Hornady brass Base seperation

[strut64]

I don't often load for a 7 mm Rem Mag. But 4 or 5 years ago I bought a package or 50 Hornady brass because that is what the local LGS guy had. I have always used moderate loads. 67/68 gr of 7977 with 150 gr bullets. Today I noticed a bad incipient case head seperation on a round at the range. I started looking at all of my brass and found three more with incipient failure. Luckily, it did not completely seperate and extracted OK. This is on about 40 of the original 50 that I have used for load developement. And with 2 different rifle barrels on a savage 110. That is 10% failure rate on brass with maybe 4 or 5 reloads. I am afraid to load and shoot any more. I have sent a notice in to Hornady. Unfortunately, I lost the receipt and pakaging over the years.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Hornady brass has never been associated with quality and having a case that headspaces off the belt they give very generous clearance up front and they stretch very bad from the belt to the shoulder

 

[Murray Brook]

Maybe you should check the adjustment of your dies. Sounds as if you may be still head spacing off the belt and not the shoulder. If this is the case then head seperations will certainly occur.

 

[Eddie Harren]

"Maybe you should check the adjustment of your dies. Sounds as if you may be still head spacing off the belt and not the shoulder. If this is the case then head seperations will certainly occur."

This!

Remember, there is "a rat" in separation.

 

[ireload2]

Belted magnum chambers are often much longer than the loaded ammo. If you keep pushing the shoulder back every brand of brass will separate. This was happening long before Hornady started peddling brass.

 

[strut64]

I also used both Win and RP brass and never had a separation
in the past.

 

[K22]

I have no experience loading belted magnums so perhaps your bad experience with Hornady brass is due to something other than the brass.

I've been using Hornady brass for about a year now, 223 Rem, and have had no problems whatsoever with it. Have loaded about 12 times. The initial quality of the brass was much better than Winchester in that I only found one defective case in four 50 piece bags. The only issue I had was the brass was slightly over size in two bags which was corrected easily by FL sizing which I do anyway with all new brass.

I have detected no difference in accuracy capability (i.e. 1/2 moa in my better varmint rifles) between reloads with Remington / Winchester brass versus Hornady.

 

[ireload2]

Those rounds might be longer to the shoulder.
In .303 Brit rifles for example I have separated every brand of brass tried sooner or later.
But it might be associated with your current cases. Make sure you are not pushing the shoulder back and your brass will probably last longer.

I also used both Win and RP brass and never had a separation
in the past.

 

[jepp2]

I also used both Win and RP brass and never had a separation
in the past.

And for each of the three, what is the case head to datum length after sizing and after firing? I am willing to bet if you check all the rounds with the bent paper clip, your failure rate is going to be much higher than the 10%

 

[basshusker]

I have had issues with Hornady brass and no replies from their engineers. I showed them that the 6.5 Creedmoor brass from both 2 types of hornady ammo and a 50 count box were over 5 thou shorter than saami minimum. This was creating heavy bolt lift with factory ammo and flat primers. Not sure why they would do that. Never saw it on other cartridges using their brass. Thank goodness there are other options. Forgot to mention 2.7g spread on the 50 ct box of brass.

 

[243winxb]

with 2 different rifle barrels on a savage 110.

I also used both Win and RP brass and never had a separation
in the past.

I would not use the same brass in both barrels. The chambers may be very different. Each barrel should have there own brass. Unless barrels were cut with the same reamer, with same chamber headspace.

Do partial fl sizing , only bumping the shoulder back .002" Use a comprator .

But it could be a bad batch of brass??