I started loading this year and have been pretty conservative with my .257 Roberts and .277 Win. But, my 7MM STW I have pushed the velocity envelope to get all I can get. How do I know I should not reload the brass if they are not split or the primer pockets are not blown? 7mm Stw brass are Winchester and Remington. I have had case head seperation on two of the brass, one that had a split arouund the entire base and one that had a split started at the base.

I have decided I value my face more than I want to push the envelope so, I have backed off the load and will just load for accuracy at reasonable speeds (As a side note I believe high temperatures were affecting pressure at the time of case head separation). Some of the brass that were split or seperated had been fired at least 5 times and I do not know which ones were at the upper end of my different ladder tests.

Do I just chunk them all and not take a chance with these brass and start fresh? Or can I safely shoot them at my lower loads till other signs of failure appear.

Neck splits and cracks are trashed.

I anel my WW brass after 1 load now.

Im up to 12 reloads on some lapua, norma and WW brass. I keep safe pressure and anel about ever 5 or less reloads

Batch your brass and monitor each batch. When one splits or cracks that whole batch joins it in the can
for my 303 british using PMC brass I average about 5 loads then some cases start to show cracks etc, so I now routinely trash after the 5th reload.
Keep accurate records and mark your brass in a way that lets you immediately identify how many reloads it has had. I use a felt marker, others put nicks in the head, just find something that works for you. brass is cheap and you are letting off controlled explosions just a few inches from your eyes, so don't try to set new records on how many extra reloads you can squeeze from a case.
rob

I'd say that depends on a number of things, but generally I trash mine anytime it starts showing something I don't like and can't easily correct.

That includes getting loose primer pockets, starting to get splits anywhere*, getting too thin necks for the type of rifle in which I am firing it, showing signs of incipient head separation, just not producing the usual expected accuracy it used to, etc.


*sometimes, if shooting rare, hard to obtain, brass I don't scrap it immediately if just one or two cases split their necks. First I'll try annealing THAT BATCH of brass to see if that will halt the problem. If brass is easily obtainable, I'll just throw it away and buy new stuff. My time IS worth something to me.

To clarify the "too thin necks" comment...in my BR rifles with tight necks, they generally shoot best with virtually zero clearance between the brass necks and the chamber neck. For some reason, my brass seems to thin rather than thicken at that point in my BR rifles (I think I know why, but won't get into that here). So, anyway, if after 20-40 loadings or so, they get more than .0004" thinner than originally turned to, I either junk them or delegate them for use only as foulers, and make new stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by robz:
Batch your brass and monitor each batch. When one splits or cracks that whole batch joins it in the can
for my 303 british using PMC brass I average about 5 loads then some cases start to show cracks etc, so I now routinely trash after the 5th reload.
Keep accurate records and mark your brass in a way that lets you immediately identify how many reloads it has had. I use a felt marker, others put nicks in the head, just find something that works for you. brass is cheap and you are letting off controlled explosions just a few inches from your eyes, so don't try to set new records on how many extra reloads you can squeeze from a case.
rob

I do similar.

Head seperation is not always a sign of pressure. Cases will seperate after just a couple fireings if the headspace has been set too short for the chamber. Make sure you are not pushing the shoulder back too far when resizeing and see if case life improves, it should.

You can also make a tool with a paperclip to check for seperation. straighten the clip, and put a 90* bend in on end. Make sure the bend will fit in your case mouth, and sharpen it some. Feel with the tool in the area just ahead of the web for a "ring" or "groove" in the case. If you find one I would trash the whole batch as it all would be suspect in my eyes.

What Ol Joe said.

High pressure and/or repeated firing does not wear out brass or cause head separations. It's all in the resizing and reloading. As a Benchrest shooter I have fired cases more than 100 times without wearing out a case by simply using a minimum of neck sizing when reloading. And Benchrest loads are HOT!

Ray

My brass gets sorted into lots/batches of 20 or 25 depending on the caliber....

They are then put in a ziplock freezer bag...
With a 3 x 5 card, that I list each load, primer used, powder used, bullet used, date, and whether it was neck sized or full length resized the last time...

That gives me a history of that batch of brass...

I start watching it much more closely after 8 reloads... most cases will make it to 10 to 12 reloads, but the batch will have a few casualties after 8 reloads....when I have lost 5 or so case out of that batch, the rest either get scrapped or reduced to back up replacement brass, for other lots when they start having casualties....

or you can try Lapua brass.. as I understand from those that have used it.. it is almost indestructable... but I haven't used it so I can't verify it..

But managing the history of your brass, will help maximize the service life out of it....

cheers
seafire

Hey Harold

I am with the others in keeping a batch all together through their lifespan of reloading.

The thing is with the belted magnums like your STW, 300 win mag, 338 win mag etc, the case manufacturers give them more headspace. Typical for the ones I've loaded which includes 300 win mag, 338 win mag and 7 rem mag the headspace on new cases is as much as .025" where in 30-06 style cases the headspace averages about .010". So the belted magnums are more susceptible to case head separations.

The way I understand it is that when new cases are fired the firing pin pushes the case forward till it contacts the shoulder, the case body then expands outward to the chamber walls where it grips the chamber and then the pressure pushes the case head back to the bolt face stretching the case thinner at the pressure ring. The more headspace you have with new cases the more that case is susceptible to later case head separation.

I've heard too many horror stories about case head separations trashing a gun so I toss after about 6 loadings. Some cases like my 280AI I fire more than that but I watch it more after 6 loadings. I've also developed loads for new cases where I jam the bullet so the firing pin can't push the case forward. Can't really say if it works to mitigate pressure ring thinning but the loads are generally quite accurate anyway.

When fireforming brass for a wildcat or improved case it is recommended to seat the bullet well into the rifling to eliminate the case stretching at the casehead. Of course you also need to reduce the charge accordingly since pressures may spike upward, depending on how much forming the case needs to do to fill the chamber. woods the later part of your response is correct. it does help. I do this when fireforming 6.5 JDJ brass from 225 win cases. JDJ highly recommends this practice to reduce case loss due to casehead separations.

Head separation on a belted case is from improper die adjustment, not pressure. The die is adjusted too far down, the case stretches, and the extra brass comes from the web area, thinning it till it separates or develops a visible crack.

Trash it if it doesn't shoot accurately and when it is broken.

I find that just neck sizing the belted magnums makes them headspace on the shoulder rather than the neck and the brass lasts much longer.

The last post should read headspace on the shoulder rather than the belt. Oh well!

As usual this group has provided me with great information.

I do not doubt that I have lessoned the life by FL sizing my brass after fire forming. I am going to order a neck sizing die and start marking the head to keep a better record of shots fired per case. The loads that separated were not hot loads so it was my brass prep that did them in I guess.

I will make the paper clip tool and check my brass as stated by ol jim, thanks

Everyone has good points on when to trash your brass. On the other hand, brass can last a very long time when cared for. I have one 20 round box of .Winchester .308 brass I have used for a test item these last 20 years which is now up to ten reloads and being fired thru fluted chamber rifles, as in H&K 91 and SIG-AMT. Have only lost two cases to lost in the field and one to loss due to screw up in reloading. No cases show typical signs of case failure, despite the peculiar striations on the case body. These may be weird, but then, the H&K91 can be very weird in what it does to brass.
LLS