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Hardening brass

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04 October 2001, 06:51
Tombo21
Hardening brass
I've read on this forum that Norma brass is "soft" but great stuff. Lapua is great but they make no belted magnums. Is there a way to harden brass to get a stiffer case?
04 October 2001, 11:27
Bob338
What you have heard is probably perception of the individual posting. In reality the relative hardness won't make a nickel's worth of difference to anybody. I'm one of those who have made that statement about Norma brass. I've had primer pockets loosen just a tad faster than some other brands of brass. But it also could have been the partiticular lot involved.

Brass will "harden" through working the brass. The negative to harder brass is that it isn't as elastic and doesn't grip the bullet as consistently as softer more ductile brass. It will also split sooner than the more ductile brass. There's no free ride. The brass is stiff enough and Norma's is first class stuff. I doubt you'd want to change much of anything. "Soft" just means you might get 5 less reloads than with someone else's "harder" brass, and if you're getting 20 reloads anyway, what difference would it make?

04 October 2001, 15:42
<hotdog>
why worry about hard brass anneal the necks and keep on shooting and if you use a primer that is not as hot yours primer pockets might not expand as much Federal and CCI are hot primers Winchester and Remington are not as hot but still great.luck hotdog