30-06 neck splitting

J

Jasun

New member
I was sighting in my fathers Remington 700 30-06 today and realize that every piece of brass that went through it had the neck cracked on one or both sides. They are re-loads that he had someone do many years ago. According to the label on each box it was 54 grains of 4350 with 180 grain Sierra SP. I Chronoed it at 2568 ft./s. According to my manuals one says the starting grain should be 54 max 58 the other says starting rain should be 52 max 57.5 and according to both manuals The velocity matches what they have.

So now to the meat of my question.... why would every single case have a cracked neck?

 
We're the cracks visible only after firing? May sound like a dumb question.

The reason I ask is because when my brass is on its last load, it often shows a hole or small crack in the neck after its final firing. In my .338 LM using lapua brass that is 7-9 loads, in my .270 win using rem nickel brass it is 5-6 loads, etc.

So it could be because the brass has been fired many times already, or it could just be old and brittle, or some combination of the two.....oh and I guess it could just be a brittle alloy brass variant that has a very short case life no longer in use today.

So I would just shoot it and recycle the brass, the times my brass cracks from reloading stress doesn't make an appreciable "minute of white tail" difference. If it was intended for a match however I wouldn't use it.
 
Neck splitting is almost always showing the need to anneal the brass.

It cracks because it is brittle.
 
They are re-loads that he had someone do many years ago.
Click to expand...

Another question: "How many firings can a reloader expect from a case with an unknown history and age?" The answer could be once.

And then there is the difference in philosophies among reloaders. My philosophy as in 'what I think' about the number of firings a case has left in it is answered before I go to the range. I have no reservation about testing cases for brittle necks. I form cases, I form 30/06 cases to 35 Whelen; not really, I neck 30/06 cases up to 338/06 and 35 Whelen cases. If a reloader wants to know if the necks are brittle all they have to do is neck the case up to 35 Whelen. There is nothing like necking up a new 30/06 case to 35 Whelen. The best a reloader can expect if from a new case, after that it is down hill.

And then there are nickel new 30/06 cases, when necking nickeled 30/06 cases to 35 Whelen I expect 50% failure with new and or once fired cases.

And then there is the decision a reloader has to make when forming 30/06 cases to shorter cases.

F. Guffey
 
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Do we know the headstamp?

It may have been old and/or used brass "many years ago" and been on its last legs then.
Or it might be "season cracking" from long time neck tension over the bullets.

Any road, it came with a lifetime guarantee. And its lifetime is over.
 
"...one says the starting grain should..." That's typical of all manuals. Different components, powder lot, bullet, barrel length, hot and sunny vs cold and wet, all affect the results. Data in manuals are averages too. All of 'em are safe though.
Anyway, pop's cases are work hardened like Dufus says. You need to pull 'em and reload 'em into new brass.
 
That is a mild load, assuming it is loaded accurately. With the velocity you recorded it probably is, that is about what I'd expect. I load 57 gr of H4350 with 180gr Nosler or Hornadys and get 2790-2800 fps with no issues. It would be a safe bet to say that the brass has just been re-loaded one time too many.
 
More accurately it was not annealed 5 or 10 reloads ago!

Live and learn, no one was talking about it when I was doing it 35 years ago, not its required past about 5 to keep that from happening.
 
My experience, and reading, points to multiple reloads in that brass, and due to extreme temperatures upon firing the brass eventually gets brittle and cracks. I toss them since the bullet seating will be more loose to whatever degree and accuracy will suffer (depending on the degree of need you have for accuracy). I tend to demand accuracy even with target shooting so I know I am the only variable on a bad day.

You may also see loose primer pockets upon re-priming. Same problem- expanded due to multiple reloads.

Another thing to look for is a thin bright line at the base (the web) of the case. Firing it, you may see it get more circumferential. Eventually the case will split or even break apart at that point with successive firing. If that happens you'll eject the base of the case, leaving the remainder in the chamber. You can stay at the range if you have a cleaning rod to knock the case out. I would toss those cases - or use them for dummies -when you see the thin bright line.
 
You might also consider the rifle chamber to be suspect.
Every single brass is a warning flag for either the ammo or chamber.
I believe I would check both...
 
I would pull some, anneal them, reload them and then try them out. If they don't split then it's probably from the brass becoming work hardend from being reloaded.

Pull the rest and anneal them also and keep an eye on them as you shoot them. After that anneal them every 3-5 firings to keep them from splitting.
 
Let me offer a failure mode that the shooting community does not want to believe: old gunpowder.

Most shooters believe that ammunition, and gunpowder, is immortal. They expect to live forever and they expect their hoard of ammunition to last forever. Unfortunately, both they and their ammunition will eventually break down to a low energy state.

Gunpowder is breaking down the day it leaves the factory. Gunpowder is a high energy but unstable molecule and following Newton’s laws, it is breaking down to reach its lowest energy state. In the process, gunpowder releases NOx, some of which converts to nitric acid gas when it encounters a water molecule. Nitric acid gas attacks brass and causes cracks in brass. Case necks are the thinnest part of the cartridge so often the case neck cracks first.

Old gunpowder is dangerous to store, if you see fumes get the stuff out of the house because it is only a matter of time till it autocombusts!. Normal expectations are that double based powders have a shelf life of 20 years and single based 45 years, but the stuff can go any time before that. Lots of IMR 4007 were being recalled in 2015, the oldest could not have been more than eight years old, and these lots were being recalled because they were autocombusting!





Before I found out that gunpowder has a shelf life, I bought old gunpowder thinking it was a bargain, because, I believed that gunpowder lasts forever and this errant belief was reinforced by Gunwriters. Idiot Gunwriters reinforce this belief, either because they are shills who do not want to discourage shooters from buying old ammunition, or because they are not that expert in the topics they write about. Before I got educated on the topic, I purchased kegs of surplus powder from Pat’s Reloading at Camp Perry and have since then, have poured out about three quarters of it because of pressure and brass cracking problems I have encountered since then.



Loaded Nov 2002 fired Jan 2015 in a Garand. Here is the case neck:





223 loaded ten years previous with Pat’s surplus AA2520. Lots of cracked case necks and body splits from NOx outgassing from the old gunpowder.


Someone pulled from bullets from these 1950 to 1960’s rounds and found this corrosion inside:






Unless you are experiencing pressure problems, I would shoot the stuff up and trash the brass. If you do experience any sticky extraction, blown or pierced primers, I would immediately discontinue shooting the ammunition. I would then pull the bullets and trash the cases and powder.
 
Scrub it, shoot a box of 180 grain factory loads through it and compare the brass to those from the old reloads. That should tell the story.
 
Another Theory

I have seen that with older ammo that was cleaned with a little Brasso in the cleaning media. I threw out about 150 rounds of 20+ year old .243 that had been prepped that way about 8 years ago.
 
I went through the same thing with my .25-06 after not shooting it for 10 years. I'm not sure if brass gets brittle after sitting or if it's the powder that was mentioned above. In my case it was IMR4350 that it was loaded with.

You'll probably find that new brass will end the problem, it did for me.
 
Scrub it, shoot a box of 180 grain factory loads through it and compare the brass to those from the old reloads. That should tell the story.
Click to expand...

Sarge, I would suggest the shooter check the powder, I have found a lot of old ammo with caked powder. Problem, powder can cake on the bullet end of the case and it can cake on the primer end.

F. Guffey
 
I have seen that with older ammo that was cleaned with a little Brasso in the cleaning media. I threw out about 150 rounds of 20+ year old .243 that had been prepped that way about 8 years ago.
Click to expand...

Me too; reloaders have become infatuated with cleaning cases with some kind of acid, one uses lime shine and another uses a cocktail of chemicals etc. etc. I started by cleaning the worst of cases in an acid that was very unforgiving, that stuff ate the cases in the length of time it took to answer the door or answer the phone and then there were those times I lost time because I 'was busy'.

I changed to vinegar, time wise it was more forgiving, I used vinegar on the worst of cases for a maximum of 15 minutes for the life of the case. And then the part no one reads: I do not recommend a reloader load ammo years ahead of shooting. I personally do not care what takes place when cases are not cleaned of residue from cleaning, I do know there is something that goes on between the case, bullet and powder that acts like electrolysis because of dissimilar metals.

Again, one more time; when I use an acid to clean the worst of cases I rinse the cases in boiling water twice' and I know drying cases seems to lock up most reloaders, not me. The residual head absorbed from the boiling water dries the case.

I know, I could size and load the cases after rinsing, I tumble the cases, one more time, I do not put/mix anything cute in my tumbling media but tumbling media; no special receipt, no ice cubes:eek:, nothing. Again, I do not load ahead. I was asked to load 500 rounds for a friend, he died. I gave the loaded ammo to my son and two grandsons. He called to inform me I gave them 140 rounds that did not fit any of their rifles. And now I am waiting for him to decide what trigger assemble he wants on the rifle that fits the 140 ammo.

F. Guffey
 
I went through the same thing with my .25-06 after not shooting it for 10 years. I'm not sure if brass gets brittle after sitting or if it's the powder that was mentioned above. In my case it was IMR4350 that it was loaded with
Click to expand...

Joed, There is one thing a reloader will not do; a reloader will not test ammo for sealed necks and primers. If caked powder is not caused by unsealed necks and primers the powder would cake in the center of the case. When loading reloaders use tension, when most reloaders get into tension they get timid. Not me; I want all the bullet hold I can get, how long the neck will hold the bullet? I do not know, will my bullet hold crack the neck of the case before I get around to shooting it? I do not know. What I do know loading for long time storage could be a bad habit.

Again, my friend that died gave me all of his loaded ammo, most of it was loaded in '71 and '72. 80% would have fired with no caked powder or cases that took on the appearance of disappearing. The good stuff had a good powder smell, the rest of it had little no smell. I did not save the powder, I did not save the primers, he had close to 700 rounds of 257 Weatherby, 7mm Remington Mag. and 300 Win. Mags.

F. Guffey
 
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