Neck splitting while reloading

[Ross308]

Need a little advice here I guess. Been working with some brand new Win. .222 brass and 40 grn. Hornadys. Noticed when done fireing a dozen or so rounds that the necks were split on all of them. Probably should have caught it sooner but there was nothing obvious going on that I could detect while shooting. Checked out the rest of the ones I had loaded up and there were hair line cracks in just about all of them. I've heard of brittle brass that needs annealing but this is the first time I've had this problem. Do you think annealing would take care of this problem? Need some expert input. Thanks.
Dan R.

 

[Witchhunter]

Annealing should help, but I would measure your bullet diameter and your neck diameter just to see what is going on. Sized and fired neck diameter too.

 

[Peterbilt2007]

I'm no expert on annealing but I believe it's to soften the shoulder not so much the necks. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Lapua40X]

I'm no expert on annealing but I believe it's to soften the shoulder not so much the necks. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Annealing conditions both the neck and shoulder.
http://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/annealing/

 

[fredhorace77]

im wondering if u have a burr or debris inside of the neck area of the chamber or the die. i once had a little piece of bristle from a bronze brush stuck in the chamber that caused a similar problem

 

[22BRGUY]

I would check the actual amount of expansion/contraction the case necks are being put through during the entire process of firing, resizing and reloading and try to possibly reduce this amount where I could. First as mentioned, I would measure the outside diameter of a fired case neck. Next, I would remove any decapping rod with expander ball in the resizing die and just resize one case and case neck without pulling any expander button back through the neck, and then measure that case neck diameter compared to the fired case neck diameter. Anything I could do to reduce this amount would be helpful....perhaps going to bushing type dies without expander balls would help or using a Lee collet die instead to size the necks and use a .222 body die to size the body/bump the shoulder. Also would measure the case neck wall thickness with a ball micrometer. Sometimes if case neck walls are very thick, they could be more prone to cracking/splitting and neck turning them down might help. Annealing should also help. On my .222 with Lapua or Norma brass, it's nothing to get at least 15 reloadings out of them and can't remember ever having a cracked or split neck. Best Wishes.

 

[bigedp51]

Been working with some brand new Win. .222 brass and 40 grn. Hornadys. Noticed when done fireing a dozen or so rounds that the necks were split on all of them.
Dan R.

Are you saying the brass split after the first firing?

If not how many times was this "new" brass reloaded and out of what make rifle?

And what make dies are you using, 22BRGUY gave you some good advice on measuring your case necks you should follow.

It just seems a little strange that "new" brass would have split necks, so I also wonder if the brass was defective from the start.

 

[Ross308]

22BR&bigedp,
I re-read my post and agree that it's a little murky. The thing is this is new unfired brass that I'm using. The obvious split necks showed up after the first fireing. And most of the fired brass were split in a way that I should have caught as soon as they were ejected. That bad. I have 12 rds. left and 9 of them have hair-line cracks in the neck. I'm sure they will be more than hair-line after being fired. The rifle is an old Savage 112J single shot in real good condition and has never had a problem like this. But when I ask for advice on this web I always check it out. Otherwise why bother. I'll give it a shot and let you know what I find. Thanks a lot.
Dan R.

 

[jlow]

This is very unusual as it sounds like your brass is having hair line cracks even before they are fired the first time. What exactly is your reloading procedure at least in terms of the brass handling? Normally new brass from the factory would have been annealed.

 

[Ross308]

jlo,
you're right about the factory annealing. 'Couple of web sights I checked pointed that out. The only procedure I use with this particular rifle is full length size, prime and bevel the neck. I do turn the necks on other calibers but not the .222. And the brass is pretty hard to find right now. Thanks for the input.
Dan R.

 

[Ruddy]

I had several pieces of brand new 243 brass split when seating the bullets all brand new Winchester too. I caught it after the third one and stopped, everything checked out with the with the bullet dia, neck dia etc. I ran a couple of pieces through the sizing die and they split needless to say I was pissed. I called Winchester up and they said to send them back and they replaced them. So new brass can be defective.

 

[Catfur]

Sounds like defective brass from the factory, nothing you can do about that but request replacements.

 

[jlow]

YYes, probably defective brass, maybe not properly annealed... Call manufacturer.