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Last edited by VASCAR2; 02-09-2021, 05:24 PM. -
I don't recall having split necks from federal brass; the thing that comes to me since they are small ones right up at the mouth (correct?) is possibly due to not inner chamfering the case mouth brass.
I use the vld chamfer and do all of my brass before loading them, even new unfired. There is almost always a small lip on the inside of the mouth, and with a flat base bullet hitting that can cause some extra stress/work on the edge as the bullet seats into the case.
I only count on 2, maybe 3 at most loads from federal brass, including the factory one. After the third round you'll probably see a lot of real loose primer pockets."Down the floor, out the door, Go Brandon Go!!!!!"Comment
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I should have quantified the reloading gear. Running an RCBS Rockchucker with Hornady Dies and shell plate.Comment
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The cases - you say they were once fired..... were they fired new by you or were the cases bought as "once fired"? Just curious because over the years I've seen lots of "once fired" brass sold that was Once too many fired. Also if they were reloaded multiple times without annealing, Ive seen plenty of neck splits.
Just curious. Hard to overwork a true once fired piece of brass on the first reload.Comment
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Apologies for interrupting the thread, espec since the OP isn't even using Lee dies. I am wondering what the supposed explanation is for this overworking. Are they a tad undersized? Is the expander ball too large?Comment
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What case lube are you using?
I polished my Hornady Grendel sizing die expander ball to remove the tooling marks. Tooling marks on your expander ball will cause failure nodes on the inside of your case necks, which will propagate with pressure and split the necks.
Non-uniform application of Imperial sizing wax and a tool-marked expander ball are a recipe for damaging your necks and shoulders.
Polish the expander ball and use spray-on case lube and see what happens.
Case lube needs to get inside the necks. I spray them on load blocks from different angles and from above to get all the surfaces coated with lube before sizing.NRA Basic, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, RSO
CCW, CQM, DM, Long Range Rifle Instructor
6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbooks & chamber brushes can be found here:
www.AR15buildbox.comComment
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GOLO:
Most likely the Federal brass. Never found it to be good for reloading. Too soft.
LR55Comment
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Did you measure your brass' OAL and trim if necessary? I've always found Federal factory brass to be extremely short in other calibers, but wondering if some were maybe on the fringe and got slightly jammed.
Grendel gets dirty cases and I've found that lighter loads get even dirtier - presumably because it takes a little longer to seal.
I once ran 200 pieces of Federal Gold Metal Match .308 brass through a bolt gun. It was more consistent than Lapua. Neck sized it only 3 times and the primer pockets were looser than Kamala Harris in Willie Browns office after the fourth firing.Let's go Brandon!Comment
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Gringoloco - I didn't see mention of what type of rifle you are using. I am guessing that you are using a bolt action rifle. The only real difference is that bolt guns are more forgiving. If reloading for an AR15: (1) the COAL is limited by the magazine length, (2) need some shoulder clearance (bump the shoulder) to ensure that you don't get a nasty jam, (3) watch your pressure.
There are a bunch of ways to do things on the cheap. But for a little more money you can buy some basic tools that you can use across multiple firearms. To start you need to buy a Hornady OAL gauge and a modified Grendel case to determine what your rifle's chamber is in conjunction with a specific bullet. This will allow you to measure at what length the bullet touches the lans (max load length). This may be longer than you magazine length, but you won't know until you measure/test it.
You will need to determine the chamber length of your rifle (maximum length of a brass case that can fit inside your gun) so that you know length to trim cases. This is a simple operation with a $6 tool.
Your soot issue is result of the resized case now being smaller along neck &/or you are bumping your shoulder back too far allowing gas to escape around the neck. The fact that you are splitting case necks after 1 firing is a little concerning. Resizing a case once is not overworking it, and Federal is good brass. Between the soot issue and the necks starting to split it sounds like your gun may have a "loose"/generous chamber and your resizing die is shrinking the necks down too much for the chamber. As the case expands during firing the diameter is at it limits. Take some measurements of loaded cases (OD at neck) and OD on fired cases (chamber's neck diameter). The difference between these two will give you an approximation for how much your cartridge is moving (tightness of your chamber). If this is more than .005" then the chamber is loose and may be contributing to the splitting of necks. Also, measure the OD of you brass after resizing (before loading a bullet) and compare to the reloaded cartridge to determine if your dies are overworking (excessively shrinking the neck).
The minor splits that are happening infrequently may also be a result of a mechanical event outside of case expansion during firing. Just keep an eye on it and inspect your cases before and after loading them and immediately after you fire them. Sometimes it is something as simple as a bur /sharp edge on feed ramp, magazine lip, sharp edge on lug that mouth of case rubs as it is being extracted after firing, or even a bur inside a reloading die. Its a process of elimination.
Also, it could just be some bad brass... The joys of reloading.
If you are budget constrained, buy an inexpensive chronographer and a cheap camera tripod. You need to record the speed associated with a specific group (think of it as short-hand for barrel harmonics). For a given bullet (weight and profile) and specific powder, your rifle's barrel likes X velocity to be accurate (there usually are a couple of node). You need to know the speed because depending on type of powder (temp sensitive or not) the outdoor temperature may affect your accuracy of a load with seasonal changes in temperatures. When you record your velocities also write down the temperature when you were doing the testing.
Good LuckLast edited by Oso Polaris; 02-11-2021, 02:55 AM.Comment
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Gringo,
I'm going to jump in here too, because this is unusual.
Your load is reasonable and as the case is only once-fired factory, and you fired it, and Hornady dies are reputable - this should not happen.
Do you have a photo of the splits?
Can you take a measurement of the outside diameter at the mouth of these spent cases (what are they expanding to?).Comment
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Are you crimping your cases?
The reason I ask is I crimped some Starline brass once with a Redding taper crimp die that I have and half of them had small splits in the necks once I fired them. I anneal after every firing and these cases only had 3 firings on them. The splits were just big enough that I couldn't trim the split down and still use them. The crimp wasn't very much either. So that is why I ask.Last edited by jasper2408; 02-11-2021, 04:31 PM.Comment
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Dt:
Depends on the composition of the brass, the size of your chamber, the time the brass stays in the chamber before being extracted, the size of the chamber, and your load. Yes, every single one of these things will make a difference.
So, your loads and rifle will give you your data but it won't be the same for anyone else.
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