I was sorting cases the other day and noticed a couple of split cases but did not know which rifle they had been shot in. But today at the range I shot 5 rounds and three of the cases were split vertically at the neck. Was completely surprised and am not sure where to start looking to get to the bottom of all this. The round is 30-06, Nosler 168 LRAB with 4064 powder. I would appreciate it if any of you wise old heads would start firing off questions for me as to the pertinent facts you need to know so that I might begin to find out what went wrong. In order words, please help me find a starting point. Thanks

That’s usually a case hardness (annealing) issue.

High quality brass usually lasts a while, but surplus that has sat a long time seems to harden.

If these were unknown firings or suspect brass, I’d anneal the lot before using them again.

They were all Hornady cases that I or my wife have shot but in all candor some are older than others and I am not sure just how many times each separate case had been shot.

If you have other cases from the same batch as the split ones try annealing the necks before the next loading. IF you don't want to go to the trouble of annealing then I'd toss the suspect cases and start over with new brass.

Papa,

The previous posters are 100% correct IMHO.
Anneal the case necks and shoulders and you're back in business.
If you don't do that or have someone close who will, I'm sure you could reach out and someone would do it for you and you're good for a while again.

Zeke

All good advise, I, personaly would toss the lott and buy new brass WW, PPU, Rem, lake City gov, Lapua, whatever..keep track of the firing and anneal at the first sigh of a split neck or seperation..Sometimes I just dump the lot and buy new after around 10 or so reloads..saves time and effort..30-06 brass isn;t that expensive considering how long it lasts.. Just my personal take on the subject..

Yes to all the above statements.

I never anneal easy to find brass.

Sometimes split necks are caused by a combination of thin necks and large chamber necks.

I have seen that happen with new brass.

quote:

Laurie's Papa
posted 28 January 2022 10:38
They were all Hornady cases

My suggestion, if you can find replacement brass, don't obtain Hornady. I think almost any other brand is better, probably. I say this based on disappointments with Hornady 30.06 and 300 Win Mag brass. It's either too soft or just of lower quality than other brands.

Well, shoot. I was counting on Hornady brass being better than Win. Or Remington.

Norma is my favourite brass for all calibres I shoot. Getting up to 20 loads per case and failures are rare. Other brands I have sometimes used are Winchester and Remington, which have been OK. No real complaints. I'm told Federal is soft and I've never really used any so can't comment. But in these times of very short supply maybe you will have to use Hornady if that's all you can get. Even I would use it without any other option though I would not be very happy about it.

Brass gets brittle with age; some more than others; not sure why.
Either anneal them, or what RA said; can them.

Ammonia ! Ammonia containing barrel cleaners and other solvents. Some older propellants also contained ammonia. Ammonia reacts with the copper ions and causes stress cracking. The phenomenon first described in the military campaigns in the tropics during the monsoon. Ammonia from horse urine coming into contact with brass of military cartridges giving rise that was called Season cracking.

Interesting thread. Every once in a while when I reload I’ll find a split case. I just assumed they basically west out after a while. I have no idea how many times I have reloaded my brass, maybe 5-6 times.

Thanks for the info.

JDG

Almost all of my brass lasts many reloadings. I sometimes get 30 or more out of standard cases and 15 or more from magnum ones. I partial resize my brass (put a thin washer between sizing die and press) so I am not setting the shoulder back. I anneal after each five firings and trim about the same amount.
That info is marked with a stick on tag on the box after each reloading.
This way I keep track of what has to be done and usually why the brass goes bad when/if it does.

Hip

Stress cracking in old ammo ( never fired or reloaded ) is the likely result of chemical decomposition of the propellant. When nitrous propellants decompose they produce nitric oxide (NO)which is a gas. Double based propellants have a shorter degradation life than single based propellants. Old Cordite containing gun cotton was very prone to this degradation. When the (NO) reacts with water vapour in the ambient air it forms nitric Acid which in turn reacts with the copper ions in the brass. The end result is stress cracking, usually longitudinal in the neck and body but sometimes also circumferential resulting case separations. Ammonia will do the same. I have old boxes of Kynoch ammo that have all done this.

I never anneal my cases and get several reloads from them. When they start getting cracks I toss and replace them. Make sure that your pressures are in check and that your case length is good (trim when needed) and also use a little lube when resizing and you should easily get many reloads from your cases. But they will work harden in time. I would rather toss them than anneal when cracks occur in the necks, because that is not the only place where brass thins and gets tired.

Well thanks guys for the info. I was very alarmed when I saw these split cases appear. Accuracy was goo but my first concern was that I had done something wrong in the reloading process. I have basically been using the same technique for 30-06 but this batch was with a new bullet for me. I was using Nosler 168 grain long range accubond whereas usually I was loading Sciroccoes or Hornady Interbonds. Of course I adjusted the powder charge and length accordingly and the cases had been trimmed. So, in the future I will anneal my cases and see if this stops the problem. Thank you all for your suggestions. Always learn something on this forum.

It is always easy to say TOSS THEM and sometimes rightly so but in this day and age WHEN WILL YOU BE ABLE TO GET SOME MORE!!!

Hip

I'd toss 'em unless they still have a fair amount of that brassy factory sheen.
Just buy some 1X fired brass and go.
Here's some PROCESSED 1X BRASS at a fair price. Note: I have not tried this brass. Due diligence required.

Note: They are sold out of all other grades of '06 1X.

There Ya go! Just what I said.

Hip

Get some new brass. Problem solved.