Another cracked shoulder thread

[V509]

I have been following the thread on cracked shoulders hoping someone would help me find my issue.

I kind of hesitate because I know there are a lot of people who are not fans of the WSSM

This rifle is a heavy barrel browning that shoots excellent. But every other or one out of three rounds crack the neck. Basically I have stopped shooting this rifle because of losing almost half of the brass I fire. I took the rifle to an old time gunsmith who cleaned the barrel and found nothing wrong with the chamber, I am guessing he just used visual.

 

[V509]

I want to add that in the picture is factory ammo, brass I have a kneeled, and brass that has been fired two or three times. The rifle used to behave just fine before it started cracking necks. I do have plenty of varmint rifles so when this started happening I simply put it to the back of the safe and use others but I would like to figure this one out and continue using it

 

[GLShooter]

I've cracked a few 25 WSSM cases. That brass is thick I think it just hates to be worked.

Greg

 

[Darwin]

That’s just a bad run of Winchester brass. From the last 100 I bought 20% did that in the first two firings. What’s left shoots fine.

 

[Steve morgan]

I've cracked a few 25 WSSM cases. That brass is thick I think it just hates to be worked.

Greg

I have wssm rifles, the brass is thick when they neck it down it wrinkles in the shoulder.you don't see this because the forming dies flatten this out. Cracks appear when it burns thru on a wrinkle. I sectioned some this is what I found.

 

[GLShooter]

I bought all my 500 pieces back in 07. The problem just be endemic.

 

[mikecr]

I dip anneal to mid body with WSSM cases before fireforming.
No problems, but then I don't do very many. Have never needed to replace a WSSM case.

 

[1shot]

Anneal after the 1st firing should solve your problem.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd

 

[V509]

My annealer is an older Ken Light, seems to do a good job on all other calibers. Annealing does not seem to help my wssm
This is something new to this rifle

 

[fkimble@charter.net]

Couple questions; what is OD of factory or other loaded round? What is OD of a fired round? what is OD of a resized round? SInce it can happen on firing of factory round I realize it's not a reloading problem. Is it one brand specific or multiple brands?

Frank

 

[ebb]

I think to prove the problem you would need to do a chamber cast or find some way to make sure the chamber is not oversized. If the chamber is OK then brass must be the problem. Has anybody made premium brass for the WSM case? I looked at Peterson, Alpha , and ADG and i didn't see any WSM cases, one of them makes Remington short action ultra mag brass. Can the Remington be fire formed to the WSM chamber? Winchester used to be my favorite domestic brass, and the old stuff still works good for me but the new stuff not so much.

 

[timeout]

Just has the earmarks of a bad or wrong chamber. I say this only because of experiencing a few cracked shoulders when fire forming Dasher brass. I could be way off base. As has already been stated, a chamber cast would show any problems there.

 

[Creedmoor02]

I think to prove the problem you would need to do a chamber cast or find some way to make sure the chamber is not oversized. If the chamber is OK then brass must be the problem. Has anybody made premium brass for the WSM case? I looked at Peterson, Alpha , and ADG and i didn't see any WSM cases, one of them makes Remington short action ultra mag brass. Can the Remington be fire formed to the WSM chamber? Winchester used to be my favorite domestic brass, and the old stuff still works good for me but the new stuff not so much.

He has a wssm not wsm… but I agree with the chamber cast.

 

[V509]

I have not shot this rifle a bunch. A few hundred rounds at the most. Northwest Ohio woodchucks. On a bad day two maybe three shots before it sets for a while

Although I have not heard of it before I guess a chamber could go bad overtime? This rifle used to shoot flawlessly

 

[ebb]

I don't think the chamber went bad over time. I think the brass having been shot and reloaded a few times finally succumbed to being over worked. I think that a cast would tell you if the chamber is within specs or not and would be a clear indication where to look next.

 

[shoot4fun]

@GLShooter hit the nail on the head. The WSM/WSSM brass (and even Hornady 6.5PRC) brass is very thick and I found it to require being in the flame much Lon get than I was initially comfortable with.
Hornady 6.5PRC brass was cracking in the neck after two firings for me until I started annealing before each firing.

 

[Webster]

I have been following the thread on cracked shoulders hoping someone would help me find my issue.

I kind of hesitate because I know there are a lot of people who are not fans of the WSSM

This rifle is a heavy barrel browning that shoots excellent. But every other or one out of three rounds crack the neck. Basically I have stopped shooting this rifle because of losing almost half of the brass I fire. I took the rifle to an old time gunsmith who cleaned the barrel and found nothing wrong with the chamber, I am guessing he just used visual.

Try a different brand. I would anneal before the first firing just to make sure the brass isn't too hard. Military cartridges are formed undersize to make sure they cycle in semi-auto's and machine guns. I think all military chambers are large. They don't crack on 1 firing. Write the manufacturer, they have to be familiar with the problem. They might say the cases were never meant to be reloaded many times. I was watching artillery being fired in the Ukraine on YouTube and I noticed the artillery cases were almost 2 foot long and extruded from brass. Straight wall no failures. If the Browning reamers are within spec. then the chamber should be in spec. I wouldn't buy more than 50-100 cases at a time since you don't know how good they are. Reloaded 6mm Rem factory cases for many years, no annealing, never had a cracked shoulder. A few cracked necks. For the last 11 years I have shot nothing but Lapua cases, never had a case failure.

 

[3Sigma]

I have not shot this rifle a bunch. A few hundred rounds at the most...

This rifle used to shoot flawlessly

So, only a couple hundred rounds, shot well those times, but now it doesn't. Correct?

How many firings on the brass, and is it the original lot?

Occam's razor says brass... it is a known issue with the WSSM, and it will wear out.

The wrinkle comments above make sense. Anyone who has formed metal knows it won't flow evenly if allowed. Inside dimensional variances and possible grain boundaries for fracture make sense on stuff this extreme.

 

[V509]

I did purchase the rifle used and shooting it easily less than 75 rounds the first year and probably less than 40 or less rounds the following couple years. Of course in the meantime I had bought other varmint rifles and this got thrown into the back of the safe. Setting for several years now it does not want to behave. Like I said I had an old school gunsmith look at it he cleaned bathe barrel and said visually it looks fine
The reason I dug it out of the safe if you years ago was that I purchased a factory browning set trigger for it which I thought is super cool on a varmint rifle
After it started cracking neck and shoulder is when I purchased the factory ammo which is the chrome plated.
Soy beans are popping out of the ground in my neighborhood and I am getting a few varmint rifles ready

 

[mikecr]

I want to add that in the picture is factory ammo, brass I have a kneeled, and brass that has been fired two or three times.

So is ALL the brass from factory ammo?
What brand factory, and otherwise?