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Split case necks - Hornady brass - tdbru - 01-30-2023
603,
I do the neck anneal routine regularly and haven't had a problem.
before I knew about neck annealing I would lose rifle brass of various calibers due to neck splits.
This occurred more regularly for me on ammo that had been reloaded more than 5x and then sat for over 2 years or more while I was experimenting with a different caliber. I lost about 100% out of a box of ammo that was on the 5th reload and had sat (in the back) on the shelf for 10 years.
the neck annealing on a regular basis has reduced my neck split case losses to 0. eventually in my full pressure (not Grendel) calibers after 10 or more reloads FC and WIN brass starts to get loose primer pockets. the only other loss is eventually I will get the bright line around the case near the head that is indicative of an upcoming case head separation. if I adjust the sizing die to just bump the should back enough to just chamber with no or little tiny bit of resistance, this prolongs the case life until I have to pitch them due to case head separations or loose primer pockets. if you're running the Grendel (or any cases) through a self shucker, then I'd suggest making sure the sizing die is set so that the shoulder is bumped enough to chamber with no resistance. You'll get a little less reload life that way but functional reliability is more important.
give case neck annealing a try, I suspect it will eliminate your split neck issue. also check your dies to see how much they are working the necks of the brass as suggested above. your dies maybe way overworking the case necks. though they're pricey the bushing style sizing dies (redding, hornady, probably others) are a way to reduce the amount of sizing that occurs on the case necks. you get the bushing that just squeezes the neck down for the amount of bullet pull tension you want and no more. It'll save money in the long run, particularly if your running pricey brass like Lapua or Nosler etc.
best to you,
-tdbru
Split case necks - Hornady brass - lazyengineer - 01-30-2023
tdbru Wrote:603,
I do the neck anneal routine regularly and haven't had a problem.
before I knew about neck annealing I would lose rifle brass of various calibers due to neck splits.
This occurred more regularly for me on ammo that had been reloaded more than 5x and then sat for over 2 years or more while I was experimenting with a different caliber. I lost about 100% out of a box of ammo that was on the 5th reload and had sat (in the back) on the shelf for 10 years.
the neck annealing on a regular basis has reduced my neck split case losses to 0. eventually in my full pressure (not Grendel) calibers after 10 or more reloads FC and WIN brass starts to get loose primer pockets. the only other loss is eventually I will get the bright line around the case near the head that is indicative of an upcoming case head separation. if I adjust the sizing die to just bump the should back enough to just chamber with no or little tiny bit of resistance, this prolongs the case life until I have to pitch them due to case head separations or loose primer pockets. if you're running the Grendel (or any cases) through a self shucker, then I'd suggest making sure the sizing die is set so that the shoulder is bumped enough to chamber with no resistance. You'll get a little less reload life that way but functional reliability is more important.
give case neck annealing a try, I suspect it will eliminate your split neck issue. also check your dies to see how much they are working the necks of the brass as suggested above. your dies maybe way overworking the case necks. though they're pricey the bushing style sizing dies (redding, hornady, probably others) are a way to reduce the amount of sizing that occurs on the case necks. you get the bushing that just squeezes the neck down for the amount of bullet pull tension you want and no more. It'll save money in the long run, particularly if your running pricey brass like Lapua or Nosler etc.
best to you,
-tdbru
Thanks for that. I too have noticed split necks seem to correlate with shelf age, but it seemed a phenomea unique to me, so I figured maybe it had more to do with practice at the time, than it did time on shelf.
Split case necks - Hornady brass - 603 Country - 01-30-2023
I annealed all the once fired Hornady cases yesterday. I was going to load up some 123 SSTs today and search for a good load. BUT, to heck with that. Im breaking out the Lapua brass and the 100 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips. Im gonna shoot what I really want to shoot. I have a bit more than 100 of them, and Ill use em till I run out. When the Starline brass shows up, I may load that with the SSTs. Happily, I have a 100 yard range. Loading bench is 20 yards from the shooting bench.
Didnt load a dang thing today because the color printer died. Had to get another one and set it up or the wife might shoot me. What fun. Load tomorrow, I hope.
Split case necks - Hornady brass - LRRPF52 - 01-30-2023
If I was losing Lapua or Hornady brass to split necks with low count on the brass, I would be ticked.
My Lapua brass ejects looking new.
What polishing media are you using?
With my .260 Rem brass, I lose primer pockets after 3-4 loads, which sucks.
If I loaded it down some more, it would be close to 6.5 Grendel velocity.
I have to trim .260 Rem brass every firing too, so I havent shot it in a long time.
Grendel is just too easy to load for and shoot doing whatever Im doing, and Ive never annealed.
Split case necks - Hornady brass - 603 Country - 01-30-2023
I just use a vibratory unit and the walnut shell media to polish up cases. Back when I just had bolt guns, I wondered why everybody talked about brass polishing. Id just shoot, cycle the bolt slowly and take the brass from the gun. Deer hunting, I only needed one bullet. My idea of polishing brass was cleaning the neck with steel wool. But, with the addition of ARs to the family armory, I now have dirty brass.
For many years I never annealed, but started a couple years ago on my Lapua 223 brass. I wanted it to last a bit longer, and I wanted more uniform neck tension. It seems to have worked, though annealing is not my favorite task. And now that I have good brass, well see how many reloads I can get before neck splits. Ill just hold the spent Hornady brass for possible future use. I just dont think that brass is up to spec.