Split casings

[Country man]

Good afternoon.
I've got some split casings I hope you guys can help me out with. I'm shooting 30 caliber 308 I'm loading IMR 4064 at 40.2 grains of powder. I'm using a Sierra 168 grain TMK. The brass that I'm using right now is Hornady match. I have some casings that have split on the neck clear to the shoulder the load that I'm using is not hot according to the Sierra data that I'm using. The cases have been reloaded maybe three times. Any idea why this is happening?

 

[Coyote conquest]

You need to anneal them. You can use a blow torch and a socket if wanting to do it cheap. Or you can buy an Annealer.

 

[Charlie98]

I don't consider Hornady brass that good... in fact, all I use it for is low velocity cast bullet loads for my Savage 99 (in .308. The rest I scrap, except for 6.5CM.)

Question for you: What are you shooting those in?

 

[N555]

I anneal mine and sometimes they split, because I load them too hot.
My old speer manual has a 168gr 308 and 40.2gr of imr4064 isn't even the start load, so not loaded too hot.
Yeah probably just metal fatigue.
How many times were you able to load them?

 

[243winxb]

Hornady match. I have some casings that have split on the neck clear to the shoulder

My Hornady, Factory Ammo, in 6.5, same. Not good brass. Annealing may help? Of 20, 10 were left. Annealed the 10, loaded & fired, 1 neck still split. The headstamp is defective also. Allows the primer to back out .003" on firing. Gas leakage.

My fix, buy Starline brass. Edit/Add - Nothing special about Starline, just another brand.

My original post on the subject- https://forum.accurateshooter.com/t...rence-of-head-stamp-on-factory-brass.4039617/

 

[Walkalong]

Hornady brass is good brass, that's not the issue, splits happen sometimes. Could be a bad batch of brass, could be a fluke. How many splits out of how many cases? Have a pic?

I had some fairly new .223 brass that had neck splits the first time I shot them, but it was a handful out of a batch of 100.

 

[Charlie98]

My Hornady in 6.5, same. Not good brass.

Well... I'm fixing to find out. The majority of my 6.5CM stash is Hornady once-fired. I have loaded some of it 3 times and so far no problems... but we are now running some of it through an AR-10, so we will likely get the crash course on it's durability. I don't have an annealing machine... so these are just going to have to hold it together!

 

[Hole maker]

Good afternoon.
I've got some split casings I hope you guys can help me out with. I'm shooting 30 caliber 308 I'm loading IMR 4064 at 40.2 grains of powder. I'm using a Sierra 168 grain TMK. The brass that I'm using right now is Hornady match. I have some casings that have split on the neck clear to the shoulder the load that I'm using is not hot according to the Sierra data that I'm using. The cases have been reloaded maybe three times. Any idea why this is happening?

I would not bother to anneal if only loaded 3 times or so, get new brass, I get at least 5-6 reloads out of my 30-06 with Rem/Fed/Win brass and never in 30+ yrs of loading have annealed or had a split or case separate, I take those fired cases and cut one length wise in half and file the burrs off to check for stretching, then if ok use them for low pressure load development. Is your sizing button over sized? is your neck area in your chamber over sized? just things to check or like said get different brass, I do not hot load to often and only for things that might bit me I load for accuracy, hope you find a solution, Ron.

 

[Hugger-4641]

As already mentioned, you probably need to anneal. I've used Hornady brass in all my .30 cal rifle loads. Some of my 30-06 rds started out as Precision Hunter and now have 6-10 reloads on them. Not saying its the best, but it's as good as Win or Fed. I've had some of just about every brand split after the first firing. I bought some new Starline 45colt recently and a few of them were split from the factory. Could be you got a bad batch, or you could have dies that are overworking the necks, but either way, annealing after a couple loadings will probably help.

 

[Country man]

I don't consider Hornady brass that good... in fact, all I use it for is low velocity cast bullet loads for my Savage 99 (in .308. The rest I scrap, except for 6.5CM.)

Question for you: What are you shooting those in?

I'm shooting Ruger precision rifle first gen. 308. I picked this caliber for a couple of reasons one I'm familiar with the caliber being a former United States Marine 308 was a pretty common caliber in the Marine corps during the seventies. Second availability of brass and the overwhelming amount of data on this particular caliber and it's very user friendly.

 

[Country man]

Hornady brass is good brass, that's not the issue, splits happen sometimes. Could be a bad batch of brass, could be a fluke. How many splits out of how many cases? Have a pic?

I had some fairly new .223 brass that had neck splits the first time I shot them, but it was a handful out of a batch of 100.

I shot about 80 rounds last Monday punch the primers out threw them in my tumbler and when I started inspecting each round I had about eight approximately that were split. I have Peterson brass that I haven't had any problem with. Their primer pockets a little tight but after a couple of firings that loosens up and that problem goes away. I got factory ammo brass that I've reloaded four or five times future Hornady factory loads that I've shot and then reloaded and haven't had any problems with those. And honestly I haven't had any splitting problems in the past at all until this particular batch. I don't have any pics the one casing split right from the tip of the neck down to the shoulder which caught me way off guard everything shot well I didn't have any flyers off paper or anything my Ruger precision rifle is fairly dialed in. And I'm very meticulous about how I reload one Shell at a time I don't overload I'm double checking my powder weights I don't load hot at all I don't see the point in it I'm not a competitive shooter.

 

[Charlie98]

I'm shooting Ruger precision rifle first gen. 308. I picked this caliber for a couple of reasons one I'm familiar with the caliber being a former United States Marine 308 was a pretty common caliber in the Marine corps during the seventies. Second availability of brass and the overwhelming amount of data on this particular caliber and it's very user friendly.

I shoot a Savage model 10 in .308 basically the same way you shoot your RPR. I don't use Hornady brass in it. In my case (pardon the pun...) I use a single lot of 300 RP cases, and have not had any issues with neck cracks or case head separation, etc. I have not annealed this brass (yet...) either, and some of the cases have 4 loads on them. Were I you, I would buy a small quantity of quality brass and dedicate it to that rifle. Lapua is probably the best... but it's $1+ per case. As I mention, I've had good luck with my RP cases, so I recommend those if you are on a budget, but I would just as easily pick Winchester or Federal. Your load is not abusive, so I think most brass should do well enough. It's quite possible you got a bad lot of brass... it happens.

 

[NMexJim]

I use Hornady brass with my .308 bolt gun. It's not an overbored cartridge and is usually pretty easy on brass. i'm getting 5x firings before I anneal, and all seems to work out ok for me. If I were seeing your results, I would anneal right out of the box and see it that stopped the splitting. My .243 is an overbored cartridge, and I'll get some problems with necktension and extraction if I'm not carefull. 3x at most.

 

[Steve in NC]

I’m with 243Winxb on this one. I have seen once fired Hornady brass split on first firing now in 3 different caliber. These are split in the main boost going length wise. I can’t say how chronic the issue is, but I saw it enough 5-7 yrs ago in these 3 calibers that I regulated that brass for deer hunting. If I lost the brass out of the deer stand I wouldn’t shed a tear if I couldn’t find it.

have they fixed the issue these days… possible. But I don’t use it anymore at the price they get for it so I wouldn’t know to be fair.

Main body splitting on first firing is more of a problem than simple annealing will fix. You don’t want to anneal that far down a case anyway. And I can get more than 3 reloads out of most any caliber I reload for using other brands of brass foreign and domestic.

Steve

 

[lordpaxman]

Any idea why this is happening?

I’m with the others on annealing. Metals will work harden over time, and without knowing their genesis it’d be hard to say if it’s a material problem but most likely is.
I was going to say measure some fired rounds before and after sizing just to see how much you’re working it with your dies, but if the Peterson brass isn’t an issue it’s probably not that unless the neck wall thickness is a lot different.

 

[243winxb]

My Hornady Factory Ammo is 2 different lots. One from local gunshop,with rifle purchase & 2 from Midwayusa. All have the funny headstamp. The guy on other forum, has same bad headstamp in 6.5 CM. So it seems to be a wide spread issue?

My necks are not over worked, using bushing die. But sizing of necks did not look normal. Very brittle brass, my guess.

splits happen sometimes

I agree. Watched a guy shoot 100 PMC 223 factory rounds. All looked good. Took brass home, reloaded it. Over 90 pieces split the necks on firing. That's bad brass. It happens. (Standard dies used)

I have Win & Rem brass in 243 with over 20 loadings on them. Neck turned & bushing die used. No annealing.

 

[Blue68f100]

I've seen factory new ammo split on the first firing. If you just reload it it's going to split more. If you don't want to loose any I would anneal like suggested earlier

 

[lightman]

Welcome Aboard! And Thanks for your Service. Sincerely!

Splits in the neck and shoulder area are usually caused by brass fatigue or work hardening. It can happen with any brass but some brass last longer than others. Right now Hornady has a bad rep. I've had Winchester brass split on the first firing, so its not just Hornady. Its possible that your chamber is oversize and/or that your dies are undersize. But both are rare. You can try annealing your brass or try another brand. There are many methods used to anneal brass. Anything from a Propane Torch from Walmart to machines that cost $1000+.

 

[Palladan44]

My Hornady, Factory Ammo, in 6.5, same. Not good brass. Annealing may help? Of 20, 10 were left. Annealed the 10, loaded & fired, 1 neck still split. The headstamp is defective also. Allows the primer to back out .003" on firing. Gas leakage. View attachment 1135603 View attachment 1135604

My fix, buy Starline brass.

My original post on the subject- https://forum.accurateshooter.com/t...rence-of-head-stamp-on-factory-brass.4039617/

It was interesting, the 6.5 rounds looked to me the same as 300 WSM in your picture, without reference to scale.

 

[Charlie98]

Very brittle brass, my guess.

It's hard to explain, but I can sometimes feel how brittle brass is when I'm trimming... softer brass cuts off, harder brass 'chips' off. That's the best way I can explain it...

FWIW, and I understand I'm in the minority here, but I consider Starline pretty hard/brittle brass.

Over 90 pieces split the necks on firing.

I had that issue with a case of Norinco .223 back in the day... about 1:7 neck split on firing.

 

[NMexJim]

I’m with 243Winxb on this one. I have seen once fired Hornady brass split on first firing now in 3 different caliber. These are split in the main boost going length wise. I can’t say how chronic the issue is, but I saw it enough 5-7 yrs ago in these 3 calibers that I regulated that brass for deer hunting. If I lost the brass out of the deer stand I wouldn’t shed a tear if I couldn’t find it.

have they fixed the issue these days… possible. But I don’t use it anymore at the price they get for it so I wouldn’t know to be fair.

Main body splitting on first firing is more of a problem than simple annealing will fix. You don’t want to anneal that far down a case anyway. And I can get more than 3 reloads out of most any caliber I reload for using other brands of brass foreign and domestic.

Steve

So, without belaboring this too much - when I started looking closely at Winchester and Remington brass, I found all kinds of inconsistency issues, but mainly neck thickness. This was using the usual devices to measure the cases. In order to ensure a decent neck thickness, I had to neck trim, a process I didn't love but dutifully performed. I started searching for better brass and went with Norma. Norma may have fixed their issues these days, but they were no better than Win back in the day. I found Lapua and life got better although a bit more expensive (me being a Cheeseburger kinda guy you see). I set my neck trimming aside.

I was at the club and happened to have my concentricity gauges w/ me. Guy had a box of Hornady factory loads, some fired, and I asked him to let me measure them out. Ooooh, mighty fine. I had an audience by this time and folks were dragging all kinds of ammo over. After a couple of hours, we decided that, next to Lapua, Hornady was pretty danged decent.

I still load Lapua, but you'll find more Hornady now. After some 10-years, I still don't have many problems w/ Hornady if I do my part. Hey, I even use their bullets! I'm not shooting rail guns after all.

Of course, Steve, your mileage may vary.

 

[Laphroaig]

Does Hornady make their own brass? I don't think so. The quality of various loadings might depend on who made that particular lot.

My only experience with their brass is with 30-06 that I had accumulated quite a bit of. What I have is lighter than other headstamps and other people complained of that before I even touched mine. There is one particular load that I successfully use it for but I've never loaded any of it more than twice.

 

[JCSC]

I have 6-8 firings on Hornady 6.5 grendel brass and several on the creedmoor. I have garage annealed a few times, but I feel it’s decent brass.

I have lost more primer pockets and never had a split neck.

I don’t load to the high end. Just enough to get the job done.