300 H+H Brass is pretty rare in these parts so Ken Stewart of Pietersburg is supplying me with some 375 H+H basic brass (Stuff that is straight cylindrical and hasn't been formed into anything yet)

The Lott shooters will have to find another source!!! (evil laugh)

I have got the dies, here's my question:

Do I need to anneal the stuff before sizing down in the die, and should I anneal it again afterwards because of the work hardening?

Cheers

pete

I'm sure that the .300 cylindrical will reform into .300 H & H just fine, but why not start with .375 H & H instead? It should be cheaper and needs less reduction. The same would be true of 8mm Rem Mag or 7mm STW.

Most brass as it comes from the factory is soft enough in the mouth area to reform nicely without annealing. I learned this the hard way when I assumed that some unfired .323 that I wanted to reduce to .257 would need annealing first. It was so soft after annealing that it folded up in the die like warm butter. The same brass un-annealed worked fine. I would try it as is first; you can always anneal if it's too tough. If it starts out soft enough to reform properly, it shouldn't need any annealing for at least the first shot.

.375 Brass makes a better case because you can set the shoulder to hold a little instead of the belt. I use Remington .375 H&H's as the brass is thicker at the head and they resist head separations a little longer.

Thanks for the input guys,

I got the stuff yesterday, it was straight walled cylinder 375 H+H headstamped. I tried the first one and it was VERY hard to form it and there were lots of folds and wrinkles, it had not been annealled. I annealled another few and it went much better, but I have to "bump" it down starting with the die backed right out and then turning in 1 turn at a time.

Cheers

pete

You might try, after annealing, running them thru the seating die first. Usually it is a bit oversize and will give you a good start. I would expect you could trade the brass to someone for some formed cases. .300H&H brass isn't very hard to come by around here (US); don't know about the basic brass.
Hope this helps.
C.G.B.