I’m on my third reloading of my 470 brass. After cleaning, lubing and resizing the brass I have noticed a wrinkle / line about .270 above the bottom of the case. Some of them I can feel others are just lines. It looks like it is at the resizing line?
Are the cases still safe to use? I went back and read a few old postings and read the comment; “over working the brass”. Are we not resizing the cases? And if we aren’t what are we doing?
What is the best brass out there these days?
Thanks, John

John:

I bought a box of Hornaday DGX bullets, shot them and have now loaded them three times. The look new and the primer pockets are still nice and tight. I would have to say that the Hornaday brass is really good stuff.

John,

What brand are they? If Norma they may only last a couple of rounds. I have Bell brass and I'm on my 9th or 10th loading with no issue.

I have been using Norma brass which I thought was the best. However, I have been having the same problem with a ring mark just above the head after about three reloadings. In fact twice I have had the heads completely come off. Believe me it is not easy to get the rest of the case out but after trying several ways I finally found a way that works. I spoke with several people and some feel this is caused by too much resizing. They feel you should only neck size.

I've got a bunch of norma Brass that is on its 7'th,8'th , 10'th? (i've lost track but its a bunch)
This is the brass from Norma's older woodleigh loads that came in the 20 paks. I notice the bright ring around the outside and have sectioned a few of the brass and can see no visible signs of head separation.

They are probably ready to be annealed but I haven't bothered yet.

I think the marks on the outside of my brass are simply the die marks.

IF YOU ARE AT ALL DOUBTFULL SECTION A CASE OR TWO> ITS CHEAP INSURANCE TO MAKE SURE YOU DON"T HAVE A CASE SEPARATE UPON FIRING.

quote:

Originally posted by notlim:
I've got a bunch of norma Brass that is on its 7'th,8'th , 10'th? (i've lost track but its a bunch)
This is the brass from Norma's older woodleigh loads that came in the 20 paks. I notice the bright ring around the outside and have sectioned a few of the brass and can see no visible signs of head separation.

They are probably ready to be annealed but I haven't bothered yet.

I think the marks on the outside of my brass are simply the die marks.

IF YOU ARE AT ALL DOUBTFULL SECTION A CASE OR TWO> ITS CHEAP INSURANCE TO MAKE SURE YOU DON"T HAVE A CASE SEPARATE UPON FIRING.

How is annealing going to help in this case with the "line" only .270 forward of the head ?

Annealing doesn't / shouldn't extend this far down the case.


If your gun can take the cases, Try NECK resizing only, cases last a lot longer this way.

I have had a few PM sent… here my answers.

I'm using RCBS dies. The standard that I use with all my resizing/de-priming dies is to put the shell holder all the to the top and tighten 1/8 of a turn more. The brass I’m using is Norma and Jamison. It looks like both cases are having problems after the third reloading. The max load I have used is 89grains of RL-15. Most of the cases were loaded with 88 grains. The cases have been shot out to different Heym’s… I don’t think that would cause any problem. Chris from Heym posted a comment “Over working the brass”. Is he not resizing the case?
What dies will allow you to only neck resize?
Thanks John

John, "neck sizing" isn't really appropriate in a rifle like this. You simply don't have the leverage of a bolt gun to chamber the round if it's a little tight.

It sounds like you're pushing the shoulder back too far when you resize, and the case is stretching under fire... you push it back in resizing... and it stretches out again.

Assuming I'm shooting the cartridges in only one rifle, I size down to the shoulder and just bump it back a bit. This will minimize how much the shoulder moves forward under firing, and - in turn - minimize how much the brass is stretched under firing, aka: "working" the brass.

To do that, you'll have to screw your die out a turn or so and start sizing a fired piece of brass. One with a little tarnish on it works best, because you're watching to see how far down the neck (towards the shoulder) the die is making contact. Turn the die down slowly and continue resizing the same piece until you get to the point that the die is just touching the shoulder.

Next, I resize several pieces and make sure that they all fit in the chamber (with the barrels off and on.) You may have to go a little further down to get exactly what you want, but you will find that by not pushing the case all the way into the die (and moving the shoulder back to minimum specs) that you will work the brass less, and it should last longer.

Here is a piece of Jamison brass that has been reloaded 8 times (I sectioned it.) It shows no signs of weakness in the web area, but it has been moved into the category of "plinking" loads now.

Hello Chris,
I sent you a PM. Thanks, John

Chris,
Thank you so much for all your help! You are a true gentleman and an asset to our DRSS Society. I have added an additional tithing account for my next Heym.
John

Thanks, John. I'm glad to help.

I've been hrough this. I had a separation three days before leaving on an ele hunt. Panic. Here's a trick for extracting the case from the chamber. Knowing this may save you from some panic.

Shove a 20ga bronze brush into the case from the breech. This will push all the brush fibers backwards. Then use a cleanimg rod from the muzzle to push the brush and case out.

I had a very hard time getting the brass out when the heads came off my .470 Norma Brass twice just before I left for Zim for Ele in 2007. This was after only 3 or 4 reloads. Of course I only used new brass for the hunt. I first tried several other ways to get the brass out with out sucess

The trick I discovered was to take a four inch length of half inch wooden dowel rod, drill a small shallow hole in the center and start to partly split the dowel with a chisel. Push it into the brass from the breach. Then take a three foot piece of 3/16" steel rod and from the muzzle carefully slide it down and into the hole in the dowel. Gently tap the steel rod with a hammer and the dowel will split further, grab the brass from the inside and pull it out. This worked great with no damage to the rifle. Just to be safe I took the rod and some dowels to Zim but never had and problems.

I quit Norma brass ages ago. Throwing it away after two rounds got kinda expensive. All of the head separations I've had with DRs came out easily at the range with the tip of a pocket knife.
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"Seriouis rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."