Case failures near the case head (vertical crack)

[jepp2]

Just curious if anyone else has ever seen a similar failure? This is only the second time I have experienced it.

First time was on some Once Fired 22-250 brass I bought and didn't know the history on. Dismissed it and moved on.

Second time was on brass I bought new and was on the 2'nd firing in the same rifle as the first. Mild load, brass always stored properly (away from any ammonia) etc. This time it was in my 222 Rem.

First failures:


Second occurrence

 

[centerlineseal]

WOW! Wish I had a knowledgeable comment.

 

[piie]

WTH??? Is that split bending INWARDS???

 

[dellet]

I have seen that before with Bertram Brass pretty often. Much of what they sell is considered "basic brass" and is not annealed the same as finished or fully sized. If the brass is annealed a bit farther than down than normal, the problem is solved.

It also has shown up in chambers that are a bit large in diameter. The left two cases on the first occurrence and the case in the second look like the portion of the case just above the web, is a larger diameter than the web itself. That's another reason for failure and would be worth some careful measuring or casting the chamber.

Combine the brittle brass with an oversized chamber/undersized web on the brass and you can expect a 50% failure rate, even in a low pressure load.

Sucks when the brass $3-4 a round

 

[gambleone]

maybe cerrosafe the chamber.

 

[jepp2]

I have seen that before with Bertram Brass pretty often.

This particular brass (second occurrence) is W-W Super which I purchased in 2009.

The questions regarding the chamber, let me add some info that might be useful. The rifle is a Remington 40XBR from the custom shop in the early 1970's. It has had many thousands of rounds fired through it. And while there might be a chamber issue the fact this is the only failure of this type ever experienced from it.

Due to my month long colony varmint hunt each year and at least weekly trips to the range regardless of the month or temperature, there have been years I fired in excess of 12,000 center-fire rifle rounds. Probably always in excess of 8,000 every year. So some of the issues I encounter (primer failures at the rounded corner being just one) I attribute to just more potential due to the opportunity.

 

[BoydAllen]

While this does not give you the full content, the summary may tell you something important.

Ammonia and Mercury Stress-cracking Tests for Brass

Brass is liable to failure under the combined influence of stress, certain corrosion media, and time, a phenomenon commonly termed season cracking or stress-corrosion cracking. The consequences of this are serious in applications of brass generally, inclu

www.astm.org

Never store ammo or brass in the same container or cabinet with any product that contains ammonia. Gasses can get by liquid tight caps. Plastics can "breathe" a bit.

 

[dellet]

I only mentioned the Brass manufacturer because it's a well known issue with them. Incompletely annealed brass.

I might be wrong, but the case looks swollen above the web. It doesn't matter if its a bad chamber, or a bad piece of brass, the result will be the same, but knowing which is a pretty good idea,

Since it only seems to be happening with W-W brass, it seems more suspect. But tolerance stacking could be at play.

I would add that I have thrown enough WCC 556 brass away because the rim is too small for the shell holder to grab, that I don't trust anything to be in spec.

 

[Toolbreaker]

Did you clean the rifle just prior to firing those? I've had that type of failure once. It was a combination of a generous factory chamber, factory box ammo which was on the warm side for the rifle and a wet chamber from me just cleaning the barrel and not checking the chamber to make sure it was completely dry. Split the case lengthways from the web up about 3/8"".

 

[acloco]

Can you slice the brass above the flash burn and post pictures?

Almost looks like a burr in the chamber is causing this.

 

[mike mccormick]

I have seen this a few times over the years. Normally found the brass to be thin in the failure area.

 

[59FLH]

Put a field gauge in your chamber and report back.

Assuming the brass was new or once fired when you started working it.

My guesses are:

1. You FL size after every firing
2. The rifles X dimension is at or over SAAMI max.

Remington had a habit of using ALL the tolerance when head spacing chambers, add a thou or two of bolt face set-back due to wear and pressure and you will get lots of stretch in your cases.

That's my guess. If the brass was not new then someone else stretched it.

 

[0.1 Aggregate]

59, read post #6, this was a custom rifle with many thousands if rounds through it. I’ve seen this a number of times over the past 50 years, usually due to faulty brass. Not just made poorly, but also how it’s treated by the reloader. certain chemicals can weaken the brass, or make a microscopic stressed area open up under pressure and vent the gas into the chamber. It’s clearly not a gun problem, excess headspace would cause a circumferential crack, not a longitudinal one.



.

 

[jepp2]

Did you clean the rifle just prior to firing those?

This round was about the 22 round fired. I always dry the chamber with a patch and oversize jag to make sure any cleaning solvents are removed.

Put a field gauge in your chamber and report back.

Don't have a 222 Rem field gauge. But I am very particular with my brass sizing. I size 0.001" less than bolt contact length (case head to datum) and have compared my rifle chamber with SAAMI specs. I know the chamber is on the short side of the specs. (and when I say 0.001" less, I don't mean from the fired length. I know that can be several thousandths shorter than the headspace. I mean from the length you just begin to feel the stripped bolt close on the brass).

 

[59FLH]

0.1A, that's a good point now that you mention it. I did not pay attention to the orientation of the splits. Your most likely right. Head separation splits from stretch usually are radially. But something sure made it look thin enough to burn through to me.

 

[59FLH]

This round was about the 22 round fired. I always dry the chamber with a patch and oversize jag to make sure any cleaning solvents are removed.


Don't have a 222 Rem field gauge. But I am very particular with my brass sizing. I size 0.001" less than bolt contact length (case head to datum) and have compared my rifle chamber with SAAMI specs. I know the chamber is on the short side of the specs. (and when I say 0.001" less, I don't mean from the fired length. I know that can be several thousandths shorter than the headspace. I mean from the length you just begin to feel the stripped bolt close on the brass).

It was just a guess, I hope you find a solution.

 

[JohnKielly]

I have seen cracks with the burn appearance like that on the shoulder of surplus military .303 ammunition with the original load. Other rounds in the batch split at the neck with the brass appearing "crystallised". We attributed that to age, but of course, yours is much newer.

I have seen surplus military 7.62 NATO ammunition with folds at the shoulder, though I chose not to fire those.

Somewhere I have photos of a Winchester manufactured .308 case that separated at the head level with the primer pocket bottom. That appeared to have been manufactured with 2 punchings or a piece of stray brass introduced during the drawing process.

 

[243winxb]

Brass issue - forming & annealing. It happens. https://discover.dtic.mil/

Nato 5.56- one annealing was skipped. Ok in our M16, but had case head separating in other country firearms.. 1 more annealing fixed it.

The extra annealing heats the case body to around 400 F degrees. This stress relieves the brass, stopping separations.

But your brass fail is different. In 5.56/223 remanufacture ammo, your crack type is said to come from "Roll Sizing". The web area is sized.

Your high round count, is going to find more defects then the average shooter.

So, your factory formed brass was not annealed or formed correctly? My guess.

 

[Rsadams]

I would say faulty brass and contact Winchester... I doubt it will help especially since the brass was purchased in 2009.... I would definitely stop shooting any of it...

 

[Twicepop]

Bad brass, Winchester has had some severe quality issues over the years with brass and primers. To the previous post (Rsadams), I'd take that to the bank Winchester won't do anything about it. I had a large number of .45 ACP brass all stamped WINCHESTER, WIN or WCC that all had flash holes so large that there was barely enough material in the bottom of the primer pocket to seat a primer on. I contacted Winchester to see if they would stand behind their product and replace the bad brass with good. The rep I spoke with said that I needed to contact the vendor about replacing that brass. I told him they only sold it, you made a sub-quality product and put it on the market, aren't you going to stand behind the product you made. His reply was "is there anything else I can do for you", I told anything else would imply you had done something in the first place, are you going to replace my brass, that again was met with total silence.