan fill the pan with some water. Then stand the cases up in the water and heat just the mouth of the case with a propane torch. When the mouth turns cherry red use a rod to tip them over into the water. Always worked good for me.

I understand a slightly darkened room helps see the the glow of the heated brass.

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Ingenious!

BigAl52 wrote:When I loaded for shooting long range with black powder in my sharps I would get a shallow pan like a cake pan fill the pan with some water. Then stand the cases up in the water and heat just the mouth of the case with a propane torch. When the mouth turns cherry red use a rod to tip them over into the water. Always worked good for me.

Ojaileveraction wrote:

BigAl52 wrote:When I loaded for shooting long range with black powder in my sharps I would get a shallow pan like a cake pan fill the pan with some water. Then stand the cases up in the water and heat just the mouth of the case with a propane torch. When the mouth turns cherry red use a rod to tip them over into the water. Always worked good for me.

I understand a slightly darkened room helps see the the glow of the heated brass.

Very true I did them in my basement with only light from the windows and it does help to be in subdued light. Good Point.

I'll probably try to use the method BigAl suggests on a batch of 50 cases and use them to see if it makes a difference or not.
With the burnt powder streaks I get, I have wondered if these cases expand enough when shooting low pressure loads.