Federal .223 Case Failure....is this common?

[Crowcifier666]

I was shooting Federal .223 (from the red 100 pack) out of my Mini-14 the other day. Brand new box right off the shelf and I had 4 casing break right in half upon extraction. 1 round wound up feeding right into the top of the previous casing(3rd pic). Is this normal, something I should take up with Federal, or is it a waste of my time?

 

[HOOfan_1]

Not on new ammo. On ammo which has been reloaded pasts its limit that can happen..but usually lower on the case (case head separation).

From the looks of that brass...I wonder if your chamber is out of spec, or it was firing out of battery.

Could be bad brass too, but I would expect that to cause neck splits. I would contact Federal.

 

[Canuck-IL]

Try a half dozen Win and Remmy ... if same results, it's the gun. If not, mail them to Federal along with a couple of the cases that didn't split.
/Bryan

 

[mstreddy]

contact Federal. I've seen some failures on new brass, but it's typically neck splits. They probably messed up on the annealing, based on where those separated.

 

[Walkalong]

Get your rifle checked for headspace. It may be excessive. New brass should not do that in a properly machined chamber.


Read this thread as to why cases do that.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=734058

 

[br6ad]

headspace

I had a similar situation with one of my AR's. I fired factory federal .223 and it was fine. I reloaded that same ammo and I started having the same issues as you. It happened 3 times in about 30 rounds. I took my rifle to the local gun smith and he checked the headspace and he said the field gauge dropped right in. From what I've read is that this gauge should never be able to be chambered. If it does then the barrel is no good. I ended up getting a new Spikes barrel and all is perfect now.

 

[HOOfan_1]

You can chamber the field headspace gauge, but the bolt should not go into battery.

 

[briansmithwins]

Cases split like that are classic excess headspace.

BSW

 

[BruceB]

It may not be the rifle, too.

Federal .223 brass is well-known among competition shooters to be short lived. It is reputed to have less than HALF the life-span of other makes.

A couple of years ago, I bought 1000 "once-fired" Federal .223 cases from an on-line seller. The cases looked fine, as one would expect from "once-fired" brass.... few scratches or dings or other marks.

Even on my FIRST loading of this "once-fired" brass, I was getting case failures... shoulder splits and head separations, but mostly shoulder failures.

The rounds were being fired in FOUR different rifles, including one bolt-action and three semi-autos. Cases were failing in all four rifles, and the problem was not excessive headspace.

I ended up junking the entire thousand cases, with about 40% failures already having occurred. My rifles have demonstrated no further case failures when using other brands of bras... R-P, Winchester, Lake City.... all are working normally with long life-spans.

I will not buy Federal .223 brass ever again, and by preference will avoid Federal brass in other calibers as well. I will admit that I've had no such trouble with Federal cases in other calibers than .223, but still.....

 

[Crowcifier666]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I will be taking the rifle into the gunsmith to check headspace. Though, I have a feeling that isn't the problem, as I was just shooting it the week prior without issue. It all points to the ammo. Will have to run some other brands through it. I will have to contact Federal as well, though I doubt I will see anything come of it. Appreciate the help.

 

[rule303]

I would bet on it being an ammo problem. That is an unusual place for a case failure. Usually if excessive headspace is the culprit they will split closer to the bottom. Email Federal with those photos, I would bet they will send replacement ammo.

 

[Crowcifier666]

Just put an email into Federal. I'll post the outcome here for those interested.

 

[benzy2]

Honestly I'd guess it is a bit of both the gun and ammo. The gun may be on the large side of spec and the ammo on the small side and being known as weak brass. Either way, I'd have the rifle checked as well. It's simple to drop a couple gauges in the chamber and see what happens. Most shops that do gunsmith work should have them, especially in .223.

 

[illinoisburt]

The mini-14s are chambered for 5.56 so in theory they are a little more generous than 223. Having headspace checked is good idea but still would say its likely the ammo.

 

[jeeptim]

Had the zact same issue. My son bump firing a saiga in 223 the rifle would fire out of battery and split the brass in the same spot, and slam a new round in to the top of the split just like that.
Also head space mostly happens near the head of the case.