What caused this case damage?

gitrdun

gitrdun

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
34   0   1
Location
In the West
Do you see the crack at the 6 o'clock position - 270WSM casing, not an excessively hot load, has been fired twice and full lenght resized. This is the only one of of a dozen that looks like this. It measures 2.104" after being fired, which seems normal. There are no signs of excessive pressure. Is maybe just a bad Remington case? or what....?

case2.gif
[/IMG]
 
I wouldn't sweat it - the next case could last a dozen reloadings. All of my .375 Ultra cases are Remington, and the primer pockets normally get loose before the neck or the case mouth splits. Just consider it an anomaly - chuck it and continue on as you were.
 
Looks like you aren't trimming / deburring / chamfering your case mouths. I don't know if that might be the cause.
 
The load was Hornady 140gr. BTSP behind 59 grs. of IMR4831 and Fed. 215 primers. I always trim, deburr and chamfer my cases, but I can see from the picture how you might assume that I didn't. I won't be using the left over Remington brass, do you guys thing Winchester brass is better - that's what I hear anyways. Here is a picture of the grouping with the same load but switching to Winchester standard primers instead of Federal magnums.
load8.gif
 
Size a case with the expander button removed and measure the neck diameter, size one with the expander button in and get a measurement. How much difference? Cracks can develop from brass that is being over worked during the sizing process. It work hardens and loses it's ductility- or it may just be a lot of brass that was harder than necessary to begin with giving the same result.
 
Occaisionally you get a bad case.I would throw away the case and not be concerned.I don't find winchester brass any better quality wise than remington.
 
My personal experience gives Winchester brass the nod in commercial N.A. offerings. Split cases are not that unusual, though, and can occur early in the life of any case, even Norma or Lapua. Toss the case and carry on. Eagleye.
 
I wouldn't worry to much about it unless its happening to a lot of your brass. I bought a box of factory ammo (federal) and was surprised to find a split case in the body from the factory. Those were new and never fired, luckily it did not chamber easily because of the buldge where the crack was and thats how I noticed it.
 
Winchester brass is generally lighter than other brands, and target shooters tend to like this because the lighter the case, the easier it is to manufacture the cases to tight dimensional tolarances resulting in a more consistant product. In my experience I have not found Remington brass to fail any faster than brass from other North American manufacturers.

European brass has a better reputation than it's North American counterpart, but this has more to do with the fact that European flash holes are normally drilled rather than punched. Consistant case to case weight variations tend to be smaller - although this is not always so. Again, it has been my experience that European brass doesn't last any longer than North American brass.
 
prosper said:
It might be good practise to anneal all your case necks, especially if you regularly full-length size
Click to expand...

Good point! I've read that some handloaders have been able to significantly increase the number of re-loads they've been able to get from their brass by annealing on a regular basis. This does not take into account the heaviness of the hand-load involved.
 
I've found that the weak link in the chain is not so much case neck failure as it is expanded primer pockets. That said, I am annealing my .375 Ultra brass in hopes that they will last a bit longer. I still loose quite a few to primer pocket expansion, and it will be interesting to see how many cases survive to a second annealing.
 
prosper said:
I thought primer pocket expansion was a sign of overpressure?!?
Click to expand...

The new short and ultra mags all run at higher maximum pressures than most other cartridges. Loose primer pockets after 3 or 4 loadings are fairly normal with these cartridges unless you load them down a bit.

These are still not as bad as some of the old factory Weatherby offerings! ;) Spent primers floating around the magazine box after the first firing were common. :rolleyes:
 
[QUOTE='Boo]The new short and ultra mags all run at higher maximum pressures than most other cartridges. Loose primer pockets after 3 or 4 loadings are fairly normal with these cartridges unless you load them down a bit.

These are still not as bad as some of the old factory Weatherby offerings! ;) Spent primers floating around the magazine box after the first firing were common. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

'Boo is correct on this one, for sure. I have seen factory Short mag loads that left distinct ejector plunger hole marks on the head of the case after firing. These loads are pushing the envelope pretty hard in attempts to live up to their velocity claims. When I reload, I will cease to use any load that so marks a case, since it is one of the recognizable signs of too high pressure, unless you have a lot of very soft brass. As to older Weatherby loads, I remember a friend who bought some Factory 300 Weatherby ammunition loaded with 220 grain bullets. He fired one round and it almost siezed the bolt! Thinking it was an aberration, he fired another, with the same result. He brought the rifle and ammo to me [3 boxes] and said, can you fix it? I had to reduce the load by 4 grains to make it feel right in his rifle. The chronograph verified that the reduced load was at acceptable pressures. Hot factory ammo? You bet!! IIRC, no recall was ever issued regarding that lot of ammo either. Regards, Eagleye.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom