I'm getting a few cracked necks from my 270 win. Brass is win and rem, 2nd reloading. All have been full length sized, with clean brass, lubed on the inside with Lyman qwik-lube sprayed onto a brush. The expander button is sometimes squeaking. I don't think I had this problem when I was using the rcbs lube, but that was also the first reloading for the brass.

Am I right that I'm overworking the neck? I shouldn't need to anneal, yet, should I? Is my die setup wrong?

The rifle is a Savage 110, that doesn't shoot as well as it used to. All brass is clean, dies and expander button are clean.

A squeek is not good, you need to lube the case neck.
A bit of Imperial Die Wax on a q-tip can be applied to the inside neck shoulder junction. Only a little is needed.
If your cases have been reloaded a number of times they may require anealing. Finally liquid case cleaners may cause neck failures (over time) due to stress corosion.
Good Luck!

Just a guess from what you say but the first thing I'd do is check the dimensions of your necks thru the reloading process. First, the OD of a fired case neck, then sized w/o expander, and finally the finished product with bullet installed. In a perfect world I'd like little more than .004-.006" variation over the cycle, say .307", .303", .305" in that order, assuming neck wall thickness of .014". That would be perfect to my eye in regards to minimizing the working of brass, but I doubt that you'll find numbers that small except by random chance. I've had two rifles that have colluded with the dies I've purchased in a dimensional sense like that. Another few have been much worse. A 30-30 die set once sized the necks close to .018" from fired to sized...case life was only a bit shorter John Kerry's position on anything. I bought a Lee Collet sizer for the gun as it is a single shot. Problem solved for me, don't know what you'll have to do though.

On a different level, I have found Remmy cases sometimes crack in the neck on the first or second firing in 30-30's, why I don't know. WW never did this, I assume it's their alloy composition.

I can't be sure what's spliting your necks,but I have four cans of Lyman's qwik spray case lube that I will send you free of charge(you pay postage only). That has to be the worst case lube I have ever used. If you like that crunchy squeek sound when pressing HARD on the press handle you will enjoy the 4 cans I will send you. Use Bardhal on a rag and roll your cases on it.This is by far the best I have ever found. Midway spray is OK but it gets messy and easy to over lube.

I have experienced spliting in tight thick necks and in chambers that have neck diameters larger than normal. Some times the splitting seems to happen when fireing and some times I've seen it after the bullet is inserted. You'll have to do more measuring .You also may want to anneal your case necks at some time. Some cases I still use are head stamped FA 43. No joke roger

OK, I think you're correct in thinking my problem is the case lube. That stinks, because I really liked just spraying it on.

What does everyone think of the mica case neck dippers? Does it lube the neck very well? Could I spray, roll or wipe the cases with a regular lube, then clean and dip the necks in mica? Or would I be better off going back to BCBS lube on my neck brush?

Thanks

I think mica is the only way to go. No matter how I lube the case, usually just the RCBS lube and pad, but sometimes the One Shot spray, I use the mica for the neck. The powder doesnt stick to it when you charge.

Midway mica isn't worth the room it takes up. I put up with expaner ball squeaking until I tried this stuff:

Imperial Dry Neck Lube for lubricating case necks. From:

E-Z Way Systems 740-345-6645
You can also get it from MidwayUSA item #319390
It's black like graphite and may well be. All I know is it works terrific. Never a squeak, ever. And a little goes a long way just like their sizing die wax. I would recommend you use both products.

I have no explanation of why your case necks are splitting after only two firings except maybe you are chambferring the case mouth too much and thinning the leading edge causing it to split. Just a thought.

I've tried a lot of methods/products/incantations for lubing necks and have settled on what I feel is the best one out there. NECO sells a kit that has a small jar filled with steel ball bearings and powdered molybdenum. There is also another jar of moly to replenish the bearings as needed. You dip the case neck into the bearings and twirl it about 180 degrees. It comes out with a light coating of moly. The first kit got me through more than 10,000 cases before I had to buy a refill container of the powdered moly. Not one squeak the whole time. I use Imperial on the case body. One can of that lasts quite a while also.
JCN

As to lubing the inside of the neck, I use a cleaning brush in the caliber I am loading on the RCBS case prep machine with a little of the Imperial resizing wax on it. Works like a charm and no effort much to it. "D"