Complacency - Any Ideas?

[K22]

I consider myself a fairly disciplined reloader meaning following all the safety protocols. Part of my routine is to inspect cases for defects before reloading them. Over the years I've become a little complacent just giving them a quick look for any splits in the neck or to a lesser extent, the shoulder, which is the typical defect I've encountered over 50 years of reloading and almost always after at least 10 - 12 reloads.

Well today was a first! I happened to notice a ring around a 223 Rem case just above the case head. The case had been shot only out of my Rem bolt rifle which I've had for years. Only had 10 reloads on the case, I typically get about 17 to 18 before I retire them in this rifle.

At first, I thought it was just friction mark, so I used some 0000-steel wool to polish it. The mark remained. I've never in 50 years of reloading had an incipient case head separation but I guess there is a first time for everything. So, I did the "paper clip" check and sure enough, I could feel the surface change inside the case at exactly this location. To be sure, I sectioned the case and behold my first incipient case head separation!! I carefully inspected the other 59 cases dedicated to this rifle and found no others with this condition.

I do carefully control my FL sizing measuring should set back with a bump gauge and caliper, so I don't have clue why this occurred. I only use virgin cases dedicated to specific rifle. The cases are Remington, 10 reloads, .001 to .002 shoulder set back.

I'm puzzled since I've probably loaded well in excess of 20,000 rifle cases and never had this happen. Any ideas?

PS: The paper clip test does work. I will in the future more closely inspect cases.

 

[RegionRat]

I would not feel bad about it, after all, you detected it before it became an issue.

By now you have probably checked the rest of the batch with the same history.

The thing to keep in mind about material science and brass, is that topics like modulus, yield strength, fatigue, and many others, are not crisp single values. Those things have averages and standard deviations like many other things in nature. Some batches are better than others.

We have specs and standards that are supposed to screen for the right properties, but even then we sample check and things escape. We use brass in reloading, but there isn't really much consideration for reloading or how many times it should cycle. If it works once, most would say it met specifications and the rest of the cycles are just icing on the cake.

It may have been a defect (or what we call an escape), or it could have been plain old dispersion statistics. You did a good job of keeping up the discipline to catch it, so I wouldn't agonize over it too much. Brass is magical in the way it seems to suit our needs for cartridges, but like all man made materials it is subject to statistics.

 

[K22]

I would not feel bad about it, after all, you detected it before it became an issue.

By now you have probably checked the rest of the batch with the same history.

The thing to keep in mind about material science and brass, is that topics like modulus, yield strength, fatigue, and many others, are not crisp single values. Those things have averages and standard deviations like many other things in nature. Some batches are better than others.

We have specs and standards that are supposed to screen for the right properties, but even then we sample check and things escape. We use brass in reloading, but there isn't really much consideration for reloading or how many times it should cycle. If it works once, most would say it met specifications and the rest of the cycles are just icing on the cake.

It may have been a defect (or what we call an escape), or it could have been plain old dispersion statistics. You did a good job of keeping up the discipline to catch it, so I wouldn't agonize over it too much. Brass is magical in the way it seems to suit our needs for cartridges, but like all man made materials it is subject to statistics.

Yea I had the same thought - maybe an outlier case. As I said, I check the other 59 cases, same history, no defects. But the incident caused me to refocus and not get complacent with inspections.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

You got your moneys worth out of them so keep an eye on em and keep on moving

 

[JMayo]

As much as i handle them i am aware of anything i can feel.
I rarely get out the magnifying glass and paper clip.
But I do have them at my bench!
Knock on wood I've not had any problems at the bench.

I've learned when a case mouth comes off and stays in the chamber I know how to get it out rather quickly.
I've also seen primers that poped and lodged into fp assembly. That's a pita !

 

[dgeesaman]

How many times did you trim that batch of brass, and how much metal were you removing?

Actual numbers don’t matter much I’m just saying that case head separation seems to be a function of brass stretch and flow. I think the amount of trimming might serve to indicate the end of useful case life.