.33 WCF Brass|Winchester Shooting and Hunting|Forum|Winchester Collector

The last head stamped, purpose made .33 Win brass I was aware of was Bertram brass through Midway.  They have not had it, nor to my knowledge has RCBS, for some years.  Further, I can’t say it held up any longer than reformed .45-70 brass, so for the cost, I will continue reforming the latter and when the neck cracks, throw it away and reform some more.  I shoot the .33 Win a fair amount in our silhouette shoots, so I do go through brass with some regularity.  Some years back Quality Brass was supposed to send me a sample of their newly made .45-75, which never happened.  Generally I have not seen any Quality Brass in the calibers that I need.  Tim.

tim tomlinson said
The last head stamped, purpose made .33 Win brass I was aware of was Bertram brass through Midway.  They have not had it, nor to my knowledge has RCBS, for some years.  Further, I can’t say it held up any longer than reformed .45-70 brass, so for the cost, I will continue reforming the latter and when the neck cracks, throw it away and reform some more.  I shoot the .33 Win a fair amount in our silhouette shoots, so I do go through brass with some regularity.  Some years back Quality Brass was supposed to send me a sample of their newly made .45-75, which never happened.  Generally I have not seen any Quality Brass in the calibers that I need.  Tim.  

When any of my brass fails anywhere or shows signs of failure I throw the whole batch away. This is assuming they all have been shot the same amount and the rest will soon fail.  I’m sure this is what Tim meant too. 

David and others,  Just on line with Midway.  Only .33 brass I saw was the new .33 Nosler.  NO .33 Winchester listed.  Either I am doing something wrong or?????  IF they do indeed have .33 Win brass, I would appreciate knowing how to find it and the order number.  Then again, as I said earlier, it did not last any better than the reformed, once fired, .45-70 brass.  So maybe no need for me, but for others.  Tim

All, to clarify a point on reformed brass for the .33 WCF.  I keep brass in lots.  And when one cracks in the neck, the entire lot is consigned to the range recycle bin.  The ones that I said I use that were wrinkled on reforming–they also go into a lot, and get tossed rather soon as they WILL crack at the wrinkle.  I have tried resizing in steps using a .38-56 die before the .33 WCF.  Seems to make little if any difference in how many good pieces of brass I get from a batch of .45-70.  Best effort is to try to assure the mouths of the .45-70 are uniform first before reforming.  Seems my loss rate varies based on my attention span or some phase of the moon.  Sometimes I get very few rejects.  Other times I see it happening too much and quit for another evening.  Tim

Chuck,  No, I don’t anneal.  Call it laziness as at one time I had a near endless supply of once fired Remington .45-70 from a friend.  Now it may make sense.

The wrinkles occur in the neck itself, extending clear to the mouth and varying how far towards the shoulder each cares to do.  Seems if they are going to wrinkle it is right off the bat.  I have tried doing resizing in small increments, and it shows immediately.  I have tried resizing in one full pull of the press handle and the wrinkles show of course when I raise the handle.  Can’t say the several small increments vary from the one full stroke in rates of rejection.  Moon phase makes as much sense.  I actually suspect it may be the brass may have thickness differences.  Squaring the mouth on my trimmer and fully chamfering inside and out helps but is not a full answer.  I may get desperate enough to try annealing one day soon.  Tim

steve004 said

tim tomlinson said

Chuck,  No, I don’t anneal.  Call it laziness as at one time I had a near endless supply of once fired Remington .45-70 from a friend.  Now it may make sense.

The wrinkles occur in the neck itself, extending clear to the mouth and varying how far towards the shoulder each cares to do.  Seems if they are going to wrinkle it is right off the bat.  I have tried doing resizing in small increments, and it shows immediately.  I have tried resizing in one full pull of the press handle and the wrinkles show of course when I raise the handle.  Can’t say the several small increments vary from the one full stroke in rates of rejection.  Moon phase makes as much sense.  I actually suspect it may be the brass may have thickness differences.  Squaring the mouth on my trimmer and fully chamfering inside and out helps but is not a full answer.  I may get desperate enough to try annealing one day soon.  Tim

  

Tim –

Your take and history with annealing matches mine completely.  Over the last few years, I’ve been thinking more and more about motivating myself to start.  Haven’t made it over the hump yet

  

All it takes is an attachment to the propane bottle so it can sit on a table top.  Put a glove on your hand and place your hand on the table top so each piece can be held in the same position in the flame.  Rotate the brass until you see the slightest bit of orange coming off the brass.  Count the seconds this takes. Drop in a pan and let cool.  Could the wrinkles be lube dents?

I’ve looked at semi-automated annealing equipment several times over the years. Except for obsolete cartridges it made little sense because the low price of brass (then) and my comparatively low volume of shooting/loading. My success rate forming 32-40 cases from 38-55 was very similar to Tim’s luck forming 33’s from 45-70’s. That brass was admittedly somewhat work-hardened already so scrapping it wasn’t a big loss or much of a surprise. I think annealed brass may very well perform better but I’ll put off investing in annealing equipment as long as possible. I know it can be done with minimal equipment but I think the somewhat automated machines will give me better results given my short attention span and lack of dexterity. 

Mike

Chuck said

TXGunNut said

I’ve looked at semi-automated annealing equipment several times over the years. Except for obsolete cartridges it made little sense because the low price of brass (then) and my comparatively low volume of shooting/loading. My success rate forming 32-40 cases from 38-55 was very similar to Tim’s luck forming 33’s from 45-70’s. That brass was admittedly somewhat work-hardened already so scrapping it wasn’t a big loss or much of a surprise. I think annealed brass may very well perform better but I’ll put off investing in annealing equipment as long as possible. I know it can be done with minimal equipment but I think the somewhat automated machines will give me better results given my short attention span and lack of dexterity. 

 

Mike

  

I have a very nice annealer but I use it almost every week.  Like I said get a stand for the propane bottle.  Annealing will take care of the work hardening.

  

Chuck – 

Like this one?  This one did look cool:

https://www.ampannealing.com/