32 Winchester ammo Blunder WoW

[OlDeuce]

I was bored the other night and was checking out my old boxes of ammo came across this 32 WS Staynless with a cracked neck
from the get go..... Brand New Old unfired

https://s20.postimg.org/bpcvz9uql/IMG_E1246.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/c24a5gd09/)

Ol Deuce

[country gent]

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.

[runfiverun]

could be the acids in the box itself too, as well as just age hardening.

[trails4u]

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.

[OlDeuce]

This is good to know ! never saw this before ! Getting Old and Things Change .........Ol Deuce LoL

[dubber123]

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.

[john.k]

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.

[Bent Ramrod]

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.

[nagantguy]

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.

This is exactly how it was explained to me just a few days ago by the owner of Precision metals and machine.

[John Taylor]

Had some head separations on 1951 50 BMG. age caused brittle brass.

[Outpost75]

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!

[Thundarstick]

17 HM2 rim fire had huge problems with neck cracking, even in new ammo! The longer it sits, the worse it gets!

[vzerone]

At least you can salvage the componants.

[Texas by God]

Several rounds of old ammo in my collection have done this.
Age.

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[OlDeuce]

When I get a chance I'm going to check the rest of my "OLD" ammo !...............Ol Deuce

[upnorthwis]

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.

[OlDeuce]

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

[Bill Torzsok]

Shoot the remainder off before they will crack too. Age hardening IMHO.

[high standard 40]

I have seen many instances of this and it has always been Winchester brass. My experience only.

[OlDeuce]

I have seen many instances of this and it has always been Winchester brass. My experience only.

90% of all my brass is the Winchester ! some of my loaded shells date back in the mid-late 1800s and this was the only instance I've came across!
Not sure why ,but I sure like the Winchester stuff!!!! A bit spendy but you never lose !

Ol Deuce

[Drm50]

I bought a ton of ammo from an estate. I ended up with several thousand rounds of 30/40 Krag
Govt. Frankfort Arsenal 1905 production. This ammo was in bandoleers with cardboard stifners
and was very clean, as new. More than half this ammo had cracked necks from age. You could
push bullet with your thumb and it would bust out the neck. The powder charge in these was like
a wad of grease and primers were dead. The ammo that wasn't cracked performed well and was
accurate. I salvaged several hundred of the bullets and found they shot excellent in my 95 win
loaded in to Govt match brass. 209401

[square butte]

I have seen it in quite a bit of 25-20 made by Rem. that is less than 30 years old. Probably had 5 boxes where over half the rounds were cracked - The others had lost the neck tension and the bullets would easily push back into the case. All were factory new.