My case head failure story

[Elkins45]

Check your brass to see if it's getting too thin or you just might get a surprise. I posted my experience with a case head separation in a full power 270 load on The Firing Line if you're interested

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=465482

[timkelley]

Thank you for your post, glad you're OK.

[303Guy]

Wow! Here I was thinking head separation was a minor inconvenience! I've had a few in my Lee Enfield and only found out when I tried to extract the fired case. Thanks for the wake-up call! (I now lube my cases and this has stopped all case elongation and case head separation problems - my case now last fore-ever. Some may frown on this practice, though. :mad:)

[Crawdaddy]

Thanks for sharing your experieince. Glad you are ok.

[mpmarty]

My 30/284 had a complete head separation and I extracted about a quarter of an inch of the back of the cartridge. No gas leakage and I half chambered the next round to extract the front part of the separated case. I then sent the RCBS sizer die to the trash and bought a Redding full length sizer the RCBS sizer was way overworking the brass.

[454PB]

S**t happens. Glad you were not hurt.

It sounds like you had your dies set correctly, that is they were sizing just enough to minimize excessive headspace. I set all my rifle dies as you described, sizing just enough so the bolt will close.

I've had several rifles over the years that would have a head separation on the second or third firing if the dies were not set as you did.

I think the only other thing we as handloaders can do to prevent this from happening is to pitch the brass after about 3 loadings.

[Sneakfoot]

Yes Sir, been on that duck hunt. In my case I could not get the bolt open and had to send the rifle back to Remmington for repairs.Tried other smiths but they couldn't open it. It didn't have a factory trigger in it, so before they would do the repairs they had to peplace the trigger with a factory, and they would not sent the after market trigger back to me. Glad your ok.

[gray wolf]

Recently I trashed about 60, 270 win cases, mixed brass.
They all failed the bent paper clip test. They all had a small divot on the inside.
I cut some in half and sure enough there was a little ring on the inside about 1/2" up from the web.
I use a Wilson case head gauge and check my cases for Min./max head space.
If in doubt I red neck check the cases with a piece of .004 masking tape on the back of the case, Trimmed nice and neat around the case head.
If the bolt closes on it I know I am at least .004 to short, if it don't close I am within .004 of being correct.
I always remove the firing pin from the bolt or disable it for a more sensitive feel of the bold. I think unless you use a case gauge like the Wilson the only way to be sure is to close the bolt on every case. ( as long as your chamber is in spec. )
I have had cases that show Min. head space on the gauge and fail the masking tape test. This confuses me,
I only use a Redding body die to do the shoulder and the case body and a Forester bushing bump die to do the necks. I don't bump the shoulder with the forester die.
I have noticed that different cases will get a different amount of shoulder set back,
How work hardened the brass is makes a big difference in my testing.
(brass spring back )
If I use different cases with different amounts of firings on the brass
The die will not work using the same setting. This drives me nuts.
Lets remember if you use a F/L die and the case is short in the head space,
when the die reduces the body the brass flows to the shoulder, and can increase head space.
I am a head space fanatic, so please if I got any of this wrong please advise me.
Or add anything helpful.
I do have a Redding F/L die for range pick up brass, I don't really like expander balls
I find they increase the run out on the neck. I know many will dis agree with that,
but I am just say-in.

GW.
J

[Chicken Thief]

If you trim your cases then that brass has to come from somewhere, right?
So when you trim check for thinning at the base, or light up the bad candle!
Oh and inside dounuts at the base of the neck comes from somewhere too;-)

[303Guy]

Here I was thinking it was only Lee Enfields and rear locking lever actions that had head separation issues! (And 22 Hornets - I solved my hornet problem and now those cases last forever - literally).

There is something I don't understand - why do folks find it necessary to control headspace on front locking rifles when I have no issues with the rear locking flexi-action Lee Enfields? I find that even when a case is tight to chamber, it loosens up on firing. Is it the tapered case or just the case lube I'm using? My 223 also had indefinite case life, well, aside from neck splits when I neglected to anneal. (It was a mini-14).

[Elkins45]

Well, it wasn't thinning brass, at least not the kind normally seen from stretching due to excessive headspace or excessive full-length sizing. I sectioned the case head with my band saw and here's what it looks like:

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/elkins_pix/sectionedcasehead.jpg

As you can see from the arrows, and from the corresponding side, this case wasn't anywhere near the point of separation due to sidewall thinning. The case was sectioned right through the middle of the failure area.

[HollowPoint]

Been there and done that.

Would it be an exaggeration to refer to the feelings one has immediately afterward as,
"Shell-Shocked?" (absolutely no pun intended) I'm thinking it's a feeling similar to
having a land-mine go off near you.

That's sure how it felt when it happened to me.

I'm glad you're OK.

HollowPoint

[Bwana]

I didn't comment before due to lack of pertinent information. It looks to me like you may have had an inclusion or perhaps an unseen fold. This is also where annular cracks form and can lead to failure of cases. It is likely a singular event given your description of your loading practices. Let's hope so. Good luck.

[Alchemist]

It would appear that there was a flaw or weak spot where the case failed. No thinning for sure.

I had a case failure shooting surplus 5.56 in an AR-15. Blew the floorplate out of the magazine but nothing else was damaged. Could have been worse. Glad you weren't injured during your kaboom.

[Crawdaddy]

Metal fatigue?

[303Guy]

Metal fatigue?I lean toward this thinking but likely there was a flaw to start with. But a flaw on its own shouldn't be enough to do it. You know how a case is pushed forward by the firing pin then grips the chamber walls followed by the primer being pushed out then the case settling back, re-seating the primer? Well, you don't want that to happen although it is actually normal practice to allow it to happen.

I've had a partially separated case find its way back into the mix and only discovered it after several more firings of that same case and the break had not progressed. (The case got its crack from someone else's gun). That break was actually 3/4 the circumference of the case!

[Southron Sanders]

Back in the late 1970's I dropped by Interarms in Alexandria, Virginia and purchased two wooden cases of French made 30-06 ammo. The rounds were in 8 round Garand clips and were head stamped 1948.

When I fired the first clip, one of the rounds threw some gas back in my face. Amazingly, the Garand ejected the fired case. I found it on the ground and sure enough there was a crack just above the rim groove in the base of the case.

Several months later, I thought maybe the first incident had been a fluke, but after I had fired three or four rounds, I got another blase of gas in my face. Same thing, there was a crack in the base of the ejected case.

I had learned my lesson. I salvaged the clips and trashed the defective ammo. My guess? The primers were corrosive and utilized mercury as part of the primer compound.

Somewhere, I read that primers that had mercury in them could actually cause brass cases to become brittle over time from the inside (the ammo was over 30 years old). Whatever it was, I ended up throwing away over 900 rounds of 30-06 ammo.

[Larry Gibson]

I've had the same experience over the years with older milsurp ammo and even older commercial ammo. The most recent was with some older REM-UMC .35 Remingtons. I suspect the cases got brittle with time. I also suspect, given the many number of times you say you've used them, and the number of times sized that they hay, or at least that one, got brittle in the head area and cracked on firing.

I always wear eye protect. When testing such loads I also keep my off hand back on the rear sand bag, for obvious reasons.

Larry Gibson

[HollowPoint]

It's always a negative when such things happen but, I'm kind of glad to read what the previous three posters have put up.

Many are far to quick to jump to conclusions when something like this happens and a shooter that's experienced such an event then has to contend not only with the physical aftermath itself but also the psychological aftermath inflicted by those who may be far to quick to pass judgment.

I'd say a good portion of such incidents are user-error but, not every case.

You can be the most conscientious reloader/shooter ever and still be subject to incidents like this through no fault of your own.

You were quite fortunate in that, not only were you not hurt but, that you weren't subjected to the assumptions and snide remakes that many others who've experienced such an incident have been subjected to. At least not here with this group of guys.

It's enough to make a guy start second guessing himself with respect to our competence as a reloaders or shooter.

It feels almost as bad as having had the gun blow up in your face. And it stays with you alot longer.

HollowPoint

[jsizemore]

The only things that haven't been mentioned are acid wash to clean cases didn't have all the solution removed and case over annealed at some point. I think neither of these happened but thought I would mention them.

I would try sectioning a couple other cases and see if I find anymore on the verge of venting in the wrong direction.