Cracks in once-fired 17 brass -- HELP!!!!

29 March 2002, 15:44

<jdllyons>

I just was in the process of lubing my cases that were fired for the first time yesterday. This is BRAND NEW 17 Remington cases. Out of 100 pieces, I found 7 with cracks that run from about the middle of the body up towards and to within 1/8" of the top of the body. Standing the cases side by side, the cracks appear almost identical yet each vary just a little bit. All of the cracks run along the length of the case.

Has anyone seen this before??? I will repeat: this is new brass that was full length resized prior to being loaded one time. I thought maybe it was a "pressure sign" but one of the cases had a "silver" primer indicating one of the first 10 that I loaded with CCI-450's and 22.0 gr. of Varget. The remaining 6 were loaded with Rem. 7-1/2's and only 1 of those has slight cratering around the firing pin indentation that I noticed on my near-max load of 24.4 gr. Varget behind a Berger 25 moly.

Could it be a problem with an oversize chamber (I hope not -- this is a brand new Remington Classic with only 100 rounds thru it), or just poor quality control and a bad batch of brass???

[This message has been edited by jdllyons (edited 03-29-2002).]

29 March 2002, 16:26

ricciardelli

Sounds like you overworked the brass when you full-length resized it.

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29 March 2002, 16:39

<jdllyons>

I guess anything is possible, however there was not any effort involved in resizing the new cases. It was just done to straighten out the slight dings in the case mouths.

I could understand brass that had been reloaded several times cracking in the neck area -- but brand new?? The cases were well lubed and did not drag or indicate any excessive sizing.

30 March 2002, 10:24

<Matt_G>

If it were my gun, I would do a chamber cast.
Hopefully that will eliminate a oversize chamber as the cause, and you can concentrate on other reasons.

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.

30 March 2002, 10:38

<jdllyons>

I have performed an autopsy on one of the cracked cases. The case wall is noticably thinner on the side with the crack. I don't have access to a ball mic, but I would estimate that it is roughly 1/2 the thickness of the remainder of the case.

[This message has been edited by jdllyons (edited 03-30-2002).]

30 March 2002, 17:47

<Matt_G>

quote:
Originally posted by jdllyons:
I have performed an autopsy on one of the cracked cases. The case wall is noticably thinner on the side with the crack. I don't have access to a ball mic, but I would estimate that it is roughly 1/2 the thickness of the remainder of the case.
[This message has been edited by jdllyons (edited 03-30-2002).]

That'll do it every time! I had some .44 Special brass (Winchester) like that before.
Just a couple of cases out of 100. My casemaster said they were only .003" thick on that side. Unfortuantely, I didn't catch it when I loaded it. Split all the way to the rim when I fired it.

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.

17 April 2002, 07:14

<jdllyons>

I finally received a reply from Remington's ammo testing facility in Lonoke, AR.

"We have completed our testing of the .17 Remington shells that you returned recently for review. The seven problem shells showed a metallurgical flaw known as a slip plane. This was caused by a colder than normal intermediate annealing step. This is a rare issue and does require firing of the shell to reveal the flaw in most instances.

We do work hard at trying to provide quality products to all our customers. The shell making processes are checked around the clock by both production personnel and a special support group working out of our Chem. Lab. We apologize for this level of performance you experienced and for the inconvenience.

To be fair, a reimbursement check for $33, to cover your shipping costs and to cover the purchase price of 100 .17 Remington shells (at Midway prices) will be sent from our accounting department within 15 business days. We appreciate you choosing Remington products and hope you will in the future."

BTW: I received the check 2 days after receipt of this letter. I thought it would have been cheaper to ship me 1-200 new cases, but who am I to complain. I still wish somebody else made brass for the 17.

05 May 2002, 00:44

Bad Ass Wallace

Found a similar problem with Rem 221 Fireball cases when forming to 17 Mach 4. Only 2 out of 100 did not crack during necking and before firing.

I now anneal the new cases and neck turn to an even thickness before sizing and the problem ceased.

Remington new brass does appear to be very uneven over a range of calibres. New 7mm Mauser cases that I purchased were very uneven in the necks and I found that even with neck turning some cases were so thin on one side that I did not use them. 8mm brass has rather thick necks so I now neck turn 8mm mauser to an even thickness and then neck down in 2 stages to 7mm for a perfect job.

05 May 2002, 01:31

Hot Core

quote:
Originally posted by jdllyons:
BTW: .....I still wish somebody else made brass for the 17.

Hey jdllyons, Is there a particular reason you've not tried "necking-down" a 223Rem case made by Federal, Winchester, etc.? That way you can have any particular brand you like.

Years and years ago I had a couple of boxes of 22Hornet cases do a similar thing. I'm pretty sure they were Remington, but whoever made them replaced them 2-for-1 back then.

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Good hunting and clean 1-shot kills, Hot Core

05 May 2002, 06:57

<Don Martin29>

I don't know where Remington buys their brass strip but it can't be from Olin? Some of the worlds finest brass is made by Olin who owns "Winchester". Their Summers Brass reroll mill in Waterbury, CT is the best of the best also. There is Wieland in Germany also but I have always been suspicious of Remington Brass.

Remington Corelokt bullets are the best value however.

Long ago a rim split on a .22LR "Kleenbore" and a speck got in my eye. It took a trip to the eye doctor to get it out.