Hey Fellas - looking for comments on .33 WCF

[Riley/MN]

I know I don't post on here much, but I've been thinkin about doing some reloading and remembered an issue with some bertram brass. How many of you guys use it? Does it seem awful brittle to you? I have some that is loaded and some that is fresh in the box. Almost half of what I have loaded & shot has split the case in the shoulder. I'm thinking I could heat the new cases with a torch to anneal them. How about the loaded stuff? If I pull the bullets & dump the powder, I still wouldn't want to heat up primed cases. Is it safe to decap an unfired primer?

Thanks in advance.

[piller]

I wouldn't decap an unfired primer. It might go off. Other than that, no experience with what you are asking.

[Pitchy]

Can`t help much either but good to see ya bro.

[BenT]

Maybe your chamber is a little long. How much more is the fired case's shoulder pushed forward than the unfired? Otherwise like you said the brass sounds brittle.

[gundownunder]

I have decapped a number of live primers over the last few years that I've been reloading.
I try not to make a habit of it and when I do it I push down gently so the primer is pushed out and not bashed out. So far I've not had a single one go bang, but even if one did it would be well encased in the die and would have no choice but to back out and go down the primer ejector tube.
As always,
follow safety guidelines, wear safety glasses or a face-shield.

[6pt-sika]

I sometimes will prime alot more cases for something then I actually need and set them aside .
And with that there have been a few times I ran out of a specific primer and would take these primed cases and deprime them so I could use the primers in something else .

Maybe I've been overly LUCKY but knock on wood so far none have popped off when I was depriming them . Now granted I'm not hard about the way I do it either .

[Borregos]

I have decapped a number of live primers over the last few years that I've been reloading.
I try not to make a habit of it and when I do it I push down gently so the primer is pushed out and not bashed out. So far I've not had a single one go bang, but even if one did it would be well encased in the die and would have no choice but to back out and go down the primer ejector tube.
As always,
follow safety guidelines, wear safety glasses or a face-shield.

+1

[Riley/MN]

Can`t help much either but good to see ya bro.

Howdy Bro!

[Leverluver]

Same experience as you, split shoulders on 40-90 brass. Most expensive and lousiest brass on earth. You couldn't give me the stuff for free.

[Malamute]

I've had no problem decapping live primers if you do it gently. I've done lots of them, never had one pop, but wear glasses just in case. It isn't a big deal if they do, ask anyone thats popped one in a Lee Loader while seating primers. Women seem to take that as a sign that reloading must be done in the garage or other place of banishment.

Sounds like you need to form some decent brass from 45-70.

[fordwannabe]

I just pull the bullet and powder then fire the primed case in the rifle, and usually the people at the range look at me dumb...but it gets the job done. I am taking a 1886 in 33wcf as my primary gun on an elk hunt this November in Colorado.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I un-seat live primers in the slow easy way on my green single stage press whenever I need to. Primers just pop out into the green lower tray with no fuss.
I shoot 33 Win in a 1920's vintage rifle. I have annealed 40-65 brass before reforming and after reforming and there still willl be a 50% loss due to that stretching. I have tried Unique with COW on top with wax plug, long seating a cast bullet, a thin O ring on the cartride rim so it is held tight to the bolt face, and near full power loads trying to find the right combination. The older Win. chambers are much greater in diameter than either of the two sets of reloading dies I have so the brass splits even if annealed. Have also tried forming so the case shoulder is too long. I am one day going to get some new 45-70 and give that a whirl but will never try 40-65 again.
But the good news.. once a piece of brass is fired and annealed again it will relod numerous times if you only neck size.
Mike in ILL.

[jnyork]

I had good luck reforming 45-70 brass. I would just lube the case real well with RCBS case lube, run it up in the BULLET SEATING die using my old Rock Chucker press, then run it up in the sizing die. Started with 50 RP's, buckled one or two IIRC. Annealed and loaded 'em up, fired several times as I was using the rifle for Lever Action Silhouette. Cant recall having any problems at all with them. I seem to recall a guy gave me some Starline brass that was impossible to resize, just too tough.

[missionary5155]

Good afternoon
Starline is a bear ! Annealing is about the only way to get it to squeeze down. But then they do have good heavy walls on that brass.
Mike in ILL.

[Sixgun]

I must have decapped several thousand live primed cases. No issues. I just run in the sizer or a RCBS Universal decapper. People worry too much by what they read.

As for the 33 I have forming them from any brand of 45-70 brass for 40 years. No annealing or other bs--just do it right-------- form and trim, load and shoot. 4 or 5 thousands rounds later, I'm still here and so are the dozen or so 86's I ran 'em through.------------Sixgun

[6pt-sika]

Never tried reforming for the 38-56 or 33 WCF .

When I was hung up on the derivatives of the 45-70 I just got 100 of the Starline 40-65 for the 40-65 I had . 40 pieces of Quality Cartridge 38-56 brass for the 38-56 I had and 40 pieces of Quality Cartridge 33 WCF for the 33 WCF I had .

I shot them enough but 40 pieces always seemed like plenty for me in the 33 and 38-56 . Kinda wish I had them both back now LOL's !

[mikld]

I have decapped a number of live primers over the last few years that I've been reloading.
I try not to make a habit of it and when I do it I push down gently so the primer is pushed out and not bashed out. So far I've not had a single one go bang, but even if one did it would be well encased in the die and would have no choice but to back out and go down the primer ejector tube.
As always,
follow safety guidelines, wear safety glasses or a face-shield.

+1

+2 Done it a lot on various cases I've found/traded/bought etc...

[94deluxe]

i have quite a few .33 cases formed from 45-70 if interested. I got them in a trade and dont use them. mattdickerson @ aol dot com

[2ndovc]

I must have decapped several thousand live primed cases. No issues. I just run in the sizer or a RCBS Universal decapper. People worry too much by what they read.

As for the 33 I have forming them from any brand of 45-70 brass for 40 years. No annealing or other bs--just do it right-------- form and trim, load and shoot. 4 or 5 thousands rounds later, I'm still here and so are the dozen or so 86's I ran 'em through.------------Sixgun

Sixgun did some .33 from Starline brass for me. Lost a few because it's so thick.

I don't have any .33 Bertram brass but have been using their .35WCF for some time.
i heated the necks with a torch and have reloaded them several times w/o a failure.

jb

[Larryo-1]

I,too, have a .33WCF. I have not used Bertram brass in it as I wouldn't walk across the street to get some as I had some case failures with some of their 45-75 cases that split at the shoulder also just as you said. I use them for "Show and Tell" for folks not to use them and besides that they are priced way out of reason. I use alot of originals as they are only about 50-60 years old and work perfectly. I also use formed 45-70 cases. These I anneal after forming and have never had a single case failure. As far as decapping live primers, I have done alot over the years and have never had one go "BANG" on me--maybe I have just been lucky--don't know. I will say that I have never decapped a whole bunch only one now and then so can only say--use your own judgement on this matter. Were I you I would pull the bullets, dump the powder and then shoot the empty and then deprime. Alot safer. Hope this helps.