the crack may have not have been there when new. It may be a age crack from brass age hardening stressing over time. Another cause might be stored around solvent fumes that also affected it.
could be the acids in the box itself too, as well as just age hardening.
I'm thinking age hardening as well. I came across a bunch of 8mm Mauser I was really excited about, and most of it ended up pretty much looking like that. Brass looks good....bullet looks good. I think it just got brittle.
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This is good to know ! never saw this before ! Getting Old and Things Change .........Ol Deuce LoL
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I had some old 6.5 ammo, I believe it was Norma, (very good brand), that when I opened it I found almost all had neck cracks bad enough I could pull the bullets with my fingers.
Season/age/stress cracking in worked brass......cracked cases are common....I had the original brass oil and gas syringes in a 1913 Indian and over a period of years i had the bike,both cracked multiple times where they had been rolled to form the barrel....Its due to certain metals present in the brass in minute quantities.
They called it “season cracking” in the old days. The tension of the neck on the bullet eventually resulted in the vertical crack you see. A lot of WWI surplus ammo sold by the DCM between the Wars had these cracks, before or after firing.
With continued improvements in brass metallurgy and treatment, the problem was pretty much a thing of the past by 1940 or thereabouts.
Had some head separations on 1951 50 BMG. age caused brittle brass.
Age hardening possible, or embrittlement from exposure to ammonia fumes in a train wreck during shipment, which has happened, or contaminants in the recycled vs. virgin brass feedstock used to form the first-draw cups the cartridge cases were drawn from, improper or inadequate final stress relief, there are multiple single points of failure possible, which is why good QA is important!
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17 HM2 rim fire had huge problems with neck cracking, even in new ammo! The longer it sits, the worse it gets!
Several rounds of old ammo in my collection have done this.
Age.
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When I get a chance I'm going to check the rest of my "OLD" ammo !...............Ol Deuce
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I don't think the problem is completely gone. Recently heard a story at a trap club about a member who bought a new case of brass based shotshells and many of them were cracked.
Last edited by upnorthwis; 12-08-2017 at 07:40 PM. Reason: spelling
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Inspection of loaded shells maybe should be done from time to time! I've got 400 rounds loaded from years back in a GI army can ! I shoot my current loads,
and have no idea why I don't cycle the stored rounds into my shooting box !!!! Each of my calibers I try to have 4 to 500 rounds !!! Pick a gun and go shooting.
the fun part of my old guns !!!!
Ol Deuce
Do the Best with What you have !
Shoot the remainder off before they will crack too. Age hardening IMHO.
I have seen many instances of this and it has always been Winchester brass. My experience only.
Do the Best with What you have !
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |