Question about brass

daveg01

daveg01

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
27   0   0
Location
Lanark, BANtario
OK - I have only been reloading for a little while, but reload for 3 different calibers.

I have these brass, which according to my records have been fired 3 times - I bought them as 1x fired and have reloaded them twice. They are Winchester brass, but on some of the "FC" brass I have, there is a ring in the same location, but no bump. This is for a .270 WIN.

I'm about to reload some more and noticed this on the base of the brass. Hopefully you can see it in the picture. Basically, there is a slight bump on the brass near the bottom. Is this due to sizing stretching the brass?

I'm pretty sure these are no longer good, but I'm more concerned that I am doing something wrong.

Comments are welcome.


Thanks,

Dave
 
Here is the picture...

IMG00052.jpg
 
Last edited:
I already chucked out the brass, so I'm not sure if it will re-chamber or not. I don't recall any issues cycling the bolt when I fired them.

This was for a .270 (parker hale 1100). In total,

The most recent load was using Barnes TSX 140gr, with H4350. I loaded 5x51 gr, 5x52gr, 5x53gr, and 5x54gr. All of the brass had this problem regardless of the load used.

The previous loads I had loaded with this brass were 130gr Hornady SSTs, 5x52.3gr, 5x54.2gr, 5x56.2gr, 5x58.1gr, and 5x60.1gr.

I bought them as 1x fired.

Thanks for the help!
 
Was the brass full length sized before shooting in your gun?
Was the brass trimmed to the "trim to" length?
What was the brass length before and after firing?
Has the head space of your gun ever been checked?
Were there any other signs of excessive pressure, like deformed or flattened primers?
Sizing, and trimming are important especially for near max loads with used brass of unknown origen.
 
Was the brass full length sized before shooting in your gun? yes
Was the brass trimmed to the "trim to" length?Yes
What was the brass length before and after firing?Don't know the exact measurements, but it was at or below the trim to length before and needed to be trimmed after shooting the last batch of reloads. Should I keep track of this in my load data?
Has the head space of your gun ever been checked?No, is this expensive? I don't have the equipment. I assume you need the correct gauges to do this...
Were there any other signs of excessive pressure, like deformed or flattened primers?none, primers looked fine.


Thanks,
 
Does the "bump" go all around the circumference of the case or is it only on one side? If it is lop-sided it may indicate that your chamber was cut out of round.What does new factory brass look like after firing in the rifle? If you want to check for case thinning/incipient separation,do the paper clip test. Bend a paper clip straight,then bend one end into a 90 degree angle to form an "L" shape,then sharpen that end to a point.Slide the sharpened end down the interior of the case and draw it over what you see as a ring,bump or line.If the sharpened end snags,this indicates case thinning and a potential separation at that point.A case should be good for at least 4-5 firing/FL re-sizing cycles unless excessive headspace or excess pressure is an issue.Even if headspace proves to be a bit long,but within "field" gauge tolerances,you can control excessive brass flow/case stretching/case life by only necksizing after the initial firing has set the case shoulder to the length of the chamber.I'd try the process again using new brass in your rifle as you have no idea of the condition of the other rifle which produced your 1 F brass.
 
The bump goes all the way around the case.

I have other brass that I have run similar or even the same loads in that don't show this at all. Even after a couple of reloads, so it does not appear to happen with newer brass.

At this point, I think it was the brass, but I will look into getting the head space checked for issues. The rifle seems to shoot fine. I can easily get 1" groups at 100 yards, but I'm looking to improve that if I can.
 
It almost looks like your sizing die is piling brass at the bottom of the resizing stroke. What lube are you using? Does the resizing stroke seem to be overly heavy? Does the case extract from the sizing die OK? Is your FL resizing die screwed all the way down to the shell holder? Dave
 
Dantforth said:
It almost looks like your sizing die is piling brass at the bottom of the resizing stroke. What lube are you using? Does the resizing stroke seem to be overly heavy? Does the case extract from the sizing die OK? Is your FL resizing die screwed all the way down to the shell holder? Dave
Click to expand...

Lube and Die are RCBS. I can do the resizing stroke fairly easily I guess and cases seem to extract ok. I have the resizing die set to about a 1/4 turn higher than the shell holder - just enough that it is not touching, close but not quite.
 
I cannot tell from the photo - it is pretty small - but it looks like the expansion ring.* At the point of the case where the solid head transitions to the sidewall, the case expands to fit the chamber.*
A very pronounced expansion ring could occur it the casehead is on the small size, or if the chamber is on the large size.
If you carefully measure the head diameters of the different makes of cases you may find that one make is smaller than the other.
Use a hacksaw, and section the lower 1/2" of a few cases. File smooth. If there are incipient separations, they will be easy to see. If it is an expansion ring, you will see this as well.
 
I'm with Tiriaq on this, I expect that the brass with the "bulge" is ever-so slightly smaller than the brass without the bulge. I have a .30-'06 that will not chamber Winchester factory ammo. but chambers Federal, no problem. The Federal (F-C) brass is just a bit smaller at the base.
 
hey - it is just a bit smaller... hmmm

I believe you are right, it appears that the Winchester brass is about .0005" smaller in diameter, except at the bulge they are the same size . These are the ones I am having issues with. My Federal and Remington brass don't have this issue and are just slightly bigger in diameter. (these are ALL once fired from the same rifle)

I'm still going to section a couple to see as suggested by Tiriaq.

I'll let you know what I find.

Thanks,

Dave
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom