I have never had one.

Ever had one?

What happened? Tell us the story.

Let us all learn from your mistakes!

Question:
Have you ever had a case head separation?

Choices:
No
Yes, no damage to rifle
Yes, and it damaged the rifle when it blew
Yes, and it damaged the rifle when I tried to remove the case

 

It was early days of loading far my 303 Brit Lee Enfield. Then I learned about lubing the loaded rounds and haven't lost a case to head separation since.

yes....several times to a pump .270 and a pre-64 M-70 .270.....

Cause in both cases was excessive headspace.

This isn't a terribly unusual thing and I've never heard of anyone being hurt (or even damage to the rifle) because of it.

However the headspace issues should be fixed at some point.

Years ago got hold of a wildcat 6mm. Ammunition made up by a so called "smith". He had turned the necks and I guess he turned too far down and the case separated. No damage to the rifle but it was a good thing I had a spare rifle along on that trip!

Once, with old 300 WinMag brass given to me. Who knows how many times it had been reloaded and trimmed. Rifle was a Winchester Model 70. Fortunately I was shooting low power loads and didn't really notice until I ejected the case. It wasn't a full separation, just a slit about a quarter of the way around the case.

Yes, but no damage. I’ve only had 2 full case-head separations though. I have no idea how many split-outs I’ve had over the years. Mostly caused by too many loads in full length resized brass or just to many loads period.

Even though I only neck size most of my cases, I still get a split once in a while.

Twice, once with my M1A. Second firing of my first lot of Winchester commercial brass.
The M1A chamber was a generous GI cut. Wanting to follow Instructions as a newbie I set the resizing die per manufacturer's directions. The second loading was enough to rip a case apart. I learned a lot about reloading, rifle and cartridge design over the next few weeks. Made me a more thoughtful and knowledgeable reloader.
The second time was fairly recently .
Brand new Military surplus 308 run thru my "new" 1919-A4. Had the head space set wrong! This time I ripped several cases before the loose nut behind the trigger got wise. Another learning session ensued.

muck

Yes on 3 separate occasions .

A 375 H&H belted magnum all was well with the shots no funny nonsense .I broke open the action and

a case ejected and the other one came out with a rim and belt no body !.

It also happened too me while using a friends 7 Rem Mag don't have a clue as to why .

One on my M14 to many reloads MY FAULT !.

Once, with my Hornet. I goofed up with the powder charge and overcharged the case by 20%. One the first shot, I noticed that the bullet got down range faster than expected and so did the second shot, the 3rd shot I had the case head seperate.

I tried a number of ways to get it out, including placing the rifle in my freezer, to no avail. Then, while getting the brass out of the chamber using a tap, I gouged the chamber

FWIW....case inspection prior to reloading usually will allow one to pick out the incipient cases.....they're quite visible when you know what they look like!......There's not likely a reason for it if we do the visual inspection!

What should I be looking for?

I think I've read that they look "striated"

The stretch marks are visible in most cases. It’s a bright ring that forms about a 1/16 to an 1/8 of an inch above the web expansion. The shinier you keep your brass, the harder it is to see the tell tail ring. If you keep your brass shiny, you can bend a paper clip (or buy a tool that is designed for it) and fine the ring by feeling the inside walls of the case (most of the time anyway).

If you can’t see a shinny ring on your brass there will be pitting of the brass in the same area.

Not yet but I seen a 243 loaded full of varget go off, the guy loaded itid it was alright. He needed a ram rod to get the case out. And there was No Primer at all. It sounded like a magnum with a muzzle brake.

Bought a very well used savage 23d in 22 hornet. The chamber was bad and the cases would expand to the point you would sometimes pull the head off the case when extracting the case. Needless to say, I was a short time owner of this one.

I'd guess anyone who has reloaded for a M99 Savage has had them, including me. The rear lock-up Bolt design allows the Action to flex slightly and thus creates the Case Stretching. Great old rifles to carry, but tough on Cases.

Plenty of 22Hornet Case Head Separations. Fortunately the Pressure was always low anyhow. Don't know if it was primarily due to the particular Case Dimensions, just the Chambers in those old M43 Wins, Dies cut too snug, or a combination of all the above.

quote:

By Mick:
It’s a bright ring that forms about a 1/16 to an 1/8 of an inch above the web...

The Bright Ring Mick mentioned is where the Case Head Separation occurs, is normal on all Cases in every high power rifle I've ever fired, and is exactly where the PRE is measured.

Stretching at this point can be nearly eliminated by using a proper P-FLR(Zero Headspace). But I also agree with Mick that the old Chisel Tip bent paper clip Feeler Gauge should be used to verify the "lack of" an internal groove.

The Bright Ring can be caused by the over-stretching of the Case when FLRing or Bumping Back(some amount of Headspace). And the Bright Ring can be created by the Die Burnishing the outside of the Case when doing a P-FLR, which does not cause the internal thinned spot(aka groove).

I have had one



It was on the 6th firing of a 338 win mag case that had been neck sized till it had a crush fit and then PFLR'ed. It was checked before it was loaded with the bent paper clip with a chisel point. No indications were present.

All of the ones I have seen posted have had the indentation at the neck/shoulder junction


The cause is thinning of the brass where the case head ends and the thinner brass begins


When mine happened the case ejected normally and fell apart in my hand.

I have a half dozen or so in .303 Lee Enfields - 3 different rifles despite neck sizing and lots of care. The front half of the case is easily removed by stuffing another case into the chamber and pulling it out with the bolt.

I have had the bright ring of near separation on a couple dozen cases in Lee-Enfields and a few in a 7.65 1909 Mauser with .030 excess headspace.

Case head seperation can and does come from excessive headspace but almost all rifles have some headspace clearance. Case seperation also comes from full-length resizing a case several times. If you reload a case more than twice you should partial-length resize with your full-length dies or use neck sizing dies. If you load at the upper end of the spectrum (ie. Hot) then neck sizing will cause problems closing the bolt especially if you are in a dirty enviroment. For me, partial-length resizing is the way to go. I have two exceptions to this and they are my two WSMs. With those I have to full-length resize because they have real tight chambers with little to no head space. I have full-length resized those cases multiple times and never had any case seperation. I have had case seperation several times on a M-700, several years back when I started reloading, and the only ill side effects was having to get the remainder of the case out of the chamber. Those cases were full-length resized approximatly four times if I remember correctly.
You can check your cases with a straightened paper clip that has a small hook bent on the end. Use it as feeler inside the case. You can almost always see a shiny ring appearing around the case about 3/16" from the rim.

I will add that a case head separation is not necessarily caused by excessive headspace or an overt error. A springy action with a large diameter chamber can do it too.
The Lee-Enfield is my favorite subject for case head head separation discussion. It has a really large oversize chamber usually with rough chamber walls, a springy action, and often excessive headspace. Several times I have bought once fired .303 cases that had partial separations from firing the factory load.
When a case head separates I don' worry much about the Lee-Enfield. All I care about are my eyes. Always wear glasses.

I have had at least a dozen...

all 223 or 22.250...

cases had been reloaded a lot each time and I hadn't noticed the cracks on the brass beforehand, if there were any...

bore brush took out the brass left in the chamber...

No.

Don

Lots of them in a 250 sav take down and a Lux 22 hornet besides having to take the trouble of pulling them out nothing happen to the rifles.

Both rifles are gone sav stolen. Lux reduced to a 22rf.

Forgot to mention, I do not remember a Case Head Separation causing damage to any of my Chambers. But, I do remember a Pin Hole in a Case blowing a small spot in the Chamber Wall. Kind of like an Acetylene Torch hitting it with a concentrated blast.

The only rational thing I've come up with about what created the Pin Hole in that Case Wall is the Case was possibly exposed to Ammonia. Probably from Bore Cleaning Fluids where I did not get the Chamber wiped clean with an Alcohol soaked patch, or perhaps Windex Ammonia-D or Ammonia Floor Scrubber in the air.

Had a few. No damage. Comes from reloading the cases too many times. BTW most of my rifles now have custom resize dies so the life of cases is greatly extended.

1/2 splits is all.

I did have a 30 carbine that the bolt did not close all the way it blew the side out of the case at the rim I had powder on my forehead and it did sting a bit I was hunting jacks and was wearing sunglass.

On an 8X57 mauser the ammo came from my father-in-law. A simple case of one too many reloads on the case.

22 CHeeta Mk 1.

The cases are formed from 243 Win, shortened and necked down to 22.

Got the gun, ammo, and dies at auction and when test firing the first round, the head seperated.

Turns out the necks were too thick, causing a pressure situation.

Pulled all the bullets, neck turned the brass, problem solved.

Once in a .300 Weatherby, Ruger #1. I reloaded it one too many times, but it pushed right out with a bore brush. After that I chucked the brass after 5 reloads.

Yes, no damage to rifle

Many, in several different calibres and action types, even as recent as yesterday in a 98K with Yugo surplus ammo.



Yes, and it damaged the rifle when it blew

FNFAL CBC ammo before the recall.

Weatherby .378 , again before the recall

Custom 1917 30-06 French ammo

When I was woring up loads for my 338x74K, I got a partial headsep using Norma brass. No damage, but I now toss the Norma cases after 4 firings. The flanged cases stretch quite a bit at the higher pressure I run the 338x74K over the parent 9.3.74R. I've also changed the way I headspace the cases for fireforming. The #1 it's built on has a generous free bore so I partial size the case since I can't seat the bullet into the lands.

quote:

French ammo

That's a disaster waiting to happen right there!

quote:

Originally posted by seafire2:

quote:

French ammo

That's a disaster waiting to happen right there!

Touche'
Le Ouch

French ammunition is not meant to be shot, it’s suppose to be dropped to the ground along with the rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by MickinColo:
French ammunition is not meant to be shot, it’s suppose to be dropped to the ground along with the rifle.

is this before or after you hoist the white flag?

I load pretty much "hot" rounds as I load for the 338-378 Wby. Never had a separation. Of course the cases don't last that long anyway. 5 maybe 7 loads max.

Ken....

Once, in a Mod.70 243. New rifle, mild loads-picture perfect separation of case right above base.
Was only 2nd reloading of case and NOT hot loads.

Found out the headspacing was set wrong in factory and had to have barrel trimmed and reset.
Yes, the accuracy was awful until it was set right.
Nary a problem since.

Gary

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

Originally posted by MickinColo:
French ammunition is not meant to be shot, it’s suppose to be dropped to the ground along with the rifle.

is this before or after you hoist the white flag?

I don’t know what the French protocol is on that. But I would think that it’s simultaneous.

My story revolves around the .303 too.

It is interesting that this topic came up, as I had a CHS less than two weeks ago in a Savage 99 in 243.
What I did to get it out was cut a piece of clothes hanger and bend a 90% in the end.
Just reached up and caught the mouth and it popped out.
I was expecting more problems actually as I had tried pretty hard to cram the next round in the chamber before I noticed what had happened.
Not a problem thoung, it came out very easily, and there is no damage to anything.
That bunch of reloads got sorted again though.

quote:

Originally posted by Heat:
I load pretty much "hot" rounds as I load for the 338-378 Wby. Never had a separation. Of course the cases don't last that long anyway. 5 maybe 7 loads max.

Ken....

actually Ken, I think I am more impressed that you can figure how to get 5 to 7 reloads out of 338/378 Weatherby on hot reloads, than I am at myself for figuring out how to get 60 reloads out of mild 223 reloads...