Olon
Member
Hello,
I was reading through some reloading threads here on THR. One thing that came up a few times that has me scratching my head is why some folks would quench their cases before reloading them.
I get that, by annealing, you are undoing the effects of what is essentially cold working the case when you shoot it. Annealing repairs those dislocations in the crystal structure, making it more ductile and essentially brings it back to square one.
Then people go and quench them, once again embrittling the case. Why is this desirable? I would think that all quenching does is make it more likely for the brass to split.
On another vein, I understand that by using unquenched brass, the wall thickness is decreasing by more each time you shoot. Does this affect the life of the case more than possible splitting? If that's what it is, why don't you just trim it and call it good instead of adding 2 more steps?
Genuinely curious here, as I'm not at all experienced in the reloading world. What do you all do, and why?
As always, thanks for your input,
Olon
I was reading through some reloading threads here on THR. One thing that came up a few times that has me scratching my head is why some folks would quench their cases before reloading them.
I get that, by annealing, you are undoing the effects of what is essentially cold working the case when you shoot it. Annealing repairs those dislocations in the crystal structure, making it more ductile and essentially brings it back to square one.
Then people go and quench them, once again embrittling the case. Why is this desirable? I would think that all quenching does is make it more likely for the brass to split.
On another vein, I understand that by using unquenched brass, the wall thickness is decreasing by more each time you shoot. Does this affect the life of the case more than possible splitting? If that's what it is, why don't you just trim it and call it good instead of adding 2 more steps?
Genuinely curious here, as I'm not at all experienced in the reloading world. What do you all do, and why?
As always, thanks for your input,
Olon