I recently had a custom rifle built up, a .338 Win Mag. A guy named Daryll Holland rebarreled it and bedded it. When I got it back, I test fired it with Winchester "Premium" 230 Gr. Failsafe, nickel plated ammo. The first one split from the shoulder to the neck. I cleaned it and really scrubbed the chamber. I chambered another and extracted it, but could not find any sign of contact with the riflings, so I fired another. This one too, split in a couple places from the shoulder to the neck. I didn't try another. I sent it back and he said that the nickel plated brass is just brittle, and that he had fired a couple of regular brass cases without a problem.
Has anybody heard of this before? I just figured that if the chamber was sufficently tight, the brass could not expand to the point that it would split. I'm about 1/2 scared to shoot it again. No other signs of over pressure. Couple of you guys help a brother out? Thanks
I cannot say what the problem is, but I doubt his answer about the brass being brittle is correct. I've shot nickel coated brass cases for more years than I care to recount, and have never had any problem with them, splitting or otherwise. You might want to make a chamber cast and take your own measurements and see if the chamber is within specs. It could be he was shooting a thicker brass case, like Norma, and did not have the problem, but you should not be having a problem either.
Try some regular brass factory loads and see what happens, if they don't split the problem was the brass, if they do, it's the chamber. You can also measure the fired brass and compare to the unfired brass measurments.
I was testing some Hornandy TAP ammo (Tactical Application Police) in 308 a while back for work. This stuff was in a regular brass case, and every case neck split severely. I contacted Hornrdy they said the brass was not annealed right and sent me new ammo.
I would think that the brass is at fault, I would umagine that if the chamber was out of spec the brass would most likely fireform to it.
I take, you know him? I met him at a Thunder Ranch Precision Rifle Class. Nice guy and has a good reputation. Didn't mean to insult anybody, probably shouldn't have mentioned any names.
Did good work, beautiful and great bedding job. Just a little concerned. Been shootin a while and never experienced anything like it.
Try your rifle with "regular" brass, and another brand (Remington or Federal) nickel brass, see what happens, & report back. May just be that lot of Win ammo...
Totally agree that the problem is probably in the brass. If you've saved the fired brass with the split neck, or have an unplated fired case, measure the neck diameter. If it's under .372" you can count on it being the brass. That's max spec in 338. If there were a real problem, it's likely other portions of the case would give.
Nickel reduces the elasticity of brass and the first place it shows up is in the neck. Enjoy your new gun. I'll bet it will be a good one.
Posts: 1261 | Location: Placerville, CA, US of A | Registered: 07 January 2001
Thank you gentlemen for the replies. I was assured everything was fine and in spec, so with your input I'll start trying to narrow the brass problem down and go from there if necessary.
hi NSI did you contact winchester to ask them if they might have a problem with this batch of ammo . Put it to them as a real safety consern. wich this is . good luck Bob
------------------ knowledge is power and you never have enough knowledge
Posts: 116 | Location: N.J. | Registered: 24 September 2001
No sir I did not, but certainly sounds like a good idea. I've got a couple other boxes of stuff nickel and brass that I'm going to try also. The shoulder of the fired brass case is out a hundredth or two so it looks like the chamber is long and maybe bad brass combo.
