Neck split

drill702

drill702

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Hi everyone, I am fairly new to reloading and have some casings here I just loaded for the fourth time using my lee loader. As I was inspecting then I noticed some small cracks on the neck maybe one sixteenth long. My question is would any of you still fire them then chuck the brass or should I pull the bullets. My instinct tells me to chuck the brass now. But maybe the rest of the case will still seal the gas ? what are the expert opinions on here?
 
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Pull the bullets and throw away the brass, it's done. .

. . FYI . . Shotshells the charge and pellets are held in a "shell" . . Rifle cartridges the charge and bullet are held in a brass "casing". :)
 
This is probably bad for me to say, especially since I don't have much experience, but I have frequently fired off milsurp ammo with quarter inch splits
in various places. Steel cased ammo is more brittle and usually had poor quality control. I fired off one of my brass cased 30-30 cartridges that I badly
seated a bullet into and created a split in the neck, the case seems fine, I will just trim the split off and anneal.:redface:
 
When the necks split, they're done. Pull the bullets and throw them out. No point in damaging the chamber and throat of your gun.
 
Robert Nicholson said:
This is probably bad for me to say, especially since I don't have much experience, but I have frequently fired off milsurp ammo with quarter inch splits
in various places. Steel cased ammo is more brittle and usually had poor quality control. I fired off one of my brass cased 30-30 cartridges that I badly
seated a bullet into and created a split in the neck, the case seems fine, I will just trim the split off and anneal.:redface:
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Well RN, it looks like you and I are the only ones with different views on the split necks.
If the split neck will still hold a bullet, without it coming out in my pocket, I will shot it. You and I and all other recreational shooters, with standard gun store rifles, will not be able to prove whether the bullet from the split neck shot any more accurate, or less accurate, than standard ammo shot from the same rifle.
 
H4831 said:
Well RN, it looks like you and I are the only ones with different views on the split necks.
If the split neck will still hold a bullet, without it coming out in my pocket, I will shot it. You and I and all other recreational shooters, with standard gun store rifles, will not be able to prove whether the bullet from the split neck shot any more accurate, or less accurate, than standard ammo shot from the same rifle.
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That's my usual method.
Notice a split or crack at the mouth I'll paint the headstamps with a marker so it's obvious. Use that round for a fouling shot and toss it or cut it down for a powder scoop when I get home.

It's not going to be a real issue unless it's split all the way down to the neck or bass of the bullet.
 
H4831 said:
Well RN, it looks like you and I are the only ones with different views on the split necks.
If the split neck will still hold a bullet, without it coming out in my pocket, I will shot it. You and I and all other recreational shooters, with standard gun store rifles, will not be able to prove whether the bullet from the split neck shot any more accurate, or less accurate, than standard ammo shot from the same rifle.
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Thanks Bruce! I was just about to delete my post on this thread and slink off with my tail tucked in, but now I feel better :d
 
If the other end of the case (near the bolt head) splits, that can be a disaster.

But a split neck as far as the middle of the case is not much of an issue.

I do not load cases with a little split in the mouth. They get tossed. But if the case had a little split, it would get shot and hopefully I would catch it on inspection before loading it again.

If you are worried about throat erosion and things like that, there are far more worse things than a small split in the neck. Trimming a case back to minimum length will accelerate throat erosion. When trimming, trim back no more than 5 thou under max length.

Those of us who only get a year or two out of a barrel can benefit from this info. The average shooter gets a lifetime out of his barrel, so it does not matter much.
 
Depends what it will be used for. I like good neck tension on my hunting ammo, don't need a bullet shifting under recoil or when cycling the action when I'm shooting the new world record whitetail. I'd probably mark that entire lot of brass for target or plinking, unless it was something very special and then I would do some annealing to try and get as much life as I could from it.
 
If I may be so bold as to interupt with a brief hijack:


I had a similar question about a casing. I overdid it with this one when resizing, and she buckled around edges. Obviously it's only one piece, so I'd toss it in a heart beat, but I'm still curious from a "common practice" sort of side of things.

Would you reload this?

 
I load those dented cases. It is caused by too much lube on the shoulder. It is nothing. I have seen factory ammo with much worse defects.

It will have zero effect on the fired shot and will iron out from the pressure of shooting.

BTW, your case mouth needs to be champfered.
 
Ganderite said:
I load those dented cases. It is caused by too much lube on the shoulder. It is nothing. I have seen factory ammo with much worse defects.

It will have zero effect on the fired shot and will iron out from the pressure of shooting.

BTW, your case mouth needs to be champfered.
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Thanks!!
 
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