An unusual case failure.

brnolvr said:
If that brass is Nickel plated, there is part of the reason why it failed, Also how many years old is ammo.
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I've shot lots of nickle plated handloads in .308 and .223 with no problems. How would nickle plating cause the failure pictured?
 
brnolvr said:
If that brass is Nickel plated, there is part of the reason why it failed, Also how many years old is ammo.
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Of course. That's why every major manufacturer puts nickel plated cases into their premium hunting and defense ammunition, and has for decades. Because it's known to be prone to failures.
 
Unless it's the lighting in the photo for a once fired case it seems to have an awful lot of scuffs and scratches on it. What the long copper coloured streak on the top? How smooth is your chamber.
 
BattleRife said:
Of course. That's why every major manufacturer puts nickel plated cases into their premium hunting and defense ammunition, and has for decades. Because it's known to be prone to failures.
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Simple, It's well known that nickel plating makes brass more brittle, they use nickel cases because of it's resistance to corrosion.
 
Ted, I wonder if this might be one of the rare times when the bullet makes a
metallurgical bond to the inside of the neck. [I have seen this happen a couple of times]

When it was fired it pulled the neck off, then shed it as the bullet entered the rifling.

Was the piece of neck you removed split?

Regards, Dave.
 
I think I'll set aside those .338WM loads I ran up last week, using the nickel plated stuff a fellow left behind on the range.
Just until I see where this thread goes.
 
I just loaded up a batch of 50 nickel-plated 303 Brit for their fourth firing, so nickel-plating does not guarantee short case life. Lots of firings out of some nickel 30-06, 243 and 44 Mag as well.

I wonder if that batch missed the final annealing?
 
A buddy wrecked a Rem 700 mt rifle in .280 that had the exact same case failure with the nickle crap.The case neck tried to exit the barrel with the bullet.Only the stock survived amazingly.Threw out all his shiny nickle brass after that.Harold
 
I've seen .300 Wby separate at the shoulder, but that's the first .300 Winchester case failure I've seen that wasn't just ahead of the belt. I can't comment on the nickled brass, because, as a rule, I won't use it. But its not impossible to get neck separation any time there is worked hardened brass. The A Square manual has an interesting section on annealing, showing how work hardening affects pressure.
 
Hookay the concern meter is reaching the red zone.
Maybe he's still tracking the critter.

Ted........ohhhhhhhh Ted..................Teddy ...........where art thou?
 
I have, on several occasions, had nickle plated cases hold the bullet so hard that I could not pull them with a collet puller.

Had to put them in the press, and seat them a bit deeper to break the bullets free from the case.
In one incidence, I applied so much pressure on the seating die that the shoulder of the case collapsed a bit.

When I did get the bullets pulled on these stubborn units, there was always evidence of a metallurgical bond occurring
between the nickle plating inside the case neck and the gilding metal of the bullet.

These cases wire once-fired, and should not have needed annealing.
No reason why such bonding could not occur with a factory loaded round, IMHO.

FWIW, I use NO nickle plated cases except 357 Mag pistol.

Regards, Dave.
 
After using WW nickel plated brass for 15 years in my .280 Remington, I bought some Remington brass last week.
The main reason being that the nickel plates brass should not be outside neck reamed for fear of damaging the cutter.
 
I've shot thousands of nickel-placed cartridges without a hiccup...I won't reload it though. Strange things happen but it's certainly not indicative of all nickel cases. Manufacturers load enough rounds that odd failure is inevitable.
 
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