.270 R-P brass used 4 or 5 times.

[MtSawtooth]

Background:
I have some, but not extensive experience at reloading. Have done 270, 308, 30-06 over the past several years for different rifles, bolt and lever. All our rifles are "factory", not modified in any way, and belong to immediate family members.

Several days ago, I shot my Remington 700 BDL rifle (.270 caliber) a total of 56 loads. They were varied mfgrs of brass (R-P, FC, Win, PMC etc). All loads were mid level of IMR 4350, IMR-4831 & Rel-19. All bullets were 130 gr Sierra spitzr #1830. This rifle has shot probably 100-200 rounds through it, all reloaded by me. No surprises before.

1. The pic shows 3 cartridges that have fractured necks. Only the neck portion seems to have been affected.
2. All primers were CCI-200.
3. All COLs' were 3.285" or slightly less, and chambered into the rifle no problem.
4. All fired brass extracted smoothly, no hesitations.
5. All 3 pic'd are R-P brass that I've used about 4 or maybe 5 times.
6. All brass was "full length" resized and trimmed to 2.540" or slightly less.
7. My RCBS 'Rockchuker' works great, and my hand spun trimmer seems to cut cleanly.
6. The two brass on left were discovered at "trimming" stage, hence the 'peeling'.
7. The one brass at right discovered before any reworking of brass, and spent primer is still in its' pocket, and shows NO sign of excessive pressure (such as "flattened", "ridged", "backed out" etc).
8. All primers were inspected at "ejection" time, and none of the 56 appeared unusual.
9. The rifle fires factory ammo w/ no signs of high pressure, or sticky chambering/ejection.

Questions:
A. Is is NOT unusual for brass to fail like this with 4 or 5 mid-level loading shots?
B. Does the fact that I "full length resize" and "trim" each reloading time SHORTEN brass life?

This is my first Posting, so forgive the length.
Thanks from "Big Sky Country".

[1mile50]

Questions:
A. Is is NOT unusual for brass to fail like this with 4 or 5 mid-level loading shots?
B. Does the fact that I "full length resize" and "trim" each reloading time SHORTEN brass life?

A. Yes, you should get twice that many, with the indications that it is time to retire the brass being less dramatic, like loose primer pockets and cracks in the necks, not huge splits.

B. Yes and no.

FL resizing does work the brass neck much more than necksizing. The die squeezes down the neck, then on the upstroke, the expander ball expands it back out again. This work hardens the necks. A bushing type neck sizer merely sizes down the neck to the bushing spec. Trouble is, neck thickness varies around the circumferance. The thicker spots will translate to high spots inside the neck, pushing in on the projectile, giving an uneven neck tension. To avoid this, it is wise to clean up the necks with a neck turner when neck sizing with a bushing type neck sizer, to remove those high spots, after an intial sizing with a conventional FL sizer, to bring the high spots outward, so you can turn them off. The end result is improved brass life, lower runout, and you can control the amount of neck tension on your projectiles. Annealing also furthers these goals.

Trimming will not cause case splits and in fact may stave off splits that are just starting at the case mouth, usually in brass that gets cimped.

The only other time that I have seen this was with old factory ammo that had corrosion on the necks and had been fired anyway. Another cause I can think of is that you've got brass from a particular lot that was too hard to begin with.

[johnch]

I have never seen splits like that except in brass that was shot in a rifle with excessive head space and reloaded . How much do you shrink the neck diamiter and set the shoulder back ,a lot ?
Was it all the same brand of brass that split ? Maybe it is just a bad batch of brass with hard necks that held up this long because of the light loads.

[MtSawtooth]

Johnch, the "set the shoulder back" is fixed by the RCBS die set I use. Seems to have been OK in the past for lots of different brass.

Also, YES..the 3 fractured brass were the same mfgr, Remington R-P.

[mounting man]

It could be that the case,on the right,was fired first and that a piece of the neck stuck in the chamber. The next 2 were loaded and the chunk of brass acted as a wedge,putting side pressure[and high pinching pressure] onto the bullet!!!!!!!! The necks look as if they had high heat,put to them ?
The one,on the far left,has a shiny ring,inside the neck,[ where it was wedged]as if the tight bullet polished it,trying to get free!!!!!
Notice the different colors of the inside of the necks,from the burt powder! the one on the right[IMHO] looks close to normal.The other two look different?
I don't know about the rest of you shooters,but I seem to look at my fired brass as it comes out of my gun ?????????

[MtSawtooth]

Thank you 'mounting man', for your help. At first I was offended by your last sentence, but upon reflection decided you have something there. I can vividly remember all my times at the range, after EACH shot, being quick to pick up the spent brass and looking carefully at the primer end. And, if it looks OK, usually placing the brass back into the box from whence it came. I also am careful to eject each shot slowly to keep the brass from flying out on the ground, but you are correct in that I don't "roll and turn" the brass properly. (I guess that is why you have 3 Stars under your name?).

Regarding the different colors of each brass INSIDE the neck: The two on the left were lightly lubed, and Full-length resized. The one on the right was not lubed or resized. My act of pushing the lube brush into the necks may have 'cleaned' the insides.

Your beginning comment makes sense also, it probably is possible for a chunk to remain in the chamber AND for the next cartridge to be ABLE to be chambered..as the second cartridge is 'compressible' up in that area.

Finally, I have ONCE before (couple years ago), discovered a brass w/a missing section upon ejection of the cartridge. I took mental note at the time, but as I recall, did continue to shoot more loads. I think I better be a little SLOWER to resume the shooting, to make sure that missing chunk is OUTSIDE the rifle somewhere, and not sitting inside waiting to help increase pressure.

Thanks again for the CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, it has been well taken.

Regards from the Big Sky Country!

[handloader1]

I think it was just the time for thoes cases to die. Load up some rounds with new R-P cases using the same data, and see what happens. Good luck.

[mounting man]

I did not mean to offend you! I may have just worded that statement wrong?????

[MtSawtooth]

I appreciate that now, Thanks.

Never-the-less, I am glad you said that, because I sure was 'preoccupied' with primer signs.

I havn't gone to the range since you helped me, but when I do go and shoot, I will make sure to look at all "sides" of the brass.

Regards,
from MTSawtooth !

[James B]

The only thing I might add is to make sure you don't have a small base die set. When I first started reloading, (in the stone age) The guy at the reloading shop sold me a set of small base dies with my reloading outfit. These were 30-06 dies and I had all kinds of problems with the brass as it was sizing it way to small for my guns chamber. I took some brass in and showed the guy and he ask me to bring the die set in. When I did , he realized his mistake and gave me a set of regular dies. That fixed the problem. I once bought a set of small base dies for a 7mm-08 Browning lever gun. They worked good in that gun.