I've shot all that brass that was sized last fall now. No more splits from the fresh loads. That brass was only bought last summer and if you count running it through the dies out of the bag before trimming, it was sized 3 times.

The more I think about it, the more I am focussing on the very last loads made.

Heres how the loads in question came to be.

At the beginning of the season, Sept 1, my rifle was sighted in and I had 30 loads as my hunting batch. Mid way through Sept, I rolled my quad off a snomobile trail that gets me pretty far back into some high country. My rifle was on the gun rack when this happened. The quad rolled a good 3 or 4 times(over me too!).

Back in camp the rifle couldnt hit paper. It took me 15 rounds to get it back where I wanted it. When I got home I loaded up another 15. With those, I shot a deer and a coyote and missed a couple more yotes.

The rounds that split have a little more lustre. I think the ones that didn't split are all from the previous loading session before hunting season. The ones that split are the ones I loaded in a hurry.

Something I did or didnt do that day caused this , I think?

Primers all look fine so I'm not under the impression that the load was overcharged. I'm still considering the lube theory though.

Keep your thoughts comming and thanks for the helpfull imput.

Today about half of my loads from last season had their necks split to some degree apon firing. There was no visable corosion on the cases. These loads are not overcharged because I've shot around 100 leading up to the season and it was pretty warm then. Its nice and cool now.

The load is a 25/06, 100gr. Partition, 53.5gr. of IMR 4831, C.O.L. 3.255, Win brass.

The only thing I can think of is that I might of left too much lube in the neck after sizing and over the winter the neck softened up from the inside.

Anyone have any input on this?

I fired some of last years varmint loads today which are a tad hot and no problems there at all.

I doubt it's lube. How many times have the cases been sized?

All metal is not made perfect. Metal stamping companies reject hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. Laminations, inclusions and manufacturing errors are common.

The cases should have been annealed before loading,they were too hard.Hardness=brittle in brass.My brother is constantly having necks split after being stored a few months.He does not anneal.

I anneal the case necks every 4 loadings and have never had a neck split in storage,even after years.

WC

Lube can really make a bullet "set" with the brass. Take a loaded round and put it in your seating die and try and seat it deeper after sitting for a year. If you don't wipe out the lube it can sometimes take quite an effort--all of a sudden there can be a "pop" and the bullet will move. found this out years ago and since then have been very religous about getting the lube out of the case mouth. I think there may even be a possibility it raises pressure somewhat.

The case necks were either work hardened or age hardened while they sat. Not to worry, just get new cases.

A couple of things: 1)when you load, one of the case prep steps should be to clean the inside of the neck with a cleaning brush of the next size up caliber (I chuck mine in a drill). That is because the powder residue eventually gets like glue when they sit a long time, and raises bullet pull force. 2) Make certain that when you trim cases, that the mouths are smooth, with no nicks in the edge of the case mouth. Even when you chamfer and deburr, pay special attention to producing a nice smooth even cut. Those occasional nicks can turn into stress risers which start cracks.

Sounds like the necks have been work hardened making the brass brittle. When they expand to release the bullet and open to fill the chambers neck wall they just split. Im assuming they are lengthwise splits. This is quite common after a few firings especially if the chamber neck is a little on the large side. Annealing every 4 or 5 firings re softens the brass so that it dosen't split as fast. Old brass can get a bit brittle and do this sometimes too.

Thanks guys.

I'm going to fire nine fresh loads tomorrow. The brass is from the same batch I sized last year the only difference being that it did not sit loaded for the winter.

If the necks don't split that should narrow down the reasons for this.

If they do split, I'll try annealing.

The varmint loads did not split and the brass has been sized around 11 times. It's nickle plated though.

Have you fired the same load from fresh cases (same make)recently?
I agree the likely cause is work hardenning of the brass. But I've seen factory brass split before, and never figured why.
I doub't it's pressure, That should show at the case head, but it wouldn't hurt to pull a round or two and weigh the charge.
Thinking outloud, rambling, too early yet.

O.K. Heres some imput that will eliminate some theories as good as they may sound.

The same brass sized at the same time last year was loaded with the same load last night and fired today. All brass was fine when last years loads had 50% split lenght wise. The only thing different was I used fed 210 Primers cause i was out of Win WLR.

I've been gettin over ten firings no problem with this brass and have never annealed.

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But, it could also be caused by Ammonia. If your cases have been exposed to an Ammonia type Bore Cleaner, it will also cause embrittlement.

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This is something to consider but unlikely. I've only had the same 4 rounds in the magazine since Oct to late Nov. I do use Barnes CR10 every 100 rounds but make sure there is no slop left.

I'm still thinking I did a half ass job with cleaning out the lube from the inside of the neck. I just use RCBS water soluble lube on a pad. I usually clean out the neck after sizing pretty good but may of forgot. I had to re-sight my rifle after a quad spill late sept and made some loads to replace. I may of rushed myself.

The one thing that is for certain, regardless of the cause, it's only happening to the loads that sat all winter, Oct to March.

I shot some Barnes X loads out of my 7mag that have sat for the same amount of time. Federal brass. No problems.

I'm still open for some theories. I'm going to throw the brass from last years loads away. I don't trust it now.

I load a "lifetime" supply of hunting ammo for every hunting rifle I have, using either once fired or virgin brass and then store it, wrapped in Gladwrap, in separate plastic bins. I have 33 rifles at present and thousands of rounds of ammo.

I have never had the problem you describe since the first time I had it, years ago; I believe this is because I do not use case lube on the inside of the necks and I use cases for hunting ammo for three firings max and then use them for practice loads. I toss every case into the recycling pail after five firings, period.

This costs a bit more, but, to me it is worth it. I am more interested in trouble-free loading and shooting than in cost and this works for me. I even do this with the RWS brass for my Merkel drilling, which hurts, but a head separation in that gun would hurt more!

I think that the lube buildup is the most likely cause of your neck splits, you might want to try powdered graphite which works well in very small amounts. I generally find that a cleaned case neck resizes without lube-if you regularly clean your dies as well.

Kutes

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I think that the lube buildup is the most likely cause of your neck splits, you might want to try powdered graphite which works well in very small amounts. I generally find that a cleaned case neck resizes without lube-if you regularly clean your dies as well.

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I'm already looking at ways to avoid using lube in the neck altogether. Your idea sounds like a simple solution. I may look into upgrading some of my dies and adding carbide decapping/expander pins.

Never had this problem with hand loads before. I've had some older factory ammo do this though. I figured it was the crimp fusing to the bullet or something. Probably was. I don't crimp most of my loads.

If you really want to know why your brass split, package up a few rounds and send them to the NRA's Technical Service. You don't need to put bullets, powder, or primers in them...just send a few of the brass cases, preferably split ones.



If the brass is too hard there is an easy explanation of why last year's loaded ones split, and the ones which sat empty did not. Neck tension. When brass which is too hard is exerting neck tension on a bullet over an extended period of time, it eventually splits. This is the exact phenomenon known as "season cracking" to old timers, from when even the government arsenals weren't exactly sure how to properly anneal brass.



The amount of time required for it to split depends on at least a couple of things:



1. How much too hard it is.



2. How much tension is involved. (The more the case neck has to expand to take and hold the bullet, the more tension there is, unless there is so much expansion that the brass is permanantely deformed.) So, excessive sizing, like sizing the neck interior dimension down to .253" instead of .255" for instance, may also contribute to the problem.



It is unlikely that lube is the problem. If the case was cold-welding to the bullet with lube acting as sort of a flux, it is more likely the brass would tear off or split horizontally at about the base of the bullet when fired, rather than split lengthwise.



Whatever, the NRA Tech Division can let you know. I had a similar problem with brass in 1960, and they told me their testing showed it was not properly annealed by the manufacturer, and was way too hard in an uneven pattern.



AC

Thats a good idea also.

The split itself does not have sharp edges and has a fair gap, couple of mm. Its not like a clean split really. I don't know if you can picture what I'm saying but maybe someone knows what I'm talking about.

I'll look into sending a couple of rounds off to the NRA's tech people. I'm sure the fee is small and it sounds like an interesting way of learning more about what I'm doing.

I got the important part down at least. I learned how to load accurate ammo. I just have to work on learning how to make safe loads now.(sarcasm)

This is precisely the sort of stuff that I come to these forums for and I hope that you will post whatever results you get as I am now very intrigued by this situation. Alberta Canuck makes a very good point here, but, your description of the actual splits makes me wonder about crimping, disimiliar metals bonding through chemical action and greater work hardening due to excess pressures caused by lube build-up, these are guesses, only.

I had forgtten that my older RWS brass which I received when I got my Merkel drilling had the older style "stab crimps" and this brass split at the necks on the 2nd or 3rd firing. I tossed it and went to the new style which you would think was 14ct. gold given the price of it, I do not crimp this and have not had any split necks, thus far.

I have loaded hot .338 Win. loads for 36 yrs. and hot .375H&H loads for 21 yrs. and have never crimped; thus far, I have had no problems with bullet creep, at all. I only crimp my magnum handgun and levergun loads as I think that crimping tends to detract from accuracy and lessen the life of brass. Anyway, let us know what transpires.

I've got some handloads that I made up 5 and 6 years ago. They fire as dependably as the newer handloads. They don't usually deteriorate all that rapidly. Do you check your cases before loading to determine stress fractures and the like. When I was newer at reloading I loaded my cases hotter than today, and would sometimes miss cases that were ready to split. You might try loading a batch about 100fps.
slower than the ones that split and see how they perform.
Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I tried to form some very old brass I found on a range one time, the results, may or may not figure into your problem.

I was forming 303 Epps from 303Br. The brass had been partly buried in the ground. I'm talking about one round only.

The brass was run longer than usual in the polisher, and refused to shine (clue #1). It was boxer primed, and I think Imperial brass.

On firing a normal 303 load in the 303Epps chamber, everything seemed normal. The formed case was another matter. It looked like a tiny shotgun had been fired at the shoulder from the inside. Full of tiny holes. Apparently, chemicals in the soil had attacked and or hardenned the brass.

I guess what I'm putting forward here, is a question about how old the subject brass is, and where it was stored. Not just how many firings. Could it have been exposed to anything that may have acted on the brass?