I had a case head separation occur several months ago even though I routinely look for signs of excessive pressure on each case during each reloading. The cases in question had been reloaded 5-6 times. After the case head separation occurred in the one case, I looked much closer at the remaining fired cases and noticed a very slight subtle change at the location where the case head separation had occurred on the case that separated. Please see the pic below; the arrow shows a slight line on the remaining cases (this is where the separate occurred in the case that separated), indicating to me it was time to discard these remaining fired cases and load new ones. Both the old and new cases are shown in the pic so you can compare and see the slight change in the fired cases; the slight line shown goes only partly around the barrel of the case. I have to hand-rotate each fired case to see the slight line (arrow) under a lamp. I thought this info may be helpful to you.

Forum Boss: Guys, Read this article:
bulletin.accurateshooter.com

No you do NOT have to cut away the case, but this shows how a paper clip can detect a fault. Repeat, the case is cut ONLY for demo purposes.


Forum Boss: Guys, Read this article:
Incipient Case-Head Separation — How to Detect the Problem « Daily Bulletin
We are re-publishing this article at the request of Forum members who found the information very valuable. If you haven’t read this Safety Tip before, take a moment to learn how you can inspect your fired brass to determine if there may be a potential for case separation. A case separation can...

No you do NOT have to cut away the case, but this shows how a paper clip can detect a fault. Repeat, the case is cut ONLY for demo purposes.

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