I have a 6.5-.270AI. I am having trouble with split necks. About 40 -50 percent of the brass has vertical splits, roughly in the center of the necks. Pressures are low enough to use the loads in a regular 6.5-06. Velocity is in the 2900 fps range with 140gn bullets. Do I need to anneal the brass? Am I working it too much?
I form all of my brass from .270 Winchester brass. This project is starting to get discouraging. These splits come after the first shot from fireformed brass.

Eric

2 things come to mind - 1st is annealing, and the second is to check your sizing die. pull the expander nipple out and run a case into it to make sure that the die isn't sizing the necks down to far. I once had a 6.5 die that would knock the necks down so you could seat a 25cal. bullet in them.

For a start measure the neck diameter of some loaded ammo and fired cases both split and not. Measure your neck wall thickness and determine diametral uniformity and consistency between cases.

My guess would be that there is a good chance that neck turning and annealing will solve the problem. roger

Is it virgin brass, or once fired? I've found when forming brass that has been fired in a different chamber and then sized, it tends to split, but virgin brass shouldn't have this problem, especially when necked down such a small amount.

I'd try a different brand of brass and see if it helps. Most brass is fairly elastic and shouldn't have any problems with neck splits.

The brass is virgin that has been fireformed in that rifle. First made into 6.5-06 or 6.5-.270 then fired in the Ackley chamber to improve it to a 40 degree shoulder. Some necks have been turned some have not, about the same amount of each have splits after the first full power load is fired.

Eric

Annealing the brass will solve this, and it needn't be a pain in the ass.

Proper annealing MUST be done in front of a large screen television, in the dark, and a sports program is preferable.

Take one of your wifes baking dishes, that is deep enough for water to go halfway up an empty case (with the primer removed).

Stand up about 5 to 10 cases, a few inches from each other, with water filling the pan to just over halfway up the case.
Take a Benzomatic torch, and heat the neck only (uniformly) until it glows a very dull red in the dark (hence the need for the giant screen tv). When it does, poke it over into the water with a stick, and go on to the next case.

The sports program keeps it from being too boring.

Garrett

Thanks guys, Garrett, I already have all of the tools to anneal cases. Is a 52" big enough or do I need to tell my wife I have to have the 60"?.........I'll try the 52" first and see how it goes.

E

If it splits that soon, it does not to be annealed,..it needs to be RETURNED to the manufacturer. You are only necking down .5MM and that tells me your virgin brass was too hard from the factory. Make a call, get an address, and then get a replacement bag/box of brass. That's my .002"

My 6.5-06AI never split the necks even when I made it off of 30-06 brass or 25-06 brass. It wears out primer pockets before that.

I have had 25-06 brass split the necks when forming my 6.5-06AI loads, but never 270. I would look at returning the brass as suggested above, but I would also make damn sure your chamber really is 6.5-270AI and not really 6.5-06AI. The seating of the longer neck for the 270 into the 06 chamber could cause this problem. You might trim the brass you have back some and see if that helps first.

Just an idea.

Friend of mine had new Winchester brass split about 50% of the necks in a std. .22/250 on second firing . Wasn't the rifle !

BigE,
Had split necks with virgin Remington brass in .243 Win. Remington replaced brass, it was a problem at their end, not mine....Some of the necks were split, before ever seeing the press.

Larry, The chamber is a 6.5-270AI. I've had some split necks with fireformed .25-06 brass also.

This makes me wonder if the chamber is too large in the neck area? I'm getting a .005" difference between my fired and unfired brass. Is this too much?

E

sounds like a standard reamer and not a match reamer. I find that amount of difference in most factory rifles, so I would have to say it is not too large. I would however make a call and get new brass. if it does it again, then look elsewhere for the problem. Maybe try this,..you have like 3-4 peices of 270 brass laying around that are 1x fired rounds? if not, grab a few from the firing range that look to be new with NO sizing die marks on them so you are sure they are 1x fired. Then size them down and go run a fireforming test. If they come out fine,..it is most definitely your brass being too hard.