224 Valkyrie brass

R

reynolds357

New member
I bought a bunch of Federal 224 Valkyrie Ammo because it was dirt cheap. Shot it up. Reloaded it one time. Next time I reloaded it, I had 25% case neck splits. I assume it needs annealing. Has Federal brass become this sorry? I must admit all I use if available is Norma or Lapua.
 
U

Unclenick

Staff
It seems to be too soft some of the time an not other times. No idea why the inconsistency. I seen complaints of belted magnums having their primers fall out after firing Federal's factory load. But yes, in general, case neck splits are a sign of need for annealing. Shouldn't happen that soon. I would call Federal and make sure there's not an issue with it. Another option is to buy the brass new and unloaded from Starline. They have that chambering now. I've always had good luck with their brass.
 
R

RC20

New member
Technically that would be the perfect processing, does its job and then fails if used again!

Brass clearly is overdone when we can use it off the shelf for reloading and get 10 or more firings out of it without annealing.

On the other hand, that is a really interesting result you go and will be interested to see what you dig up.

FC is off my list of brass to even anneal, I will shoot it 5x for mil surp and then throw away. I always find more of it!
 
U

Unclenick

Staff
RC20 said:
Brass clearly is overdone when we can use it off the shelf for reloading and get 10 or more firings out of it without annealing.
Click to expand...

Interestingly, the 2013 Second Edition (current) Norma manual says that as part of their QC process they regularly pull sample cases from production to test how many times they can reload it. If it doesn't go 10 times, they stop the line and find out what the problem is.
 
E

ed308

New member
Split necks is usually the reason for failure with Federal brass. I use a lot of their Lake City brass. Just toss when it splits. It's cheap to buy so no worries.
 
E

ed308

New member
I'm using Starline brass for my .224 Valk. Stagpanther has mentioned Hornady Valkyrie brass will allow higher case capacity than compared to Starline brass.
 
U

Unclenick

Staff
I've noticed that in several chamberings Hornady has taken over from Winchester when it comes to providing the lightest cases.
 
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