A fragment of .308 neck separated-gone.

This was a big problem a century ago, when they were first experimenting with cupro-nickel bullet jackets. The cupro-nickel bullet jackets fouled the bore so badly that they resorted to "creative" solutions.

One solution was to grease the bullets. The other solution was to tin the bullets with Tin, like you would in soldering. That seemed to work OK until the ammo sat for a while and the bullets soldered themselves into the necks of the cases. Well, the necks then shot off with the bullets and some got left in the bore.

Anneal your necks occasionally and the insides of the necks need not be too clean. The super, squeaky-clean necks, like those from ultrasonic or steel rod cleaning, sometimes stick bullets.

This guy still fondly remembers biting down on something hard and sharp, and hollering through a mouthful of meatloaf and mashed potatoes. My Airmens' faces when I reached into my mouth and pulled out a piece of gilding jacket... "Sgt Scott found a piece of bullet in his meatloaf" made the rounds pretty quickly that night... LOL.

Chew carefully, friend.

Bad Flynch

The super, squeaky-clean necks, like those from ultrasonic or steel rod cleaning, sometimes stick bullets.

Click to expand...

Could you please explain the mechanism that causes this sticking and possibly cite some instances where it has occurred?

I have no knowledge of this phenomena, but if it's actually a problem, why don't ammunition manufacturers "pre dirty" the necks of factory ammo?

I've pulled down thousands of rounds in my time and with the exception of those sealed with asphalt, the inside neck of factory ammo is generally the most shiny place on the whole round.

>>Could you please explain the mechanism that causes this sticking,,,<<

It has been some time since I saw that, but IIRC, it was on Accurateshooter.com. Check their archives. I do not remember much else about it. However, it makes more than a little sense.

Ordinarily, cartridge brass will have a small amount of oxide on its surface and the longer it sits, the more oxide it gets. This applies on a production line, even though the amount of oxide will be small. And, on a production line, one can have small amounts of chemicals left on the surface that were used in cleaning and polishing the brass. All of this keeps the bullet from getting into very intimate contact with the neck metal, even though it looks clean.

The cleaning that ultrasonic cleaners do and the cleaning produced by the steel pin methods is exceptionally clean, especially in the small batches that we handloaders do.

Bullet jackets for the most part are Gilding metal. A copper alloy, comprising 95% copper and 5% zinc. Cartridge brass is 70% copper & 30% zinc. I cant see the 2 rusting/oxidizing together? Brass work hardens & becomes brittle. To go out the barrel, the piece would have to be very thin. [/URL][/IMG]

Are you sure that the severed neck was not lodged in the chamber and then picked up by the next round?

I was ROing a match and a shooter actually had that happen. When he went to eject the next round (unfired), we found the neck from the previously fired round wrapped perfectly around the unfired round that followed it.

Or the piece of brass ejected with the rest of the case and then fell away.

It is assumed the missing neck piece left the barrel while stuck to the bullet, consideration should be given to the possibility the missing piece was blown down the barrel by the escaping gas. A shooter purchased 308 W ammo for a 25/06, he managed to chamber and fire one round. While the smith was opening the bolt and digging the case out the topic was about “the bullet must have been two inches long when it left the barrel”.

When someone wonders what happened to the neck and or bullet I suggest they walk the range, there are those that their reputation and livelihood depend on them knowing what happens to the bullet when driven 1,000 fps faster than it was designed, so they start by driving the bullet 1,000 fps faster than designed, they also walk the range.

Missing necks, it is assumed the neck expands, there are times the neck can not expand, it is assumed the rifle will blow up if the neck does not expand, examine the cases when ejected, walk the rang when looking for anomalies.

F. Guffey

Well, FWIW, I have had bullets stick to the point that they could not be pulled simply because they sat loaded, for a number of years. When shot, however, they did separate normally, I suppose because the brass necks expanded, too. I always assumed that the effect was from slightly acidic neck residue corroding the bullet into the neck.

As for the report of bullets sticking due to extreme cleaning, one could go to accurateshooter.com and take look-see.

You'd think we'd at least get a picture of what this brass looks like.

Reloaded too many times and got the neck donut. Either got lost on ejection or is still there and you didn't see it. No way a 308 neck is going down the bore.

Too late, it has already happened at Aberdeen, MD, Then there was the very disciplined reloader, he ejected a case with no neck, he had fired 4 rounds before the fifth, the first four cases did not have necks. He called me, I suggested he walk the range.

F. Guffey