Discovering Cracks on 2nd inspection . . .?

[Prof Young]

Loaders:
I inspect my brass twice. Once when I first unprime it and a second time when the load is finished up. More that once I've found a crack on the second inspection. So am I a sloppy first inspector (Don't think so but . . . ) or does the loading process reveal the crack? Does this happen to you? Talk to me.

Life is good.
Prof Young

 

[30Cal]

Mine usually start to kick over to cracking from none to 20% or so on the next firing. But never on 2nd firing unless the brass is bad. I take the closest look after sizing/depriming.

What caliber?


I had a batch of 25-20 that was cracking on the first and second firing. The remainder was cured by annealing.

 

[condor bravo]

No cannot recall cracks showing up after reloading but it certainly could happen during bullet seating or during flaring. Are they showing up just minutely at the mouth of the case or extend further down starting at the mouth? What caliber and make of brass are the culprits? Perhaps 9mm's and Winchester cases?

 

[armoredman]

I've had it happen a few times over the years, when I've done a final check and whaddya know! 99% of the time it's 40SW, for some reason.

 

[higgite]

I have had a few pistol cases that passed initial inspection show cracks at final inspection of the finished cartridge. The cracks have been of varying lengths but always start at the case mouth. I chalk it up to cases that have outlived their usefulness being stretched when the bullet is seated.

 

[hdwhit]

Prof Young wrote:
I inspect my brass twice.

Commendable.

Once when I first unprime it and a second time when the load is finished up.

New-to-me brass is inspected when it arrives from the range or the seller.

It is inspected again after is is deprimed.

It is inspected again after it is washed in detergent and a weak acid solution. Removing soot, dirt, tarnish, etc. often reveals defects that may have remained undetected otherwise.

It is inspected again after being re-sized. I find that my bottleneck cases that have been loaded near maximum and fired several times without annealing will develop cracks at this point.

And it receives a final inspection after it has been fully assembled.

More that once I've found a crack on the second inspection.

Where is the crack typically found? Neck, Shoulder, Body?

Depending on the caliber, the condition of the brass, how many times it has been shot before, how close to maximum the load is, (in the case of straight-wall cases) how much the mouth is expanded, (in the case of bottleneck cartridges) how far back the shoulder is reset by the sizing operation and whether the brass is annealed, this is to be expected.

So am I a sloppy first inspector (Don't think so but . . . ) or does the loading process reveal the crack?

Pending answers to the questions raised, above, my initial suggestion is not that the loading process "reveals" the crack, but likely "causes" it as the brass is cold-worked to the point where it yields.

Does this happen to you?

Yes. But, as noted above, most of these defects are caught after the case is resized (or expanded in the case of straight-wall cases) where it can be discarded without having to break down a loaded round.

 

[mikld]

I found a crack in the neck of a .223 case of questionable origin after a bullet was seated. Obviously the bullet expanded the neck to open up a crack or to finish the crack...

 

[hdwhit]

mikld wrote:
I found a crack in the neck of a .223 case of questionable origin after a bullet was seated.

"Questionable origin" - may have been one of mine.

Back in the 1970's and early 1980's there weren't dozens of internet sellers of "once fired" brass. You looked in publications like the Shotgun News, paid your money and took your chances.

I once got a box of Vietnam-era 5.56 cases that had been much more than "once fired" since the crimp had been swaged or reamed out. Still, I was desperate for brass and so cleaned it up as best I could, loaded it, shot it and loaded and shot it again - and again. After about the fourth or fifth loading, the necks would split when the bullet was seated.

Obviously the bullet expanded the neck to open up a crack or to finish the crack...

I think you're 100% correct.

 

[T. O'Heir]

You should be inspecting 'em before you do anything to 'em. Plus after resizing and upon completion. Seeing or not a crack isn't you. Some won't appear until after resizing.

 

[F. Guffey]

I do not have the same problem other reloaders have because I do not have neck tension, I do have interference fit and there is crush fit.

I have found cracks that were not there before and then there will be an argument as to before 'WHAT!?'.

And I have checked cases for the potential of cracking: I have necked 30/06 cases to 35 Whelen and 338/06, I have necked 280 Remington cases to 35 Whelen and 338/280 Remington.

And then there was the nagging question: Should I have annealed the cases before loading for long time storage (long time storage ?), one year or more.

F. Guffey

 

[Paul B.]

If necks are cracking, why not anneal the brass and fix the problem? Could just be from work hardening or season cracking by brass that was not properly annealed in the first place. I once bout 100 rounds of brand new Remington .308 Win. brass and loaded up my pet hunting load. Took a few to the range and some cracked on firing and others were already cracked. I broke then down for the component including depriming and annealed the neck of the ones that had not yet cracked. Pure case of season cracking on that lot of brass and they were loaded full power for at least 10 times and later relegated for cast bullet use, most of which I still have on hand.
Paul B.

 

[Prof Young]

Well, to add to my OP, I posted this after a couple hundred rounds of 9mm reloading. They are mixed cases, I don't separate head stamps. And yes the cracks are right at the "neck" of the brass where the bullet sits. And I have no idea how many times each case has been fired.

Life is good.
Prof Young

 

[BWM]

I have brass that has been loaded 8 &10 times most of it is straight wall. My AR & my 243 I have loaded 5 & 6 times then the necks start to crack. I do NOT load heavy loads for the range I try to load in the middle of what the book calls for that way my brass last a long time.

 

[Chainsaw.]

Short of sitting down and hand inspecting cases one at a time this is gonna happen, the press always has the final calk out though.

 

[ammo.crafter]

reloader's delema

I inspect directly after tumbling.
Then again when expanding the case mouth.
Then again after bullet seating/crimping.

FYI the best brass I have ever used (more than 50 years reloading) is Norma.

I still reload (6mm Rem) the initial 100 rounds of Norma brass purchased more than 35-years ago.

 

[Tsquared]

At every step I inspect my brass. I have found cracked brass when I am sweeping it up at the range and when I sort my calibers they get looked at again before and after cleaning. For my 9mm I also sort by headstamp, the 45 gets sorted by primer size so I handle each of them more.

I handle it when I put it into the press and I have found a few there as well. After they go through the press I do a final inspection to verify count and that no primers got installed upside down - I have found a few there as well. When I load my magazines I am looking there also.

I have found split brass at all steps. I have brass that goes back to the 70's. I shoot mostly 9mm and a bit less of the 45. Most of my split cases are 9mm. Rifle is a different beast due to the higher pressures and it not being strait walled.

 

[BigJimP]

I get a few cracks in finished rounds...that show up after they are loaded - primarily, I think, because cases are belled ...bullets seated...& then final crimp removes the bell...( so the extra stress of belling case and seating the bullet -- makes the crack show up in my opinion).

I sweep up a lot of range brass...and I don't keep track of how many times a case is loaded either.../ if a case looks worn, has odd markings, looks a little extra dirty .. or whatever, after I clean them, I drop them in the recycle bucket.

I clean and inspect every case after cleaning.../ dump them into a "sorted and clean" box... case lube, drop them into case feeder & load them ...and then "case gague" every finished round before I box them up. If there is a crack that develops ...it will show up as you case gague each finished round by either sticking as you drop it into case gague ..or it will not drop out easily as you turn the gague upside down.

On 9mm ( I shoot and reload about 20,000 rds a year )....and I reject probably less than 10 finished rds a year. ( last batch of 4,000 I ran a few weeks ago ...I rejected one that did have a crack ).