Case head separation with a lesson learned

Nature Boy said:

Lesson learned first: be wary of buying used brass, even if advertised as “once fired”.

Bought some Lapua .308 as described above from another forum. On my second cycle I found this:

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If it truly was once fired, it was hammered hard.

Also put my borescope to use to get a look at the inside

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Over many thousands of rounds, this is my first incipient case head separation. Glad I caught it

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Wow
Glad you spotted that , it happened to me once. No Joy at all

Another good use for your Teslong. Glad you caught it before complete separation.

Thats sucks! Good thing that you caught it. Cool pictures!

I've never had one (knock on wood) but I've seen lots of 223's completely separated or half separated. Probably from a really loose M-16?

Good pictures. I am just starting to use Lapua brass in my 30-06 and 338-06 so this is interesting to me. I use mostly Winchester brass and on a Winchester case the bright ring indicating a separation is further forward. I have had partial separations in the past but never a full separation. My first observation on the new Lapua brass is that I do not like the primer pockets because it is hard to seat the Federal 210M primers. The primers seat really easy in Winchester cases.

Woof! That is a clean separation forming. Good catch, lesson learned.

Ouch! Was it 1x fired out of a machine gun? When you resized it the first time, did it take more effort than normal?

or out of a rifle with excessive headspace. glad you caught those before the problem.

luck,

murf

murf said:

or out of a rifle with excessive headspace. glad you caught those before the problem.

luck,

murf

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I'm not down playing this but as I regularly shoot a No. 1 Mk III, I've caught lots of those. I've also had cases separate without notice. I check each case with a paper clip before loading it. The first time it happened it really startled me. The second time, not so much. Now I accept it as a fact of life. Granted the cartridge you were shooting is much higher pressure with higher stakes. Glad nothing serious happened. Checking your brass only takes a second and pays off huge.

@Nature Boy Thanks for not only posting but putting up pics.

Were the primer pockets still tight?

In my experience, the bright ring and loose pockets usually go hand in hand.

Glad you caught the problem. Sorry it was with expensive brass.

I bought some once fired 308 Win cases that I had case head separation problems in my M1A. I guess these were fired in a machine gun. It made me re-think buying once fired cases for some of my rifles. As they say, "don't be penny wise and pound foolish".

I may be the minority here BUT why not buy Lapua 308 brass new at Blue collar reloading for only $39.90 for a fifty count box.
I don’t get the once fired attraction.

The thing about once fired really just means it was once fired before they packaged it to be sold, but no guarantees on how many times before that it was fired. So far I have been fortunate to get all my once fired brass for free at the range. If I bought some that only lasted 2 reloads I would not be a happy camper.

South Prairie Jim said:

I may be the minority here BUT why not buy Lapua 308 brass new at Blue collar reloading for only $39.90 for a fifty count box.
I don’t get the once fired attraction.

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Depends on your requirements and usage but $39.90 for 50 is almost the same cost as some full factory loads as in that is very expensive. Now if my application required new Lapua brass then that is just part of the cost, but at $40 for 50 I can see why folks aren't chomping at the bit to buy it.

Nature Boy said:

I usually buy new Jim. I'll certinally do that going forward. That's the "lesson learnd" part of this thread

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So does that mean you are, for now on, a handloader, and no longer a reloader? Just kidding. At least when you reload your own, you know where it's been and what loads you shot through them....

cfullgraf said:

Glad you caught the problem. Sorry it was with expensive brass.

I bought some once fired 308 Win cases that I had case head separation problems in my M1A. I guess these were fired in a machine gun. It made me re-think buying once fired cases for some of my rifles. As they say, "don't be penny wise and pound foolish".

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I've certainly bought MG brass (LC 7.62), but I didn't have high expectations of being able to reload them over and over........actually that's was the point......learning just what the limitations of that sort of brass is. No head separations yet, but then I'm not shooting it every day either.

Partly based of this thread, I will be even more observant and careful.....Thanks for the thread.

If that is happening on the first reloading cycle with the "once fired" brass did you find the case length excessive? I would think it would have been needed to be trimmed before use. That would have caused me to pause.

Nature Boy said:

It means I have 200 new cases of .308 Lapua Palma brass sitting on my reloading bench

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Haha......yes, yes, ..... and you will load it only once?

I think they were trying to say it was once fired just the last time it was fired. Seems well worked to me. Lesson learned. I got some “once fired” 308 once and found the same problem. I am more careful these days.

packetloss said:

Depends on your requirements and usage but $39.90 for 50 is almost the same cost as some full factory loads as in that is very expensive. Now if my application required new Lapua brass then that is just part of the cost, but at $40 for 50 I can see why folks aren't chomping at the bit to buy it.

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That’s really a great price for excellent brass that if a reloader uses a good die you’ll get 20 loads.