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Posted: 4/27/2010 4:51:31 PM EDT
Okay to reload one more time?
Only kidding. This brass has been reloaded twice by me. It is from a batch of "Once fired" brass I was given. Load was 24 grains of AA2230, Wolf Primer, Hornady 55 grain Sp. But I'm not sure this was a brass failure or weapon related. After this shot the next case became stuck in the chamber and the extractor ripped the rim off. I haven't had a chance to hammer that case out or really inspect the rifle, but something may be up with that chamber. UPDATE: So I just got the rifle home and knocked out the stuck brass with my cleaning rod. Notice the amount of carbon on the brass. How could a chamber with less than 200 rounds have that much carbon, and could that have caused one case to split and another to rip the rim off? 
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Shouldn't be a problem. A little scotch tape, a little superglue, some solder........bada bing....bada BOOM!
I would consider pulling a couple bullets from your reloads just to make sure there wasn't an accidental double charge? Not sure with that load and that case - is it possible to double charge and still be able to seat the bullet? Definitely check the chamber as well, I'm just throwing some more out there. |
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Load up some 380 with that used brass..should shoot fine.  Sounds like a plan 
Only 10 rounds where left in the batch and I fired them from my other rifle. My rifle was very dirty from firing Wolf and they didn't stick. You couldn't get a double charge in on of these cases. Over charge, yes. But not double. I'm NOT saying this wasn't a reloading problem, but I need to take a good look at that rifle before moving forward. |
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About twenty rounds before this he had a short stroke where the bolt crushed the fresh round.
Then this happened. But only this case split. The following round stuck in the chamber. It's a Lake City 09 head stamp. I only picked up a few other cases and I will try to inspect them tonight. |
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Your load is fine, not a max load. What is the headstamp of that brass? That brass is worn out, pull the bullets and scrap the rest of the cases in that batch. I agree. This LC09 was mixed with my known LC05 brass. I have already started tossing all the LC08-09 in the scrap bucket. But I do check my cases carefully and didn't notice anything odd about these. I guess I missed it. I will still inspect the chamber in the rifle very carefully. It's a new build with only 250 or so rounds through it. And I did check headspace when I assembled it. |
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Head space comes to mind. Isn't this type of failure common for incorrect head spacing or bumping the shoulder to far back in resizing? I won't write off any possibility at this point. But I have had these dies set up like this for a few thousand rounds and check my cases in a Lyman case gauge often. Not all, but many of them, after resizing and after reloading. |
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Hmmm., maybe use the old paper clip feeler gauge trick on a couple pieces of that brass to check. Maybe not once-fired but once-fired from whoever you got it from....just sayin,stay safe ETA: is that the normal location for case head seperation? I'ne never had it happen but it seems a little farther towards the neck compared to the pics I've seen here...got me curious |
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to much pressure/powder will cause it to split like that. anyone else think he might have to much head space,or his dies are bumping the shoulder back to much(or something like that)? I kind of doubt it was too much powder. Checked the other cases I picked up and didn't see any signs of over pressure or eminent case failure. I shot the remaining 10 cases from my other rifle without issue. Just rechecked the headspace with my field gauge and it was fine. But when I inserted a dummy case I have, the bolt was very difficult to pull back. This was after an intense cleaning session of the chamber. It's like the chamber is very tight. I guess the shoulder set back could be an issue. What would be the best way to check that? But why would that happen with just this rifle? I've fired all 1600+ rounds of these reloads (just with these cases) through various rifles without issue. And I love that avatar. |
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to much pressure/powder will cause it to split like that. anyone else think he might have to much head space,or his dies are bumping the shoulder back to much(or something like that)? I kind of doubt it was too much powder. Checked the other cases I picked up and didn't see any signs of over pressure or eminent case failure. I shot the remaining 10 cases from my other rifle without issue. Just rechecked the headspace with my field gauge and it was fine. But when I inserted a dummy case I have, the bolt was very difficult to pull back. This was after an intense cleaning session of the chamber. It's like the chamber is very tight. I guess the shoulder set back could be an issue. What would be the best way to check that? But why would that happen with just this rifle? I've fired all 1600+ rounds of these reloads (just with these cases) through various rifles without issue. And I love that avatar. Different chamber dimensions. might be tighter than your others |
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to much pressure/powder will cause it to split like that. anyone else think he might have to much head space,or his dies are bumping the shoulder back to much(or something like that)? I kind of doubt it was too much powder. Checked the other cases I picked up and didn't see any signs of over pressure or eminent case failure. I shot the remaining 10 cases from my other rifle without issue. Just rechecked the headspace with my field gauge and it was fine. But when I inserted a dummy case I have, the bolt was very difficult to pull back. This was after an intense cleaning session of the chamber. It's like the chamber is very tight. I guess the shoulder set back could be an issue. What would be the best way to check that? But why would that happen with just this rifle? I've fired all 1600+ rounds of these reloads (just with these cases) through various rifles without issue. And I love that avatar. Different chamber dimensions. might be tighter than your others I agree this chamber seems very tight. Getting ready to pull the barrel off the upper. I have two of these, I'll have to check the other. I sent an email top the manufacturer, if they don't or won't try to make it right. I think I'm going to just toss the barrel out. |
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Just chambered a prepped case painted black with a sharpie. Two deep scratches on the neck when it chambers. Again, very hard to extract. might need to size it down even more, with different dies maybe Or take it to a gunsmith and see if they can polish it or something to help. maybe try the rounds in another AR, and see if your dies might be wore out Might also messure your cases and see if they are over max length. It could be causing them to stick (random ideas) You can toss the barrel to me, if you go that route 
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Just chambered a prepped case painted black with a sharpie. Two deep scratches on the neck when it chambers. Again, very hard to extract. might need to size it down even more, with different dies maybe Or take it to a gunsmith and see if they can polish it or something to help. You can toss the barrel to me, if you go that route The only rifles I load special for is my target rifle. All my other rifles must shoot my general use plinker load (so far all of them have). I won't start changing too many things, or have a special load for just this rifle. I have too many AR's to start doing that. This was just a low budget build for my father in law to use when he went to the range. He's left handed and always wants to mess with my sights or optics to zero for him. This was to just make my life easier, and it's not doing that. |
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Okay to reload one more time? http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/GarandBoy/BrassTop.jpg http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/GarandBoy/Brassside.jpg Only kidding. This brass has been reloaded twice by me. It is from a batch of "Once fired" brass I was given. Load was 24 grains of AA2230, Wolf Primer, Hornady 55 grain Sp. But I'm not sure this was a brass failure or weapon related. After this shot the next case became stuck in the chamber and the extractor ripped the rim off. I haven't had a chance to hammer that case out or really inspect the rifle, but something may be up with that chamber. UPDATE: So I just got the rifle home and knocked out the stuck brass with my cleaning rod. Notice the amount of carbon on the brass. How could a chamber with less than 200 rounds have that much carbon, and could that have caused one case to split and another to rip the rim off? http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/GarandBoy/Brass2.jpg It might be a trick of the lighting, but in your second pic there looks like there might be some dangerous case head expansion, bordering on separation. |
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My guess is the chamber is to tight, the brass wants to expand but cant. If the loads work in all of your other rifles, i wouldnt think its the dies.
I had the same thing happen in a thompson center, i loaded the rounds to hot. After i shot the pistol opened/ broke down on its own and when i looked at the case there was a nice ring around the case about where yours split. Im gessing when your AR went to extract, it just ripped it apart were the brass had thinned. Probably would have happend to me if mine was an auto |
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Not a big deal, of the many thousands of 223 I've reloaded I've had the same thing happen 2-3 times. I think the cause could be a couple of different things, either defective brass or 'once fired' brass that wasn't really once fired. Just get a broken shell remover from Brownells or some other source and keep it with the rifle. http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=23311/Product/BROKEN_SHELL_EXTRACTOR |
| Just checked the same piece of brass in the other barrel with the same bolt. The other barrel was bought at the same time from the same manufacturer and has the same profile. The brass fits much better and is easier to extract. Still a little tight but no where near the other barrel. |
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The cause of the case head separation may have originated in the gun the brass was originally fired in. Agreed. I have tossed the other 08-09 head stamp brass I was given into the scrap bucket. Mainly since I can not confirm it's history. Just not worth it to me. ETA: Spoke to the barrel manufacturer and they said the "It could be that the throat is short which would not show up using a headspace gauge. If you like, you can send it to us and we can measure it to see if its short." |
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It looks like the brass you bought was originally fired in an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon with long headspace. This would produce a slightly long case with wall stretching and thinning where you indicate your cases have separated.
This was a problem shooting once-fired M60 and M240 brass reloads thorugh M14/M1A rifles. |
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