Shoulder collapse, what happened here?

[Seeker2]

Annealed and sized 100x .223 cases today, but this happened on one when I was sizing (the one on the right, the left is for comparison) Lake city brass which had been fired 3 times prior. I have annealed other calibres before with no issue. I cannot see how I would have over annealed just one, as I was using a machine. I assume brass is too soft? Any diagnosis is appreciated.

 

[Seeker2]

...forgot to mention the case was a little light on lube

 

[H4831]

Not enough heat when annealing.

 

[Alpheus]

Does you sizing die have an expander? I've crushed shoulders like that when FL sizing with the expander set too low.

 

[c-fbmi]

Yep, too light on the lube will do it alright.......especially right after annealing.

 

[Seeker2]

Not enough heat when annealing.

H4831, do you mean the flame was not strong enough? I used tempilac 750 and the total time in the flame was just under 3 seconds.

Thanks for the reply

 

[Boomer]

Certainly that piece of brass was too soft to withstand resizing. This is one reason its preferable to anneal after resizing. I once tried annealing before reworking .30/06 brass, in an effort to reduce the number of case failures when making 9.3X62, which requires expanding the '06 neck to .40" to produce a false shoulder, then neck size to .366" and fire form. Suffice to say it was a failed experiment, which resulted in accordioned brass, looking much like yours. Then again, if its only happened to you the once, and you feel better annealing before resizing, carry on, if you're prepared to accept the occasional lost case. One out of 100 .223s isn't a financial disaster, although it might upsets the balance of 100 primers and bullets per 100 brass, but brass is ultimately consumable.

 

[358Rooster]

Does you sizing die have an expander? I've crushed shoulders like that when FL sizing with the expander set too low.

This. I had exactly this result with .308 on the weekend (and wasn't the first time). The brass was twice fired and never annealed outside the factory.

With some of my dies, I've gotten into the habit of leaving the decapping stem loose and they will work themselves lower (from both normal operation & installing/removing from the press) if I don't have my whits about me.

Rooster

 

[stubblejumper]

Definitely not an issue with not enough temperature the brass was definitely soft enough, more like not enough lube.

 

[tigrr]

Not enough lube.

 

[Qball-16]

Does you sizing die have an expander? I've crushed shoulders like that when FL sizing with the expander set too low.

This. I had exactly this result with .308 on the weekend (and wasn't the first time). The brass was twice fired and never annealed outside the factory.

With some of my dies, I've gotten into the habit of leaving the decapping stem loose and they will work themselves lower (from both normal operation & installing/removing from the press) if I don't have my whits about me.

Rooster

+1 on the expander ball too low.

I crushed about four 308 cases exactly the same way, before I figured out the die set-up was the issue.

 

[bsand]

Only time I did that was when I tried to size brass with a bullet seating die lol!

That was a WTF moment for me. Thinking why is this case so difficult to size.

 

[c-fbmi]

Only time I did that was when I tried to size brass with a bullet seating die lol!

That was a WTF moment for me. Thinking why is this case so difficult to size.

Similar story when my boy got confused and set his seating die as though he was FL sizing...........buckled a few loads before he came and asked for advice...........