Would you reload this lot of 300wsm brass?

Far from the first time I've heard of WSM cases splitting from their first firing with factory loads. Always with Winchester ammo too. Cheap or premium doesn't seem to matter. Nickle plated or plain brass also doesn't seem to matter. It's at least the fourth time I've seen, been told, or read about this specifically with Winchester 300WSM.
 
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Will contact Winchester and see how they explain this and what they are doing about it.[/QUOTE]

This has been an issue with Winchester brass for a while now. They know all about it
 
How old is the Brass? I had a batch of nickel and regular .300wsm do the exact thing. They were older brass, like 5-6 years old. Only ever seen it in this caliber. likely 25% did it. The ones that didn't worked as normal.
 
UPDATE

32 days after a complaint emailed to them, Winchester USA just contacted me.
Along with a file number assigned to the case, I am requested to ship my split/spent cases in their original packaging to their Canadian rep (Graywood Sporting Group) along with a detailed write up of my complaint.

Will do just that. Curious to see will come out of it.
 
Had the same issue with Winchester 300 WSM 180 gr. max bonded, they shot very well but when I got home and checked the brass 4 of the 20 had shoulder cracks. I picked up a box of Federal 180's and no cracks, no problems.
 
I have about 150 Winchester 300WSM cases, unplated, from early production.

All are on their 4th firing and not a loss yet. I do not care for Nickel plated brass and try to avoid it in bottleneck chamberings.

These cases shown are brittle already, and as Ganderite says, may have missed the final annealing process.

Hope Winchester takes care of you.

Regards, Dave.
 
UR2X3M4ME said:
UPDATE

32 days after a complaint emailed to them, Winchester USA just contacted me.
Along with a file number assigned to the case, I am requested to ship my split/spent cases in their original packaging to their Canadian rep (Graywood Sporting Group) along with a detailed write up of my complaint.

Will do just that. Curious to see will come out of it.
Click to expand...

I dealt with a very nice lady there, Sandy? Cheryl?
There was a mix-up, she didn't get a message, but was very apologetic and took care of it right away once I'd called back.
 
UR2X3M4ME said:
I ran a box of 20 rounds 300wsm Winchester XP3, 150 gr. (factory ammo) through my Sako 85 last weekend. The brass is nickel plated.

I was very surprised (shocked) to notice neck cracks on 6 of the 20 fired rounds. My intention was to reload them but at a 30% failure rate, I think I will scrap them instead. Do you agree or would you reload those not not showing cracks?

Here's shots of the neck cracks, 2 cracks on the 3 right shells.

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Click to expand...

If you do please take out an life insurance policy naming me as your next of kin!
 
It's nickel brass so would you expect better? I like my brass to be made out of brass. Nicole is brittle, hard on loading equipment and your down range results won't be as good as with a brass case.

Get your self some real brass and you will be way ahead of the game.
 
Had 243 WSSM split shoulders and necks. Bought 1000 rnds of that crap. Annealing doesn't prevent it. No problems with 25 WSSM. Any manufacturer can have bad runs but Winchester seems to keep lowering their quality. I had one box of Lapua 6.5-284 that had gaping holes in the shoulder area, that was replaced immediately by supplier.
 
Back in the day, I recall my father always had bad luck with nickel plated brass being brittle during reloading. If I recall correctly he was able to reload .222 where he was just neck sizing for use in a Contender barrel because they came with the barrel and just enough resizing to hold the bullet is used when loading for the Contender, but for his varmint Winchester 70 he always used brass cases and it was a bit heavier loading too. For larger rifle ctgs he always stuck with brass cases.

I have invested in an annealing outfit, and some day (year) when I finally am retired and get around to using it I will write up a review on here.

One thing is for certain: do not reload that brass.

CD
 
Hi all,

Here is the interesting closure on this matter.

A lady called 2 weeks ago to announce Winchester would refund me for the 5 boxes of ammo plus shipping costs of the spent cartridges.

I kindly thanked her for that and inquired on their findings. She said that info is not made available to them. I politely shared that it would be useful to know the problem was identified and that causes were fixed. How can you assure me that new purchases will be free of what I think was a manufacturing flaw? She said she would love to tell me but such information was not available to her.

I am certainly pleased by Winchester's Customer service for positively receiving my complaint. However, I am a bit disappointed for being kept in the dark on causes and fixes. We all could have learned something.

Here is the letter and check received last week.
Now is that check in usd or cad? :)

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Win_Chk_CGN_zpsd31f8a89.jpg
 
Same check I got for my Bolt, primers and brass. I didn't realize it but gal at the bank asked me if I wanted it in US or Canadian funds as it is drawn on US bank it is US dollars. Took it in US of course!
 
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