Once loaded unfired brass necks cracked?

[Coyotefurharvester]

I had been inspired by this site to up my game. I have built a new bench, restructured my storage and organizing. During the cleanup and rebuilding I found about 60 rds of 17 rem cartridges. According to my notes these were loaded in spring of 1999, most were unfired. I had purchased 100 new brass and 1 box of 100 bullets. Shot some working up a Starling/crow load, loaded up them all with the best load. This was the unshot portion. Since that barrel is long gone, I started pulling(kinetic) bullets. Only took one blow to unseat, wondering I looked closely at the still intact, all have a straight full length of the neck crack. Is this a common occurrence, 21 year old unfired brass? Or is a particular brand of bullets the cause?

 

[Twicepop]

What brand of brass is it?

 

[Bill K]

That was 21 year old factory brass ? Or was it some, someone necked down to make 17 Remington cases out of ? Could be they did not anneal before loading/sizing, back then.

 

[Ralph Littlefield]

If this is never fired brass, it definitely is not normal/common. Is it possible that your notes are incomplete and the brass has been fired several times?

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Remington brass, Hornady 20 gr vmax, imr4320. The loaded cartridges in the box I believe to be the remaining unfired after load work. Boxes had the original load work up notes on it, about 35 were shot testing then all loaded. Not a huge deal to recycle some brass. All have the same straight crack, very fine and hard to see. I hadn't messed with my 17's from about 2003-2016. Man time flies as you get older.

 

[Webster]

I had been inspired by this site to up my game. I have built a new bench, restructured my storage and organizing. During the cleanup and rebuilding I found about 60 rds of 17 rem cartridges. According to my notes these were loaded in spring of 1999, most were unfired. I had purchased 100 new brass and 1 box of 100 bullets. Shot some working up a Starling/crow load, loaded up them all with the best load. This was the unshot portion. Since that barrel is long gone, I started pulling(kinetic) bullets. Only took one blow to unseat, wondering I looked closely at the still intact, all have a straight full length of the neck crack. Is this a common occurrence, 21 year old unfired brass? Or is a particular brand of bullets the cause?

Is not worth determining the cause. Throw them out. You said you no longer have the barrel so why would you keep them.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I did check the fit in both my M700(Lilja,custom chamber) and Shilen barreled AR and measured the cartridges with the comparator. The brass would have been fine in both. Obviously cracked neck brass are all scrap. Probably the only reason to not worry why, 60 years old, may not be shooting in 20 more years.

 

[243winxb]

Some possible reasons.

1.Bad factory annealing.
2. Dies that over work the brass necks.
3. Cleaning solvent made brass brittle.
4. Powder started to go bad.
5. Google- Stress corrosion cracking of cartridge brass.

Over the years i had brass fail, mostly in the neck area. Some 94 of 100, PMC 5.56 brass necks failed on the first reload of the factory fired brass.

Federal 223 brass from 1997
Brass fired as new ammo. Reloaded and stored since 1997. Nothing new, happened before with brass washed in a vinegar solution. But this brass was not washed, just wiped and loaded.The cause seems to be over working of the case neck when FL sizing. Loaded in 1997 IMR4198-20.5grs Win 55 gr fmjbt. Photo on the left.



The 223/5.56 brass comes with a donut . Others cartridges may also. The over works the brass, making it brittle.
If i neck turn the 223 brass & use my RCBS standard dies, i dont get cracked necks.

On my 243 win, a FL bushing die has gotten rid of almost 100% of cracks. The Win & Rem brass as been loaded 22 & 24 time, no annealing, a few will be lost to cracks.

 

[Steve Ladino]

Seen it with Winchester 20 year old new brass, loaded. .223 I think it was. not neck turned just bad brass we figured.

 

[JSH]

Bad anneal even from the factory. I had some 17 fireball crack about the same way.

I anneal my 17’s now.

 

[dkhunt14]

Sometimes before pulling bullets, it best to seat them a hair deeper to break the bond. It might of not helped if it came from sitting. Matt

 

[jepp2]

Is this a common occurrence, 21 year old unfired brass?

In the late 80's I loaded up a bunch of loads in new factory brass, most of it Remington. Had a few of what you describe. My Dad had formed some 223 brass into 222 without annealing. That was also loaded. Probably 50% of those had the cracks you describe. Hard thick necks, lots of neck tension, and time.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

The first few I seated a couple thousandth, made no difference, all bullets were unseated with 1 medium strike. That's when I started looking close, realized necks are cracked. Checked cartridges that I had not even removed from box, those necks were cracked. I started annealing 4-5 years ago. As I clean and reorganize, I may have to get a grip n pull, so I can anneal brass from no longer used ammo.