2 piece nose cap.

[Red Owl]

Just a quick word to all the newbies such as myself. I'm making a two piece nose cap and I figured I could bend the brass without all the softening procedure however what I had to work with was heavier than normal- about .065 vs .032 so on that account alone I heated cherry red and quenched a couple of times. Whoa!  What a difference- almost as soft as lead.

[Birddog6]

Yes. You need to quench it Often..... It just makes it so much easier to work with.  Or I should say it will work with you, rather than  against you. 

Keith Lisle

[smylee grouch]

Yes I too have done that with brass sheet but I wonder if you can do it with brass castings as some seem to be alot harder than others?   Anyone with any past experience along these lines?     Gary

[Dennis Glazener]

Yes I too have done that with brass sheet but I wonder if you can do it with brass castings as some seem to be alot harder than others?   Anyone with any past experience along these lines?     Gary

I just did one the other day. I needed to make the buttplate extension wider so I tried to widen it by wedging a piece of old cutoff round barrel into the underside of the extension. It didn't widen with moderate blows. I then heated and quenched the extension repeated the wedgeing  process and it worked perfectly. I suspect it depends on the brass used and not all cast brass is the same.
Dennis

[Elnathan]

The malleability of various brass alloys seem to vary greatly. 260 cartridge brass squishes around beautifully, and Reaves Goering's castings are made from 260, I believe, as are a lot of sand castings. Most investment cast gun mounts are formed from harder alloys, perhaps even from bronze, and tend to crack as well as be more difficult to file. Jim Chamber's parts are supposed to be easier to file than most, so they may be made of 260 as well. Perhaps he or Barbie can tell us for sure.