splits above case rim.

[Muddydogs]

I loaded some 223 rounds up about 10 years ago. I fell out of shooting for awhile and upon shooting these rounds the cases split as pictured. The rounds where shot out of a Ruger M77 223 heavy barrel. Head space is. 003 away from touching and bullets are at mag length which is short of chamber length. All measurements were taken with Hornady tools.

The rounds are 55 grain Hornady spire points coated with Miss Molly spray molly coating, Reloader 15 at 26 grains, CCI small rifle magnum primers and mixed years LC and win brass.

I pulled all these rounds, cleaned the miss molly with MEC cleaner and a tumble in corncob, reduced the powder charge to 24 grains, rechecked headspace and OAL and tested them. 2 out of 4 rounds split again. Brass was LC and differant years.

Any ideas, could it be the rifle?

 

[ReloaderFred]

The brass in your picture is Winchester. It appears to be a flaw in the brass that's causing the failures. I've seen older .223 split in the neck after a period of time, but not the way your brass failed.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Jim Watson]

I no longer have the ordnance chart but that is a very bad split, second only to one breaking out into the primer pocket.

I would try a FEW with different source brass. If those split, I would be in touch with Ruger or a good gunsmith. If they did not split, I would discard the old brass and start over.

 

[Muddydogs]

As stated in OP I have Win and LC brass with this split. The LC brass has 3 differant year stamps.

 

[Sport45]

What were the storage conditions? Maybe the powder has started to decompose and the fumes have made the brass brittle.

 

[Muddydogs]

For 5 years in the home, the last 5 years in the same home but in my attic shop that can get a little warm in the summer. Nothing to extreme. At the original 26 grains when I pulled the bullets the powder was packed tight and the case had to be tapped against sometjing to get the powder to flow out.

I am going to work up a load with civilian brass and W748 powder to rule out the rifle but I also don't want to trash 700 pieces of brass and over 3 pounds of powder.

I lost some loading records so I am not sure were I got the load data but I did find a couple load listings on the web with my combination at a max powder charge at 26.5 grains.

 

[Canuck-IL]

The load and the storage conditions sound fine ... has that particular gun shot a significant number of loads where you DIDN'T get the splits? Is the gun new to you?
/Bryan

 

[243winxb]

Its a brass problem.

Its a brass problem is my guess. Roll sized brass or maybe washed in ammonia or vineagar. http://www.photobucket.com/joe1944usa

 

[Muddydogs]

The load and the storage conditions sound fine ... has that particular gun shot a significant number of loads where you DIDN'T get the splits? Is the gun new to you?
/Bryan

Well I bought it used 10 or 12 years ago. Shot maybe 20 military FMJ, worked up this load were I shot maybe 20 rounds then life got in the way and I just started messing with it a couple months ago. I had to have sighted it in as I took it coyote hunting once or twice just after I purchased it.

Although the bullets can in 1000 count and there where only 750 left so I must have shot a couple hundred of the original load.

 

[mdi]

Have you tried shooting any factory ammo to rule out the rifle?

 

[rcmodel]

I'd say if the rifle isn't damaged, it is going to be if it keeps doing that.

You are bound to get high pressure gas into the action and blow the rifle up if you keep shooting them.

What you got there is VERY dangerous!!

rc

 

[gamestalker]

What RC said!

You couldn't get me to shoot even one more round through it before having it properly inspected. Cases don't commonly split in that fashion, and if I ever had one do that I would take it very serious. I'll bet it has a serious head space issue, maybe lugs or bolt face are set back, fractured chamber, won't know until it's been properly looked over.

Just a thought, but have you pulled any of the bullets to see if there is any obvious reason for the cases splitting like that, wrong powder charge, wrong powder, or powder had gone bad which could cause it to have an unpredictable burn rate. If you pull some and the powder smells acidic or like manure the issue may be bad powder. Just some things you can check out yourself. But even if you do discover the likely culprit I would still have it checked out in the event something got damaged by the adledged bad ammunition.

GS

 

[ReloaderFred]

Many years ago I had case splits just like you've encountered, but they were in .30-06 reloaded ammunition that Sears Roebuck used to sell. Like I said, this was many years ago. They were loaded in World War II brass, which was plentiful at the time, but still about 20 years old. I had purchased a box of 20 rounds, and three of them split just like yours did, at the base of the cartridge case, through the web. I was shooting these in my M1 Garand at the time, and that was the only ammunition I ever personally saw split like this. I chalked it up to brittle brass and moved on.

It will be a simple matter for your gunsmith to check the headspace with a No-Go gauge and confirm whether or not you have excess headspace, but generally excess headspace causes the case to separate just above the web, not crack through the web.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[YankeeFlyr]

Is modern brass subject to "season cracking"???

Yeah, those would scare the hell out of me if I saw that. Could headspace be far enough out to actually do that with one firing in brass? I mean, and have it look like that?v

 

[rcmodel]

I don't beleiive excess headspace could possibly cause that.

The result of excess headspace is a crack around the circumfrence of the case about 1/2" or more inside the chamber where the case web thins.

It is caused by case stretch.



In any event, the broken case still provides gas sealing in the chamber and stops leakage back into the action.

The OP's broken cases don't.

rc

 

[243winxb]

The high pressure found the weakest area in this thread. http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?59722-Case-exploded-today-!!! I saved 7 of the photos here. http://www.photobucket.com/joe1944usa Click photo for larger view.

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[Muddydogs]

My cases sure look like what 243winxb posted although not as severe.

Its not a headspace issue as I have to size the cases down extra for this rifle. It was a tight head space, can't remember the numbers right now. Might be 1.450 measured with a Hornady comparator. Cases sized to 1.447 I think.

 

[Bad Flynch]

I am inclined to believe that it is age-hardening of the brass. This brass may have been marginal to begin with; e.g., it may have been a little on the hard side, but OK then. After all those years aging, it is now too hard. It is also possible that there is something marking the case in that area that would make a mark sufficient to act as a stress-riser.

Ditch the stuff and crush it so that nobody else is tempted to use it.

 

[kingmt]

How do you clean your brass? Were you the first owner of this brass or did it come from a unknown source.

I have seen it before in other cartridges. I've even had it happen with 9mm. In the 9mm the cases were dug from the dirt & cleaned up. They split in the web & not up through the thin mouth. I assumed it was from the zinc bleeding out. Seems like I had 3 do that before stopping & pulling everything down. When I ran them through the sizing die again to remove the primers I had several more crack.

 

[YankeeFlyr]

Yeah, RC, you're right about the headspace (appreciate the pic).

Still, maybe a chem exposure problem? Something that leached out Zn from the alloy?

Edited: Like kingmt said.