First Attempt at Reloading

[Lemonaid]

I saw this vid from Outdoor Generalist, may have some relevance? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gunOU4EYAQ0

[Klem]

I saw this vid from Outdoor Generalist, may have some relevance? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gunOU4EYAQ0

Pity he didn't wait so he could include the cause. It's 15min of a guy chit chatting about getting splits. Different looking splits to our OP. His looks like headspace related.

[Lemonaid]

Pity he didn't wait so he could include the cause. It's 15min of a guy chit chatting about getting splits. Different looking splits to our OP. His looks like headspace related.

Has headspace problems been ruled out? If the chamber was cut on the long side it might account for the soot on shoulder and neck. OP may want to measure base to shoulder on fired rounds and compare to specs, or make a chamber cast or check with headspace gauges. Also measure overall case length of a fired case vs unfired brass to see how much the case stretches.
The same effect on the brass could be from dies that are setting the shoulder way back shorter than needed or a combination of long chamber and excessive die shoulder set back.
Or, might just be bad brass! I have seen factory ammo that was enough out of spec they wouldn't chamber (300 Rem ultra mag).
I have seen defects in the brass like the OP's that were due to small bits of brass or lead that were stuck to the chamber walls or neck. Also a small unpolished spot from the chamber reaming process could be at work. A very complete cleaning and possible chamber polish usually fixes the problem.

[Oso Polaris]

Somewhere in his process he is getting a small nick in the leading edge of a case mouth here and there. If it is a sharp lug that just marks the front edge then I can see where it might grow slightly as case expands. For that matter the few cases could actually be longer than the rest and are just barely bumping into a bur in a die or even in the chamber, or even feed ramp. Keep observing and searching.

[Klem]

Has headspace problems been ruled out? If the chamber was cut on the long side it might account for the soot on shoulder and neck. OP may want to measure base to shoulder on fired rounds and compare to specs, or make a chamber cast or check with headspace gauges. Also

I would caution against going to the cost and effort of a chamber cast. I have never done or needed to do this. Spent cases and gauges tell you all you need to know about the chamber. Regardless, headspace does not cause little nicks at the mouth. It is more likely his reloading tools and actions that have caused this. It is not a coincidence these cuts happened on his first attempt at reloading.

My advice to the OP is to continue loading and shooting. Take more notice of the case necks at every reloading stage. Keep us informed.

[LR1955]

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.

SH:

That is a miracle with Federal .308 brass. I have had loose primer pockets on the first reloading and do not think I ever got to three reloads. Always wondered about this because the GM Match .308 was really good ammo. Just couldn't reload it without blown primers or primers falling out of the primer pockets.

LR55

[Oso Polaris]

You mentioned that you have three (3) rifles in 6.5 Grendel: Howa Mini and two AR15's. This means you now have to inspect and isolate which gun(s) may have contributed to issue.


Were all of the cases shot through the same rifle for the initial firing (first firing)?
After you reloaded the cases were all of the cartridges then fired (2nd firing) through the same rifle?

Or

Were they fired through different rifles during the initial firing and then all spent brass was comingled and then you reloaded?
After reloading were the cartridges all fired from the same rifle or were they used in multiple rifles?

Not to add to the complexity, but I looked right past this potential issue. If you can't easily identify which rifle the brass was shot from for both the 1st and 2nd firing then you'll need to inspect each of them. Best case scenario is that all were fired through same rifle for 1st and 2nd firings. Second best scenario is that shot through same rifle (rifle #1) for 1st firing and then all were fired through a different rifle (rifle #2). Worst case is that no way to identify or isolate because were fired through multiple rifles during both the first firing and second firing.

[A5BLASTER]

I would caution against going to the cost and effort of a chamber cast. I have never done or needed to do this. Spent cases and gauges tell you all you need to know about the chamber. Regardless, headspace does not cause little nicks at the mouth. It is more likely his reloading tools and actions that have caused this. It is not a coincidence these cuts happened on his first attempt at reloading.

My advice to the OP is to continue loading and shooting. Take more notice of the case necks at every reloading stage. Keep us informed.

Agreed.

What I'm seeing is a nick being made by his chamfer tool, that is turning into a crack once its fired.

[Klem]

Agreed.

What I'm seeing is a nick being made by his chamfer tool, that is turning into a crack once its fired.

You know what, that makes absolute sense. That would do it for sure.

To the OP, when chamferring there's no need to turn the mouth into a knife edge. Just a couple of quick light twists.

[Oso Polaris]

Yes....something like this or nick/scoring during extraction across a sharp lug. It is happening at mouth lip and then with expansion shifting backwards. I didn't see mention of Gringoloco trimming cases. I think he just used a case gauge to confirm everything was within spec.

[A5BLASTER]

Yes....something like this or nick/scoring during extraction across a sharp lug. It is happening at mouth lip and then with expansion shifting backwards. I didn't see mention of Gringoloco trimming cases. I think he just used a case gauge to confirm everything was within spec.

His pics clearly show his case mouth has been chamfered.

I simply cant see a lug edge causing that issue.

But I have seen that a few times on some of my hornady brass that I had way over chamfered and thinned out the leading edge of the case mouth and cause a nick. When I fired it the case lip cracked right where the nick had been.

[Gringoloco]