Case neck soot or carbon

[elkeater2]

Have been loading and shooting my 25-06 for a long time. The loads I developed recently and have been using with Nosler 115 BT's shoot OK, velocity is about 3050. Winchester brass, several times fired, never annealed.
These loads all leave some carbon (not heavy soot) behind on the neck only. I haven't experienced that before with this rifle. The other load combos I have built up all approach or are at published velocities for a wide range of bullets.
Is this kind of neck blackening always indicative of a lower pressure load? In your experience how fine is the line between this showing vs. not showing? Is using these not annealed cases a factor? I'm at 54.1 gr. of 7828 ssc, WLR primers, one tenth over Nosler's published max. Extraction is easy, case stretch normal for this rifle. Primers normal too.
I do have IMR 4350 available, considering doing a workup with that. Just hate wasting components unnecessarily. I think the Nosler data is a little conservative - max loads for the 120 gr. Partition are identical to the data for 115's which seems to me a little strange. All advice welcome!

 

[desertcj]

I almost always go up until I start seeing pressure and then I work back down from there. By pressure, I mean ejector Mark's on the case head usually. Sometimes you can tell by the firing pin crater on the primer or by how flattened the edges of the primer are but I almost always go up until I see the ejector mark. I've never yet had a stuck case or even heavy bolt lift this way. Yes, I've seen carbon on the outside of necks with lower loads. I've seen it with high end loads too. If the carbon is your only concern, I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[elkeater2]

Thanks, desertcj. I'm really not sweating it for now. I've got about 30 of them left loaded and velocity and accuracy is fine with me. Just curious about those questions. I think one of the first things I might do is anneal the necks on some of the fired ones and try the same load. My limited understanding of necks, brass annealing, stretch and elasticity all came from the internet and that scares the hell out of me. I'm just thinking if the brass is hardened too much it might not expand as much or move as easily to the chamber neck walls during firing. The two antelope I dumped in October didn't seem to notice!
This is in an Encore, so I measure length and expansion and stare at primers. No ejector, but the latch system will be a little stiffer opening on hotter loads. Expansion just above the web is my primary check.

 

[ElmerThud]

It sounds to me that the brass has hardened and as a result not sealing properly.
Annealing is what I'd do to bring the brass back to life so that it seals (Obturates) preventing the soot flowing back.
Good luck

 

[desertcj]

Hey, anneal the necks and see if you notice a difference. If you aren't experienced with annealing, I'd caution to go easy at first. 2 or 3 seconds with a propane torch. Let us know your results!

 

[elkeater2]

I plan on doing just that, could be interesting.

 

[jimbires]

I get slight trace of carbon on my necks . I don't think it's anything to worry about . I anneal every time . I "THINK" it could be from using slow powders . as long as your not getting soot on down the case body , I think you're ok . it sure won't hurt to try annealing .

 

[gbflyer]

Sometimes a load that is below optimal pressure for your chamber does that.

 

[ozarkpugs]

I have seen it more with short bullets and long chambers .

Sent from my LM-K920 using Tapatalk

 

[ElmerThud]

I anneal my cases... Norma & Remington every three firings. No fancy equipment for it, I hold the cases with a gloved hand, rotating the case necks in a propane flame for 12-14 seconds.
No need to quench the brass in water, let it cool naturally.
Works for me & I never had any issues with my method.
But then, I rarely load more than 20-30 cases at any time, so annealing this way is not a bind for me.

I use Norma brass with 110gn AB bullets & Remington with 100gn Sierra Prohunters.
Never needed a heavier bullet than 110AB's for red stags in Scotland & 100gn Sierra's on hinds.
Good luck

 

[elkeater2]

I'm going to anneal next month. I'll probably do a better job of cleaning after resizing as well. I often take an alcohol rag and just wipe the lube off already-clean cases after resizing. I think perhaps I've over-used the rag and haven't paid enough attention to getting all the powdered graphite off the outside necks!

 

[sako2]

If you want to get all the soot off go to wet tumbling with stainless pins.

 

[jimbires]

I've read the "crazy cloth " easily removes the neck carbon . I've never tried it , but I've thought about buying one to see if it does .

 

[jimbires]

sorry guys , it's " krazy kloth " .I think it would have been Bobby Hart , that told me about them . RW Hart and son , used to sell them . I found them at amazon .


https://www.amazon.com/Krazy-Kloth-Larg ... B00D0SY6BS