About ten years ago I bought 1k, new, bulk 22/250 Winchester brass and am just now reloading it for the first time. The brass is still as shiny as when it arrived. Unfortunately, I am seeing a lot of partial and some complete cracked necks after only one firing.
Out of thirty rounds fired, two have cracked necks and five more have cracks started, all in the middle of the neck. I checked the unfired brass, which measured .249". After firing the necks measure .256" or a bit more. Case neck thickness is .015", which is consistent with what others are reporting.
I haven't had a problem with this rifle (Remington 700 Varminter) in the past, and it has only had about 200-rounds shot thru it.
Upon checking the brass, I can find no signs that they were annealed during manufacture, but my research suggests that manufacturers shine up their cases after annealing, which hides the annealing. I do not size the brass before loading, but do chamfer them to ease bullet seating.
Thinking that this brass is brittle, I have a case annealer on-order and plan to anneal the brass before doing any more loading.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be the problem and/or the solution?