Hello all,
First post so be gentle! Been reading info here for a few years but just joined recently.
Here's my q..
Picked up a batch of unprimed Win brass in 22-250 a long while ago and just got round to using it. Loaded 50 moderate loads (34.5 grains Viht N140 behind 55gn FMJ) and had a few neck splits and shoulder splits. Anybody had this also? Have they not been annealed at the factory?

This is unusual. Complain where you bought them!
- mike

Thanks Mike, that was my 1st thought but I can't put my hands on the receipt! Was debating annealing the rest myself at some stage

I don't think that WW anneals their cases; furthermore you bought them "a long while ago" and brass tend to become brittle with age; you probably should have annealed them before reloading or it's simply a defective batch....

Most (all?) brass is annealed during the manufacturing process - I believe multiple times(?). Most commercially sold brass is polished (tumbled?) before sold, though, and the annealing colouration does not show up.

Military brass must show the annealing, and it is not polished before being delivered. Some commercial brass (Lapua springs to mind) leaves the annealing colouring on their brass - for reasons unknown, but the brass is excellent...

I would be *extremely* surprised if WW brass was not annealed.

It is true that brass becomes brittle over time, but I have loaded brass over 10 years old with no apparent problems.

- mike

Hi there Wildboar,
Oops! Ignore the "long" bit in that sentence of mine - it was a typo. The brass is about 3 years old I think. I did a test for "feel" with a full resize of some unprimed win brass against some norma unprimed I've got. The Norma certainly "felt" softer. Best get the torch out then...

Could be a bad batch too. The Remington brass I purchased last year was less than impressive. The mass market stuff is not subject to the same quality control that Lapua, Norma, et cet subjects their brass to. Try annealing some. If you still get the same problem toss them and get new.

LWD

quote:

Originally posted by mho:
Most (all?) brass is annealed during the manufacturing process - I believe multiple times(?). Most commercially sold brass is polished (tumbled?) before sold, though, and the annealing colouration does not show up.
- mike

This is correct. ALL rifle brass is annealed by the manufacturer and it is roughly 7 times to get the finished shape. American brass is acid washed so it will not appear like Lapua brass.

I recently went through several bags of 270 brass by Winchester and found about 18 with creased necks which has not affected performance. I have not found any that are split.

Hi there,
started annealing a bag tonight. Came across 5 duff ones. Took a close up picture of one and got it here. Trouble is I've no idea of getting it on the forum! Looks like the brass folded over during the swaging process and formed a pinch in the neck of each cartridge. I'd put it down to a friday batch. 5% is a bit sh*t for Winchester though...

quote:

Originally posted by Haggis:
Hello all,
First post so be gentle! Been reading info here for a few years but just joined recently.
Here's my q..
Picked up a batch of unprimed Win brass in 22-250 a long while ago and just got round to using it. Loaded 50 moderate loads (34.5 grains Viht N140 behind 55gn FMJ) and had a few neck splits and shoulder splits. Anybody had this also? Have they not been annealed at the factory?

Welcome, Haggis!!
Sir, this is something that can happen to OLDER BRASS, whether it was properly annealed originally or not. I have seen this happen in old, loaded factory ammo as well as in old cases.

However, I would still protest to the vendor/maker, and see if they'd be willing to provide you some replacement brass. If they do, load it soon!

(However, IMO, three years old is not OLD! I have some 6mmX284 Winchester ammo I made by sizing down new Win. .284 brass in 12964, which I annealed after due to the radical reduction in caliber. I shot some of it recently, and go '0' split necks! If I had three-year-old cases split, I would consider them defective!!)

To put a picture on this forum, go to http://smg.photobucket.com/ and get yourself an album started - it is free. The upload any pictures you might want to post on here. Once the pics are uploaded to photobucket, copy the bottom link code shown here, and just paste it into your message, and it will show up in your post....

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FYIBloody nora!... that took some time to get this picture "uploaded". Anyway here it is (I hope)

El Deguello, many thanks for the tips, tried them but since I'm in the UK, got thrown out. Maybe I'm doing something wrong there...
FYI, Played a laser sight over the crease and it shows through.

Annealing sure ain't gonna help that!

"Old" brass gets "brittle"?? Wonder how old it has be for that.

I still have some of the mil surp 30-06 brass I started loading with in '65. It's DM 42 stuff so it was 23 years old at that time. I loaded a box of it last week for deer hunting, it's still doing fine after something like 8-10 loadings.

No signs of brass dry rot so far! Should I "retire it" yet?

Sometimes you just get crap brass, every manufacturer does it occasionally. I bought a bag of 50 Remingon 375 H&H brass and 5 of them were so bad they couldn't even be sized.

P.S. My dog's name is Haggis (He's a border collie)

get a hold of win. and tell them about your problem.my friend had some 41 mag brass and loading them they split we tried to anieal they didn't work so we called them they said send them back then they sent 1000 more. they try to take care of problems if they know about them.

Some Brass is far superior to other brands .Unfortunately Winchester isn't one of them !.

Not sure where or who is manufacturing Win. , Rem. , Fed. brass now days .

When ever possible I purchase Lapua as I know it's superior to most anyone Else's brass .

Life's to short to spend time with bad brass .

Your across the Pond do you have a dependable distributor for Lapua ?.

In the long run Lapua is less expensive ( I know this for a fact ) .

well i have had the same thing about a year ago and all they could tell me was i"its a bad batch" . get a refund or a new bag and away ya go.
does leave me wondering about a few things like what day were they made on... quality control.. etc etc

Dropped Winchester a line but I won't hold my breath. Lapua pop up sometimes, always in a calibre I don't reload for! Prices are around the same as Norma here I think... £60+ per 100 although I've been lucky in the past and picked up Norma unprimed .22-250 for £30 which is a bargain here! I read somewhere that Lapua test their cases with 30% above max and "guaranteed" at least 10 reloads. Not bad.
This Win brass though... definitely a Friday batch...!

quote:

Originally posted by Haggis:
FYIBloody nora!... that took some time to get this picture "uploaded". Anyway here it is (I hope)

El Deguello, many thanks for the tips, tried them but since I'm in the UK, got thrown out. Maybe I'm doing something wrong there...
FYI, Played a laser sight over the crease and it shows through.

Well, IF that is unfired brass that came to you as it is, it is definitely "faulty". The maker should replace it free.

Sorry about Photobucket! I didn't realize they were discriminatory!! But I see you did find a place to host your pics. You are indeed a persistent fellow!!