.223 case failure

[SuedePflow]

I've only been handloading for 3-4 years and I've had plenty of typical failed cases with cracks around the neck and loose primer pockets. But today I experienced a new case failure and I'm looking for insight as to how and why it happened.

The rifle is an AR15. It was a fresh build and we were making the first adjustments to the gas bock. We got it dialed in and it was just starting to strip rounds off the mag and then this happened. It's probably obvious, but the case separated and it left the majority of it in the chamber. The next round feed and jammed into it. The head ejected as the case normally would. Fortunately it didn't come close enough to battery for a hammer strike. We pried this out of the chamber easy enough with a pocket knife surprisingly.

As far as I know, this was this cases second loading (including the factory load). Thoughts?

 

[otisrush]

I'm about with you in terms of experience. There are some questions that come to mind:
* Bullet used?
* Powder and charge?
* Brass headstamp?
* You said "As far as I know" it's the 2nd firing. Did you acquire this case new as a factory round? Or did you buy some "once fired" brass? Or is it range scounged brass?
* In your case prep process do you check for impending case separation? This is the q I'm really interested in - because case head separation is my fear. I do scrape the inside of the case to see if I can tell it's developing. But I'm still not totally confident that is a reliable test. I'm wondering if you happen to do that as well.

Thanks for posting. I'm glad no one or no hardware was hurt.

OR

 

[SuedePflow]

I'm about with you in terms of experience. There are some questions that come to mind:
* Bullet used?
* Powder and charge?
* Brass headstamp?
* In your case prep process do you check for impending case separation? This is the q I'm really interested in - because case head separation is my fear. I do scrape the inside of the case to see if I can tell it's developing. But I'm still not totally confident that is a reliable test. I'm wondering if you happen to do that as well.

Thanks for posting. I'm glad no one or no hardware was hurt.

OR

These are my father's handloads. And he's less experienced with handloading than I am, but he's only ever produced accurate and reliable loads on a single stage press. Never an issue before.

The projectile was a Xtreme 55gr FMJ.
Powder was 27.5gr of CFE223. I'm unsure of the velocity, but this is his go-to load for two different rifles and it's been great for years.
Brass is "LC 13".

I'm sure my father doesn't check for case head separation. Honestly, I don't even check because neither of us have had it happen before. None of our own loads are ever on the "hot" end of the scale and we've never considered this type of failure in once-fired brass.

 

[SuedePflow]

EDIT: I just checked Hodgdon's website for loading data and it looks like he's at the max for this powder. I don't use this powder, so I wasn't familiar with his loads or how he came to that powder amount. But this seems like a plausible cause for this separation, right?

 

[Reloadron]

Sometimes it just happens as a result of a weak spot in the brass, just an incipient case separation, not necessarily at the case head. I would clean the chamber well and try another round or possibly some over the counter store bought and then the hand loads again.

Ron

 

[MEHavey]

AR15.... It was a fresh build

What is the chamber headspace dimension - (vs) - the case headspace dimension upon resizing ?
(...and do you have a Hornady Comparator?)

.

 

[Walkalong]

I don't even check because neither of us have had it happen before. None of our own loads are ever on the "hot" end of the scale and we've never considered this type of failure in once-fired brass.

Pressure is only a small factor in a case head separation, if this is that. Could be a bad case. Cut it and look inside the case.

Check out this thread:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/incipient-case-head-separation.734058/

.

 

[243winxb]

Chamber or ammo headspace problem. The round stretches to much on firing.

 

[carbine85]

How many times has the case been reloaded?
It's reloaded at the max. Typically there's no need to run max charge for target and range use.
Anyway that case looks like it was used too many times.

 

[Ironicaintit]

Well now you have a new step to check while doing QC in your brass prep. A mostly straightened paper clip, with a little sharpened L at the end is a handy and surefire tool to feel the inside of the case.

Is newer LC brass prone to this failure? Anybody?
I have a whole slew of LC from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.... With these, I never have a problem.
I did once pick up some once fired LC from '07 - '13, and some of them came undone like that on the 2nd reload, in rifles of mine that don't have a history of it.
Using the older LC, or any other milspec brass, or commercial 223, the problem stops and I can get 8-10 reloads out of 'em.

Kinda makes me wonder if the newer batches are more brittle.
I really scrutinize the newer stuff with a jaded eye, and they get pitched pretty quick. (Actually, I make key fobs out of them, but yeah)

 

[Walkalong]

Nothing wrong with newer LC cases.

 

[Malamute]

just an incipient case separation

Well past the incipient stage.


Ive heard several people mention that they had brass separations with few loadings in brass that was sold as once fired .mil brass. The problem seems to be brass fired in the 249 saws. So, not the brass itself, but that it was fired in a sloppy loose headspaced light machine gun. The cases stretched on the first firing, and there isn't a lot you can do with them to add life to the brass once stretched. Perhaps checking each fired case with a case gauge to see if any are too long headspace wise from first firing (do they make such a thing?).

 

[Indawind]

Had that happen this spring.

Federal 193 I fired out of my Sig 556xi separated just a little higher than that. The Sig ejects hard and kinks some brass mid case on the back of the port. I toss the bad ones and the minor ones iron out with sizing. On the first reload it sepaeated. I looked closely and could see a mark left from the kink was right on the crack.

I marked mine up that and haven't seen it again in the other 200 cases from that run.

 

[Grumulkin]

Some things about case head separations:

1. Though I'm not recommending you let it happen, in modern guns engineered to take high pressure cartridges it's usually a nonevent except for the bother of getting the broken off piece of brass out of the chamber.

2. A defect in the brass would be an uncommon cause. By a defect, I mean an internal split from defective manufacture and not soft brass.

3. Case head separations happen because of stretching during the resizing process. If head space is excessive, if chambers are sloppy and/or if pressures are high the brass will stretch more and thus will have to be resized more during the resizing process and head separations will occur sooner. Though you might catch incipient head separations in unresized brass, it's important to check brass AFTER resizing because that's when it may first show. I've never had a head separation in brass checked after resizing with the bent wire (paper clip) method.

4. Case design is a factor in head separations. It's a lot less likely in straight walled cases but it can occur. It's more common in more tapered case like the 300 and 375 H&H Magnums. Straight walled cases usually develop splits around the case mouth before head separations.

5. Brass quality is a factor. Soft brass (Federal comes to mind) gives more stretch, the need for more resizing and earlier head separations. I'm not calling Federal brass bad, I'm just saying that in my experience it seems softer than other brands.

As for the case in the photo above, I'd suspect it was reloaded quite a bit more than twice.

 

[rg1]

Having bought a lot of once fired military brass I would just add that I normally find between 5 and 25 cases out of a thousand that show bad signs of stretching. Don't know if it's simply bad cases or the military weapon they were fired in? Just carefully inspect once fired military brass and even your own for signs of stretching. Either with the bent sharpened wire feeler method or by some type of light shined into the case looking for the thinned ring of stretched brass. I find stretch marks either near the case head and even up closer to the shoulder.

 

[FROGO207]

I agree that case stretching is a factor here. Do check for case head separation AFTER sizing. Also check the length of the brass at that time as well. If the brass is over max length the bullet could pinch in the mouth and hold the brass neck in the chamber briefly as it exits and pressure increases even more than normal. The web section moves back at the same time and the motion tears the brass apart. This could have been what happened as well. You did not mention if the brass is length checked before reloading so I mention this for your consideration .

 

[tcoz]

Pick up one of these stainless steel dental picks from Amazon and run it through every case to feel for the telltale rut indicating case thinning and impending separation.

https://www.amazon.com/Professional...&sr=8-2&keywords=dental+picks+stainless+steel

 

[hdwhit]

First thing that needs to be said is, "Don't shoot reloads you don't know where they came from." As in this case, even if they came from your Father, don't shoot anything whose "provenance" you don't know. Every reloader should be recording the components of every batch of ammunition they produce; both for their own learning so they can see how their reloads perform, but also for liability purposes in case they give a round to someone and it explodes.

Second thing is that if someone is going to load .223/5.56 to the maximum, they need to severely curtail the number of times they load the case unless they are going to thoroughly inspect it each time. In addition to the dental pick previously mentioned, I recommend an inexpensive otoscope.

For my own part, I only recover between 40% and 60% of my fired brass. Assuming it was once fired, I can be pretty sure it's all gone by the fourth reloading (fifth firing), but if recovery is higher, then the brass needs to be tracked more closely to avoid a recurrence of something like this.

Seriously, modern firearms are designed to contain - as best they can - the consequences of reloading decisions made out of ignorance, stupidity or arrogance. Still, users can only expect them to contain such errors a finite number of times. Reload conservatively and you can expect - as I have experienced - decades of fun, safe, "zero failure", shooting. Otherwise expect a bolt in your face, blindness and/or missing fingers.

 

[Cemetery21]

I have reloaded for 40+ years and most of that in high volume for 6 prairie dog rifles. I started having the issues shown by the OP after I migrated to using more ARs. I suspected case stretching due to pushing the shoulders back too far. So, several years ago, I got a Hornady headspace gauge kit and started setting up resizing dies for the minimum shoulder setback. At the same time, I checked all brass with a straightened paperclip and culled maybe 5% - 10% of my brass. In the seasons since those moves, I have not had one separated case. None of the brass for those rifles was "used" brass. I do have some previously owned brass for other rifles and it goes through the paperclip culling before I use it.

 

[armoredman]

Had something very similar happen just the other day.





Not a max load with a 69gr Sierra HPBT bullet. Both pieces extracted but fouled the next round, smashing the partial case mouth against the chamber. So it seems I have also been missing a vital piece in brass prep - will recitfy immediately.

 

[Walkalong]

I check range brass for signs of an internal rut before I ever do anything to them. Just never know.

I set up my .223 sizer to size brass to fit a Wilson headspace gauge for use in an AR and a Mini 14. I wear out various brands of .223 brass, usually from loose primer pockets, but sometimes neck splits, without ever seeing signs of an internal rut starting.

I set up my 300 BLK sizer to move the shoulder an average of .003, with the same results. Again, for use in an AR.

 

[WVRJ]

What usually causes head separations is case stretch due to excessive headspace.It can come from your rifle or the one(s) that fired the brass before you got it.The firing pin drives the loose fitting case forward in the chamber,sets off the primer and the case walls grip the chamber when the powder goes off.The head part of the case is thicker and doesn't grip the chamber,so the forces of the propellant force the head back to the bolt face,thus causing the separation.It could also be headspace or even possibly headspace.But I think it has something to do with headspace.You did check it on your new build,didn't you?It is a very critical part of any build.I have one 223 bolt gun that has very tight headspace,so tight,in fact that the bolt won't quite close on the "GO" guage bit will chamber a factory load with a bit of snugness.Cases from this gun will often go 5 or more loadings and not need trimmed.No stretch,no trimming,and no separations.In a semi-auto you gotta have some play,or you'll lose reliability.Make sure your headspace on your build is right,and be selective about the brass you're loading.

 

[ants]

Hello, SuedePflow. Interesting name! Gotta have some story about its origins.

As mentioned by a half dozen experienced fellows above, it has everything to do with headspace and resizing.
With proper chamber headspace and proper resizing, you get maximum cycles from your brass.
But if it is improper, you get amazing amounts of stretch very quickly, and case head separation happens fast.
Either this gun has significantly different headspace than the ammo, or the previous gun did and weakened the brass.

A brand new build. Do you use Go and NoGo headspace gauges to check your new builds?
Did you determine this rifle's headspace dimension for proper resizing?
And then check the finished ammunition dimension before shooting it?

Those are the things you need to do with a new build. More than one way to do those things. But gotta do 'em.

 

[wally]

It happens often enough that they make "broken case extractor" tools in case the the broken empty doesn't come out with the next round that jams.

These are my father's handloads. And he's less experienced with handloading than I am

Shooting someone else's reloads is a good way to have problems.

I won't argue against having the headspace checked, but with an AR its unlikely to be the issue. I'd spend the first money on some fresh factory loads instead of a gunsmith, to find out if there really is a problem or not.

The "incipient" separation problem is always much closer to the base of the cartridge in my experience than what was shown in these two photos.

 

[230RN]

hdwhit remarked,

Second thing is that if someone is going to load .223/5.56 to the maximum, they need to severely curtail the number of times they load the case unless they are going to thoroughly inspect it each time...

I can't claim expertise in this since the only loading I've done in this cartridge family was with regular old .223 Remington brass for my regular old .223 bolt-action varmint rifle.

However, I am told that the newer versions of 5.56 brass are thicker around the head and web to support the new, higher pressure standards required by the military, and have smaller case volume.

So I have a question:

Is this case failure possibly due to using current heavy 5.56 loadings in older, thinner .223 brass? That separation seems to be right where the brass supposedly gets thicker in the newer military brass.

I note also that the OP states: "I've had plenty of typical failed cases with cracks around the neck and loose primer pockets..." This sort of warns me that some loading techniques need to be reviewed anyhow, regardless of the brass involved.

Just askin', cause I ain't no expert in reloading for the AR (of which I have an M4gery), only fairly moderate loads for my old .223 Remington rifle.

Terry