Cracked brass, 44 magnum starline nickel

[Palladan44]

Loaded up some full house 44 magnums using Win-296 and 240 grain Nosler JHPs. I settled on 23.5 gr. of W296 and have a COL right at the recommended 1.600". (Right in the center of the cannelure) Using a nice roll crimp, where the brass is nicely crimped into the cannelure.
My brass is brand new Star line Nickel plated.
My primers are Federal Large Pistol Magnum match.
They fired great while working up in my Smith and Wesson 29-2 8 3/8" barrel, nickel gun, didnt see much difference in 23gr starting load and the 24gr Maximum. So i just settled in the middle and loaded up the first 100 at that. No visible overpressure signs at first glance on any of the firing, no flattened primers, some had a very slight top hatting, but nothing beyond whats expected from a full house Magnum round. Extractions were easy, light upward tip and ejector rod push and they all fell out easily.

Upon inspection of the first 20 empties, i discovered 1 empty thats cracked along the length of the case. Darn it!

Do you all feel this is a one-off and theres nothing to worry about? Cracking new starline brass, rumored to be some strong brass (buffalo bore uses it) is sort of a concern. If new starline cases are splitting, is this an indication that these loads are pushing or exceeding pressure limits?
Looking of a compiliation of High road wisdom.
Do I fire the remaining 80 rounds and just ignore the brand new split starline case?
Do I scrap this load because ive pushed the envelope enough already?

 

[Jeff62]

Your powder charge is 4-5 grains under maximum, depending on reference. A rough guide is look at the other five cases for overly flattened or smeared primers. If they look right the problem is the case that split was unable to expand without splitting; it was too hard. I’ve never annealed nickel plated cases but that is what I would try on a test batch.
I anneal my 45lc cases, and others. I shoot a 300 grain wheel weight cast bullet at 1075fps. This in an old Vaquero and New Model Blackhawk. I check for beginning mouth cracks with a chamfering tool. On the rare occasion I feel it catch I discard the case.
You can anneal brass cases each time you reload if needed.

 

[Palladan44]

Your powder charge is 4-5 grains under maximum, depending on refrence

Really? Ive seen several sources that indicate as 24 grains the absolute maximum for 240 grain jacketed. That puts the powder darn near tight to the bullet. Im at 23.5 so im only 5 tenths from maximum, and not 5 whole grains from maximum.

Ive seen 180-200 grain slugs published for up to 30 grains of powder, but never the 240. This is only from what ive seen.

 

[edwardware]

1) Pictures, or it didn't happen.

Cracking new starline brass, rumored to be some strong brass (buffalo bore uses it) is sort of a concern. If new starline cases are splitting, is this an indication that these loads are pushing or exceeding pressure limits?

2) Starline brass isn't meaningfully stronger than any other. No brass is strong (stress to rupture) enough to be useful when resisting chamber pressure. . . that's why you put a steel cylinder around it.

Starline brass is less likely to crack due to it's annealed condition; it has a higher strain to rupture than some others. That said, if you fire it in an oversized chamber, it'll still split, as you've experienced.

Backing down loads might might help, but that's no fun. Using non-nickel plated might help, as the nickel provides very small fractures to act as crack initiation points in the underlying brass.

The single most effective action will be to size your brass for your chamber, just small enough to easily chamber. This is also difficult to accomplish, since you're playing in the space inside chamber and die tolerances.

 

[Walkalong]

Split cases happen, most likely the rest will keep on plugging along for a long time.

 

[Charlie98]

There was a recent thread about this very same subject...

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/split-case-from-max-load.876736/#post-11677329

 

[243winxb]

https://load-data.nosler.com/load-data/44-remington-magnum/ Could be an oversize chamber? If it happens again, note the chamber it was fired in. Measure fired diameter & compare to sized brass.

1 bad brass in more likely. Shoot them.

I use W296 in a M29-2 with 240/250 lswc. WLP, Starline brass/brass. You may want to run on the low side of Nosler data, if accuracy is ok. The old gun will have a longer life.

I would avoid nickel brass, except in a daily
Carry gun.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Your powder charge is 4-5 grains under maximum

NO, you are right at max according to any source I have ever seen and you are defiantly not 4-5 under.
Here is a link to Hodgdon's data http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol

Brass splits occasionally, nothing to worry about.

 

[Palladan44]

NO, you are right at max according to any source I have ever seen and you are defiantly not 4-5 under.
Here is a link to Hodgdon's data http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol

Brass splits occasionally, nothing to worry about.

You are correct, i agree

 

[FROGO207]

One or two out of the batch I would not worry about. If you get more every time there might be a large chamber or the brass is brittle and you need to take it up with starline. Save the split brass for now until this gets figured out in case you need to send a bunch of it back. There have been reports of bad batches as the post pointed out already.

 

[Hondo 60]

Back about 2011 I bought some Goex 38 Spl ammo from MidwayUSA.
Two or three cases split on firing #1.
Reported it to the ammo's distributor (with pictures) & they sent 2 new boxes of ammo.
If I'm not mistaken the cases were Starline.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1001491094

 

[Ohen Cepel]

It happens. I would watch to see if it is one cylinder or not though. What are you shooting it in?

Have you worked the brass much? Dies aren't scratching/cutting it?

I have cooled to nickeled brass myself. Seems like it last less time for me and galls on my dies more than normal brass.

 

[AJC1]

I use nickel cases for loads I plan to store long term or carry in bad conditions. They also excel at being put in leather compared to brass. For these benefits the cost imo is case cycle life. Some nickle cases seem to last forever and some just suck. If you dont need the benefits I would stick to brass.

 

[bluetopper]

Nickel cases just don't hold up like brass. They do fine for a low pressure round like 38. But still, I wouldn't expect them to split on the first firing, full house or not.

 

[Palladan44]

Nickel cases just don't hold up like brass. They do fine for a low pressure round like 38

I keep hearing this and im starting to agree from personal experiences as well as other input.
I still have to wonder why, as nickel brass is just regular brass but nickel plated. Something about the manufacturing process that makes them weaker for some reason??? Annealing or heat treating maybe omitted or done to a different degree.

 

[Walkalong]

Nickle doesn't flex as well as brass, so are a little bit more prone to a cracked case now and then, at least that is my theory, but nickle plated cases can also last until the plating wears off, between tumbling and sizing, I've done it.

 

[243winxb]

High mileage nickel may not spring back after firing, full power loads. . Hard ejection. Seen it in 357 mag using Rem nickel. The "brass" of the same vintage, had no issue. My micrometer showed the difference in fired diameters.

Had nickel peel on some.

 

[jmorris]

I have had issues myself with brand new starline cases and as others point out nickel cases, while they look pretty and are slicker in a size die, never last as long as a non plated case.

FWIW 24 gn is over nosler’s max for that bullet (seated .010” longer than the 1.600 you seated to) and their most accurate load was 22.8. If you have any Winchester brass you might weigh one empty and again full of water, do the same with one of your Starline cases and see what the internal volume is on both.

 

[Palladan44]

I have had issues myself with brand new starline cases and as others point out nickel cases, while they look pretty and are slicker in a size die, never last as long as a non plated case.

FWIW 24 gn is over nosler’s max for that bullet (seated .010” longer than the 1.600 you seated to) and their most accurate load was 22.8. If you have any Winchester brass you might weigh one empty and again full of water, do the same with one of your Starline cases and see what the internal volume is on both.

View attachment 954691

I took a screenshot of this chart. Thank you kindly!

 

[Laggy]

Wrong post

 

[MOP.GBB]

Nickle plated brass doesn't seem to last as long. I reload and I may get 4 or 5 reloads before I start seeing split cases. Where as with brass 10-12 reloads is pretty common, and getting up to 15-16 isn't uncommon. I've had them split in the cylinder after ignition, but more commonly they split when I expand the necks during reloading.