Thread: Brass splitting

Have you seen something like that before? First reload on 270 federal brass. Was annealed ect. Never liked Federal brass… I’m reloading for a mate who has hundred of them once fired.

Case was well lubed, feel while resizing was normal no excessive force ect. It split and the neck stayed in the die. Was not even stuck it felt off afterwards.

Is it the only one, or was there several like it? I've never had any issues with Federal brass, not likely to be the fault of the brass. Have you checked the setting for the sizing die? Are you full length resizing or just bumping the shoulder?

Only one mate, reloaded probably 80. I'm full length sizine.

IMO, brass is only once fired unless I’ve shot them myself.
Take someone else’s once fired claims with a pinch of salt.

That's not a split neck mate. That's when the brass has gotten too hard and you get a vertical slit appear going down the neck.

You've managed to rip off the entire neck so looks to me like they were over-annealed. Soften them too much and they loose all their strength.

Originally Posted by Moutere

IMO, brass is only once fired unless I’ve shot them myself.
Take someone else’s once fired claims with a pinch of salt.

The guy doesn’t reload, it is 100% once fired.

Originally Posted by Pommy

That's not a split neck mate. That's when the brass has gotten too hard and you get a vertical slit appear going down the neck.

You've managed to rip off the entire neck so looks to me like they were over-annealed. Soften them too much and they loose all their strength.

Yes they split at the shoulder. I’m pretty confident they were not over annealed I do it in the dark and stop when it just turn dark/cheery red. Never had issue with my personal stuff using this process.

These cases have been stored for years in his garage, they were a bit tarnish could it be corrosion?

My guess would be it happened only after the sizing stroke and when the expander plug was pulled back through the sized neck. Either the neck's interior surface wasn't lubed or was insifficiently lubed. Mostly this would cause the plug to bind and take noticeable effort to pull completely through. It's rare for neck separation to occur in such instances so I suspect your comment about long term poor storage of the brass probably has merit.
Anyway, better to lose that substandard case now rather than when being shot.

Originally Posted by tibo

Yes they split at the shoulder. I’m pretty confident they were not over annealed I do it in the dark and stop when it just turn dark/cheery red. Never had issue with my personal stuff using this process.

These cases have been stored for years in his garage, they were a bit tarnish could it be corrosion?

A bit of column a, a bit of column b. The blow torch until you get a slight glow method isn't particularly precise. Different brass will react differently too. You could well be over slightly doing it slightly.

I observed quite the opposite. I stoped using my auto anneal after I experimented in pitch black. I noticed some brass would turn past cherry red up to a nice bright orange while other would just start to glow cheery red using the same timer. Cases are just too inconsistent. I’m way more accurate annealing in a pitch black room and stopping at the first sign of cheery red. The difference between brass is usually a second or two max depending caliber and brand of brass.

Originally Posted by tibo

Yes they split at the shoulder. I’m pretty confident they were not over annealed I do it in the dark and stop when it just turn dark/cheery red. Never had issue with my personal stuff using this process.

These cases have been stored for years in his garage, they were a bit tarnish could it be corrosion?

You dont need to anneal in the dark. Probably unwittingly over annealed. The force of the die has pulled the annealed part of the case away from the bottom.

If you have used Mapp gas [yellow container ]it will easily bugger your brass toute suite.

Originally Posted by TeRei

If you have used Mapp gas [yellow container ]it will easily bugger your brass toute suite.

always used propane, blue can.

Amp annealing is the awnser, what was the question?

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk

Have used plenty of FC brass over the years & in a heap of different calibres and had good results. Only time I’ve seen something similar was “once fired old brass” (243), probably stored 7-8years or more. Annealed the rest of that old brass & the problem was resolved.