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April 15, 2005
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Chuck said
I just got back from the gun shop (auction house). He had many pounds of powder for sale. Not sure if he just got it or he brought some from his warehouse.
I bought 4 lbs of 2400, 8 lbs of H4350, 3 lbs of 5744, 1 lb of 4198 and 1 lb of bullseye. Charged me $420. That’s just under $25 per pound.
This is what happens at many auction houses. They don’t want to deal with books, loading equipment and ammo. It costs them too much time and effort to catalog all the stuff. I was not the first to go through the pile and there is still at least another 75 lbs. I missed out on the IMR 4895. There wasn’t any IMR 4060.
You are lucky to have that opportunity… I know I would be a regular customer at those prices!
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
March 31, 2009
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Bert H. said
Chuck said
I just got back from the gun shop (auction house). He had many pounds of powder for sale. Not sure if he just got it or he brought some from his warehouse.
I bought 4 lbs of 2400, 8 lbs of H4350, 3 lbs of 5744, 1 lb of 4198 and 1 lb of bullseye. Charged me $420. That’s just under $25 per pound.
This is what happens at many auction houses. They don’t want to deal with books, loading equipment and ammo. It costs them too much time and effort to catalog all the stuff. I was not the first to go through the pile and there is still at least another 75 lbs. I missed out on the IMR 4895. There wasn’t any IMR 4060.
You are lucky to have that opportunity… I know I would be a regular customer at those prices!
There are many advantages of having a good relationship with a local gun shop. But, one point that I hoped others would realize is that they need to think about how they or their heirs are going to get rid of the stuff. When was the last time you saw powder, books, loading equipment, etc in an auction? Some do put it on Gunbroker or Guns International. Those that will sell the books put them in lots. 1 good book with a bunch of bad books. Or a box of stuff with 1 nice piece.
I recently bought a couple lots of books. I kept what I wanted and gave some to my friends. Some of the ones on specific arms I give to the gun shop for his library if he needs it. The guys that do the descriptions often refer to the library. As do the regular customers that hang out. We love it when he buys a collection. We help unload the collection. We get to see what is coming up for the next few auctions. And if he owns the stuff he sells it as fast as possible. Sometimes while it is still in the van.
November 7, 2015
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Chuck-
I have some crow to eat but I think I’ll be able to get it down. I felt reloading the 38-55 cartridge did not work-harden the case necks enough to merit annealing. I suppose that was wishful thinking as the last thing I need is another gadget to improve my reloads. I dug out some new Hornady brass and as it was towards minimum dimensions I fired some jacketed 220gr Hornady bullets and some softer .377 cast Lyman 375449 bulletsintended for the 375 Winchester in my 1894 hoping they would bump up. Big failure, haven’t tumbled a bullet @ 50 in awhile!
This gave me some fire formed once-fired cases and I loaded them with some .380” cast bullets in a couple of loads that showed promise earlier. Long story short, I’m scraping together my nickels and dimes to buy an Anneal-Rite tool 426Crown told me about. I like the somewhat automated Anneal-Ease system but I like the simplicity (and price!) of the Anneal-Right. I have about 100 38-55 cases and a similar number of 30-06 cases that need annealing and I’m pretty sure some 32-40, 32Spl and quite likely a few others could benefit from some propane therapy.
Mike
March 31, 2009
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Brass starts work hardening the first time you size it then shoot it. In my world you might be able to get away with annealing every other time, but I don’t. The headspace on a rimless cartridge just won’t hold where you set it and will rebound some right after you size it. Same with neck tension. Besides the loss of consistency with your loads the brass will fail sooner. I’m cheap. Last year I shot some brass 29 times with no failures. It was getting loose primer pockets. But no split necks.
I have a flame annealer and the key is to set up the flame the same way each time and test to see where to set the timer. The blue tip of the flame should be about a 1/2″ from the brass. Don’t get caught up with the paste. Test in the dark and only let the flame be on the neck/shoulder area just long enough to start getting an orange glow coming off the case mouth. Don’t let the neck turn orange. You can’t really ruin the brass but over annealing really looks ugly.
Size some brass then measure the neck diameter and the headspace. Let it set for a day and remeasure. If annealed properly the dimensions should remain the same. If the measurements aren’t holding you did not keep it in the flame long enough. A second one way or another can make a difference.
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