cracked case necks?

[Shadow9mm]

So do neck cracks happen during loading? I always head of it happening during firing and being a bad thing....

9mm luger, R-P case, once fired as best as I can tell. the head stamp is crisp and clean.


Loaded 500 of FMJ earlier in the day with the same setup on my newer progressive. Casing resized prior to loading. hand primed.
1 empty
2 lyman m-die expander, just enough to get the .355 in...
3 powder
4 hornady seat
5 Lee carbide factory crimp....

Has run about 100 when I found this one. Check the other 99. No issues.

never had this happen during loading before... Time to call it a night and see if I can figure out what happened tomorrow so I can get started again... Don't want this to become a habit.

[bamaranger]

We had a thread running not long ago regards some Rem .44 mag brass with which I was having issues. Turns out that Rem pistol brass has had issues over the years,.....some members even cull it from their brass assortment.

[NoSecondBest]

Having one case crack just isn’t a big deal. Once in a while one will crack out of a perfectly good lot of brass. When they make brass they have a lot of property characteristics that they try to control: grain size, hardness, alloy make-up. There is some variation in lot-to-lot. You don’t have a problem until you get a significant percentage cracking. Over expanding the case mouth can contribute to this sometimes. Just toss it and forget about it.

[Bayou]

Splits happen to all of us.

[Shadow9mm]

Just odd, been loading on an off for 12-13yrs, first one. Guess I just got lucky. Makes me glad I bought the case gauge/ammo checker. Its hard to inspect every casing coming off my new progressive. gives me a 2nd chance to handle them, and this one stuck way out of the gauge.

[Bayou]

If you insert the projectiles on a single state press, the dead give-away of a split neck is lack of resistance on projectile insertion. If you feel the projectile going in a bit too easy, that is a signal to check the neck for splits.

Note however, you may not feel a lack of resistance if the split is small and just beginning.

Good luck!

Bayou

[recoil junky]

My 44 mag brass is a mix of RP, WW, Federal and Starline, I don't see the RP splitting any more than the other three and when any of it does, it's from "Ruger Only" loads.



RJ

[ChasHam]

Been reloading handgun cartridges-- including lots of range-pickups-- for 45 years and never seen a neck split like that.

The few splits I've encountered are generally short and always run straight/parallel with the length of the case-- never long and off at on a diagonal like the pictured one.

[stagpanther]

Judging from the dent on the mouth--my guess is the bullet went into the die cockeyed on the case mouth, and was forced concentric splitting the case as the die straightened the bullet partially within the case.

[USSR]

Shadow,

By the looks of that split with it running somewhat horizontal, it looks like some bad brass from the factory, and not anything that you did.

Don

[Shadow9mm]

Originally Posted by stagpanther

Judging from the dent on the mouth--my guess is the bullet went into the die cockeyed on the case mouth, and was forced concentric splitting the case as the die straightened the bullet partially within the case.

Not likely, using the Lyman m-die, which flares the mouth and down into the casing to it inserts straight. Also the Hornady dies have the bullet alignment sleeve to straighten things up before seating.

I had issues with my cast lead bullets not going in straight previously, and changed things up a touch to make sure they were being put in straight.

[44 AMP]

That is not the typical case mouth crack resulting from multiple firing/sizing working of the case. I am inclined to put it down to a defective case.

The lack of "feel" is one of the reasons I abandoned progressive presses years ago. USUALLY if a case cracks during the loading cycle its in the expander die. Though I have had some that apparently happened during roll crimping.

As noted, on a single stage press you can FEEL the difference, plus you handle and visually check each and every case multiple times. This is something you lose with a progressive press. When a bullet seats "too easy" or tips, or something else goes wrong, you can't feel it on a progressive press because of the other things also happening at the same time.

I am curious about the dark stripe on the case in your picture. At first I thought it was a trick of the light, shadow, and reflection, but then I noticed the crack going through it so is it just a trick of the light or is it something else??

[Shadow9mm]

Originally Posted by 44 AMP

That is not the typical case mouth crack resulting from multiple firing/sizing working of the case. I am inclined to put it down to a defective case.

The lack of "feel" is one of the reasons I abandoned progressive presses years ago. USUALLY if a case cracks during the loading cycle its in the expander die. Though I have had some that apparently happened during roll crimping.

As noted, on a single stage press you can FEEL the difference, plus you handle and visually check each and every case multiple times. This is something you lose with a progressive press. When a bullet seats "too easy" or tips, or something else goes wrong, you can't feel it on a progressive press because of the other things also happening at the same time.

I am curious about the dark stripe on the case in your picture. At first I thought it was a trick of the light, shadow, and reflection, but then I noticed the crack going through it so is it just a trick of the light or is it something else??

i think the stripe is just the reflection of my phone in the casing.... looks normal and shiny in person.

[RC20]

I would be looking at is the flare good and micrometer reading on the bullet.

I did have 45 Rem brass in Auto Rim that was pretty darned thin, only RP I have is GS and its nickle case.

[jpx2rk]

I've had split necks in 17HMR ammo but never a CF round when fired. I've had a couple split necks when seating the bullets, which I'm glad it happened then rather than when it was fired.

[Longshot4]

If the case is too short compared with the rest of the run. The flare could be
light. If the case isn't properly chamfered the bullet could also snag on
mouth. the sensitivity of seating on the single stage could alert you to the issue. You have a lot of good suggestion's to help you out from all of the previous Threads. Also inspection should be number one.

[reddog81]

That’s definitely an odd looking split. Probably something to do with a defective piece of brass.

I’ve had splits show up after loading. Maybe the split was a tiny crack prior to loading but I’m not sure. I had one lot of 160 pieces of 9x21 brass that had one split at 13 reloads, 2 split at 14 reloads and then no more until 22+ reloads. I almost tossed it all after 14 reloads but figured I’d see what happens.

[Unclenick]

The edge of the mouth where the crack starts does appear to have more material displaced than the width of the crack would account for. That suggests it was dropped or dented by something. But if the missing brass disappeared during the splitting process, that, taken with the fact the split is diagonal, says "defect".

[Marco Califo]

on a single state press,

Which state is that? California, Mass.?
What happens if you use it in a different state?

[scatterbrain]

Recently I was in the process of loading some NEW Winchester brass 300 Mag ammo for a friend and was having trouble getting the tolerance which I like. I annealed some of the cases and resized them to see if they would react better. What I found in some of the brass was a crack, just from sizing, that appears just as your case looks. Inspecting it with a punch I found that the brass was in two layers and they could be separated.
Have you pulled the bullet?

[Marco Califo]

Scatter, what brand of brass was that?
OIC Winchester.

[Shadow9mm]

Originally Posted by scatterbrain

Recently I was in the process of loading some NEW Winchester brass 300 Mag ammo for a friend and was having trouble getting the tolerance which I like. I annealed some of the cases and resized them to see if they would react better. What I found in some of the brass was a crack, just from sizing, that appears just as your case looks. Inspecting it with a punch I found that the brass was in two layers and they could be separated.
Have you pulled the bullet?

not yet. will be next week some time before I can get back to the bench to pull it.

[stagpanther]

Recently I was in the process of loading some NEW Winchester brass 300 Mag ammo for a friend and was having trouble getting the tolerance which I like. I annealed some of the cases and resized them to see if they would react better. What I found in some of the brass was a crack, just from sizing, that appears just as your case looks. Inspecting it with a punch I found that the brass was in two layers and they could be separated.
Have you pulled the bullet?

I use lots of Winnie brass--not because I like but because it was some of the only stuff I could find. My Winnie 44 mag cases seem to last forever--but in some bottleneck cartridges the cases can be suspect. In particular, the turning (or whatever it is they do when they make them) often has vertical chatter in the ID of the case neck, so I generally will run them through the sizer a couple of times (just enough to get the expander past the shoulder) even when brand new to smooth that down. I end up sometimes having to work the necks in the same way I would if I were necking down from a bigger caliber.

[scatterbrain]

I'm not bad mouthing Winchester's brass, just reporting what I encountered. This was new unloaded brass that was purchased when you were lucky to get anything. I have had no other trouble with Winchester and I use it a lot.
At that time I purchased a couple of boxes of loaded PMC in 300 Win Mag just to get the brass, and to my delight I am still using the brass. Probably 7 times recycled, but I do anneal it every time.
The split Winchester brass appeared to have sheared into two layers in the neck when sized down to the .308 size. I could pick it apart into two layers, and the first noticed crack looked just like the above photo, hence the comments.

[stagpanther]

Most of the bigger Winnie brass I get in bottleneck cartridges usually needs at least some neck work. A necessary evil to having otherwise unobtainable brass.