56-50 Annealing

[Fox Creek Kid]

Per my experiences with the 56-50 cartridge and BP a person needs to anneal the cases beforehand.    My first two batches of Bell Basic cases from Buffalo Arms as well as Ten-X had tremendous blow back and sooted the chamber tremendously. So did the first batch of experimental 56-50 brass sent to me by Starline. After annealing they sealed like a duck's butt on a pond.  Annealing also stops vertical shot stringing as well. Annealing is really not rocket science that some make it out to be. I simply chuck a long stainless steel bolt into the jaws of a cordless drill and slip the case over the bolt head (head must be smaller than the case mouth, duh!  ) and then slowly spin the case while applying heat from a propane torch to the case mouth. This should be done where it is dark (late evening & outdoors for me) and just before the case mouths approach red I flip the case from the drill into a large bucket of ice water and presto: done!    One case in about a minute or less and if you do this every 5-8 shots the brass should last almost forever.

[tommy4toes]

Dave at Rocky Mountain Cartridge sells 56-50 brass pre-annealed and headstamped - I haven't had a problem with them and they seem to cycle much smoother with their radiused rims.
t4toes

[Fox Creek Kid]

The RMC never quite worked as well as the Starline in my Spencer as his rims were too large. Annealing does not last forever. It proabaly needs to de done after every 5-8 loadings, depending on blowback. The Starline brass is much cheaper than RMC as well.

[Backstrap Bill]

I anneal after each firing.  Just takes a few minutes.  Also keeps all the cartridge cases performing consistently.

[geo]

the cost of rocky mountain cartridges in 56-50 annealed and the rims radiused for $2.20 a case is well worth it. my gunsmith says annealing is a sometimes thing and he radiused the rims on all my current 56-50 cases. the last time i ordered 56-50 cases they were $2 a piece. will keep this supplier in mind. thanks for the info. good luck, geo.

[Fox Creek Kid]

My gunsmith says annealing is a sometimes thing

Huh? What does he mean by that? I anneal my 44-77 Sharps brass every other shot or so & it pays off. I had some RMC cases before Starline was available and I had to tumble them in ceramic media for 24 hrs. to get the concentric machining rings smoothed out as they wouldn't hardly eject from my carbine after firing as these annular rings gripped the chamber walls. Also, almost every one of them split at the case mouth after only a few firings. Annealing improves group sizes, prevents blowback & extends case life greatly but must be done every so often repeatedly.

[geo]

i think he was having troubles with the cases splitting when he cooled them down...?