This will ruin a firing range day

[Wendyj]

After 10 years or more of reloading I got my first case separation. Used 47 grains of H4350 which Hodgdon said max was 50. Round before it was perfect and no signs of pressure. Thought I was on the way to the gunsmith but a 40 cal brush pushed in and brought it out. Pierced primer pocket. Nosler brass twice fired. Luck of the draw I guess.

Was working up loads for a 7-08 and 140 accubonds. Glad I found it before I got here.

 

[Shadow9mm]

Arent case head separations normally closer to the base?

 

[zeke]

Glad you're alright, maybe check how far the shoulders are being setback?

 

[akinswi]

Arent case head separations normally closer to the base?

Yes, Do you necksize or full length size? I have never seen a case look like that after firing, I have only seen that in a collet die where the collet didnt release the case neck and I pulled the case apart looked exactly like this. Something isnt right

Was it extremely hard to open the bolt?

 

[Wendyj]

I use a Hornady comparator and set shoulders back 2 thousandths. I necksized several years back but didn’t like the chambering. I’m hoping just a bad piece of brass. I’m really careful with powder charges and weigh each one on 2 seperate scales every five rounds. Use check weights on my scales.
No harm to me and Thank you. I shot and went to extract and bolt was bad sticky. Brought out a 44 case instead of a 7-08. I’m thinking of tossing all this Nosler brass and using what Norma and Lake City I have. What do you think?

 

[603Country]

I had no problems with Nosler brass in 223, 260, and 308, but in the 223 and 260 that got fired and reloaded a bunch, I thought the primer pockets got loose a bit too soon. But, that was a couple of years ago. Maybe the brass is different now. Mostly, these days, I use Lapua and Norma. I have some LC and Hornady that I’ll use eventually.

Back in the 80’s when I shot my 220 Swift a bunch (and wore out a barrel), all I had available then was Norma brass. I was new to reloading and nobody had ever said what the max number of reloads you should do. So I just kept on using the same cases, and I used them a bunch - guessing at 20 reloads or more. Never annealed them either. Didn’t know that was a thing. That was some tough brass, though 220 Swift brass is supposed to be real tough brass anyway. So…I like Norma brass, but Lapua is cheaper. My take these days on Nosler brass is that it’s expensive and very well made (and sorted), but has a short use life. I could be wrong. Maybe the newer stuff is tougher.

 

[44 AMP]

Arent case head separations normally closer to the base?

Case head separations are just above the solid head of the case. Always. That's what makes them a head separation.

Anywhere else and they are just case separations, the OP called it correctly.

I have seen brass separate that way before, but its ultra rare in civilian firearms using modern ammunition. Rare, not impossible.

I put a single instance down to defective brass. IF it were due to reloading practices and case/rifle fit it would show up (eventually) on other cases and eventually the entire lot. (and it is normally head separation when that happens, due to case stretch thinning the case)

It's possible it was bad anneal leaving the case too brittle to stand multiple firing cycles and it happened to fail across the case body because of that. I can't say for sure, but that might be possible. Again, it would be an uber rare event.

Back in the 70s when I was there, the machine gunner's "support kit" included a broken shell extractor. But machine guns are a slightly different situation...

Still, getting one and having it in your toolkit "just in case" doesn't cost much or take up much space. It's one of those special tools you'll probably never need, but if you do, having one can save you work and possibly $.

As the OP found out, an oversize brush often works, BUT you can't, and shouldn't count on it.

A tap (or a screw) of just the right size can also work. BUT, you need to be VERY CAREFUL seleciting a tap of exactly the right size and NO LARGER. You need to choose one large enough to get a good "bite" into the brass, but not so wide it will cut through the brass and cut into the chamber steel, that would be a BAD thing.

When a case breaks in half in the rifle chamber (like yours did) the front part is stuck, but its usually not stuck HARD the way a case stuck in a resizing die is. SO an oversize brush, or anything with a hook the right size will usually pull the broken front part out.

USUALLY...

 

[NH15-45]

I check all my rifle brass inside with a paper clip. Bend the end 90 degrees and slide it up and down inside. Any area that might separate is easily felt

 

[ed308]

WendyJ, was the case separation in your Tikka 6.5 CM?

 

[zeke]

Sounds like a bad case. For H4350 am weighing every single thrown charge on the same scale once. H4350 can slightly "stick" in my powder measure. But may have misinterpreted what ya wrote. The only time i don't weigh every single rifle charge is with W748 ball powder. Am guessing other powder measures may operate better than mine with H4350.

 

[Wendyj]

Ed the separation was in my Tikka T3x lite in 7-08

 

[Wendyj]

Thanks Zeke. I’m a little Leary of the brass but I cleaned it good in the Fart. Going to try paper clip in it to check. I plan on loading these with the charge master with Imr 4350. Mid level load had a good ep and 5 shot sub moa group. Going to try a few loads in tenths on either side. Then a few more closer to the lands.
By the way this brass hasn’t been annealed yet.

 

[zeke]

you're welcome

 

[Nathan]

I would check the rest of my brass.

 

[Wendyj]

Nathan, Any other way to check than with a paper clip. Measurements i shoul look for on case body and necks?? As mentioned I am resiziing full length with RCBS die and bumping shoulers 2-3 thousandths. After running everything through the Frankford ss pin tumbler they all look ok visually.

 

[NH15-45]

Wendyj
Sometimes stretched brass will leave a slightly different colored line around where it might separate. This can only be seen before cleaning and it is only an indication. I check all my rifle brass inside with a paper clip. You'd be surprised by how fast you can go through a lot of cases in little time.

 

[stagpanther]

Looks roughly analogous to annealing border--might be pure coincidence. I know lots of people like em--but I don't consider nosler or hornady brass top-quality. I like their bullets, though.

 

[hounddawg]

I have had a few of those, mostly on .204 Rugers using Hornady brass. It's been a while but I attributed it to me setting the shoulder too far back when sizing and then they stretched the brass too much on firing.

Other than paperclip method, I suppose you could try sticking a Teslong bore scope in them.

 

[Wendyj]

Stepanther, not a fan of the Nosler brass myself. Unfortunately I had to buy 5 boxes of Nosler 120 ballistic tips loaded from ammo seek just to get brass. Although the 120s from the factory are 3/4 moa and would be great on deer here I wanted the accubonds for heavier game. Only brass I had left was some Remington which had seen it’s better day. I went through each piece with a paper clip and found no issues I could feel. Will see what happens next go around. I’m about mid tier using imr4350 vs h4350 on these. Comparator still showing shoulders only 2/1000 back. Hopefully just a bad piece of brass. As soon as I can find some I will order. I couldn’t find factory ammo for it for over a year.

 

[Unclenick]

Used 47 grains of H4350 which Hodgdon said max was 50…
…Was working up loads for a 7-08 and 140 accubonds.

Hodgdon says 47 grains to start and 50 grains max for a 139 grain Hornady soft point. The Hornady bullet is a flat-base bullet that is 0.133" shorter than the Accubond and it has a significantly thinner jacket, which means the Accubond's start pressure would be higher. GRT software suggests the differences would produce about 126.5% higher pressure with the Accubond. So where the Hornady bullet would start at 47 grains, the Accubond would start at 43.8 grains (assuming the same COL).

You also might consider sectioning the case to have a look at what happened. My expectation is you will find the same thinning stretching that normally occurs nearer to the case head instead occurred way up there. Because brass is thinner there than at the case head, it couldn't withstand very many cycles of it, especially not at maximum pressure.

A defect in the case is a likely culprit as to why it stretched where it did. Faulty annealing could also play a role in why it stretched where it did. Oil or lube on a case can allow most of the case to slip back against the breech, succeeding in sticking only the softer annealed shoulder to the chamber, which might also make it stretch up that high. That's just something else to be aware of (not saying you did it).