Hello,

It looks like I'm going to have to anneal some new Starline 38-55 brass so I can reform it into 32-40. Has anyone done this before and can you offer any suggestions?

Thanks,

Jack

Great stuff John......THANKS!!

I looked at one of the videos where the guy heated the neck/shoulder area red hot while the case was setting on his vise.  That is way too hot and it is possible that the temperature at the head could reach more than 600F.  Don't follow his example.
I have formed a few thousand Starline cases, some were 38-55 to 32-40 and some 45-70 to 33 Winchester.  I use my Fluxeon induction annealer to get reproducible results and have only 2 or 3 failures to form per 1000.
Study the metallurgy of brass and find a hardness-temperature graph and work out your own method.  Most of what you see on the Internet is wrong.

No need to quench and then have to deal with a wet case. It does nothing to help the annealing proccess on brass.

Depending on the length of the case, holding them in your fingers by the rim can give you a reasonable idea of when the neck is hot enough.

Or you can build an annealing machine.

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)