303 case annealing

[bigrich]

hey fells , bit of advice wanted . after how many firings do you anneal 303 cases ? their remington 3 times fired . i'm not loading to high pressure. 37.5gn 2208 with a 150 in my martini . i know that's low , but through previous experience i know falling blocks pressure up quicker than bolt guns . 40gn is a tiny bit more accurate , but as it's almost a 150 year old gun i take it easy . thoughts ?

[No1Mk3]

I used to anneal 303 every 5th load, now I do every firing as I bought an annealing machine. I find Rem brass to be a bit more brittle than PPU or older Win, a bit better than PMC or S&B. I load a bit hotter than you, 39.0g of 2206H with 174g FMJ/BT and FMJ/FB for any of my 303's

[bladeracer]

hey fells , bit of advice wanted . after how many firings do you anneal 303 cases ? their remington 3 times fired . i'm not loading to high pressure. 37.5gn 2208 with a 150 in my martini . i know that's low , but through previous experience i know falling blocks pressure up quicker than bolt guns . 40gn is a tiny bit more accurate , but as it's almost a 150 year old gun i take it easy . thoughts ?

I'm not bothering with PPU. They give me 12 or 13 loads before the necks split. Annealing would stop the necks splitting but cutting one up shows it doesn't have all that many loads in it before separation so I don't see any value in annealing. I'm running 38gn of AR2206H under 174gn bullets at 3.050" making 2300fps. If you're not using a rear-locking action annealing would be worth it I reckon.

[mchughcb]

I used to anneal 303 every 5th load, now I do every firing as I bought an annealing machine. I find Rem brass to be a bit more brittle than PPU or older Win, a bit better than PMC or S&B. I load a bit hotter than you, 39.0g of 2206H with 174g FMJ/BT and FMJ/FB for any of my 303's

What one did you buy?

[No1Mk3]

I used to anneal 303 every 5th load, now I do every firing as I bought an annealing machine. I find Rem brass to be a bit more brittle than PPU or older Win, a bit better than PMC or S&B. I load a bit hotter than you, 39.0g of 2206H with 174g FMJ/BT and FMJ/FB for any of my 303's

What one did you buy?

A South African made model very similar to the local made Kase AnnealR, bought from a club member for a good price. The only problem is tapered cases like 7.62x54R, 303, especially 8x50R Lebel can only be stacked few at a time. I mainly do 223, 243 308, 6.5x55 & 7.5x55 as the Mrs & I shoot 2x monthly comps and the machine helps with time savings.

[bigrich]

my annealing process is simple , battery drill and a plumbers blow torch from bunnings i count the time consistently until the neck changes to a dark blue color . air cool the treated cases . i've used this process successfully in the past . no difference in accuracy in a 358win i had between starline 358 brass and resized ADI brass . man that 358 was accurate with 225 sierras . clover leafs at 100 . worked well making 8x60 cases for a brno 21 i had too

i prefer the remington 303 brass as it's more consistent in weight to PPU. i'm shooting classic caliber in my local club big game comp . came in second for last year . a lot of the guys i was competing against were using scoped milsurp enfield's and swede mausers, my martini uses a ruger No1 front sight , with the excellent vernier adjustable martini cadet rear sight . there's a point penalty system for using scopes , i'm not THAT good a shot .

i'd like to build a 35 whelen for group one in the comp , but the price of projectiles these days is off-putting. average seems to be around $140 for 50 projectiles . there are some available at old prices , like speers . i can buy various hornady and speers for around $70-80 for 100 in smaller cals . never mind gun laws , i'm getting priced out of shooting . some of the guys who shoot 505 gibbs in the comp are keen

back to 303 , what's hypothetical case life with my mild load ?