Cases splitting on shoulder in my Lever .35Rem, Any ideas why???

[mikenbarb]

I have a Marlin 335 in .35Rem. Im casting a Lyman 358315 w/gc and sized to .358dia with Speed Green lube and #2 alloy. Im using new and 1 fired RP and WW brass, WW Primers , RX7 and Unique powder charges within the Lyman data. The cases are splitting lengthways in the shoulder area in a few spots. Im clueless why and if anyone has any ideas please let me know. The rounds chamber fine but sometimes a couple are a little tight closing the lever. All cases are FL sized and trimmed to 1.910OAL. Bullets are seated to crimp groove flush against the tip of the front band giving me a OAL of 2.480. I seat the bullets first and then crimp in a second procedure with a medium/light crimp using a Lee factory crimper and I also tried using a CH crimp seater die with adjuster backed out to just crimp. Im lost on this one guys, PLEASE HELP!!:(

[Southern Son]

As much as I wanted to buy one, I don't own a 35Rem, I just wanted to point that out up front. I have only ever seen shoulders split lengthways because of 2 things, one was worked hardend brass (probably not your problem with new cases). The second was the reloader had pushed the shoulder too far back when he full length resized the case. Have you tried only partially sizing the cases to see if the shoulder spliting stops (try saying that 3 times fast)?

[David Caldwell]

Anneal the necks. (See the archives) I heat the necks of the ones that haven't yet split, in the dark, to just glowing with a propane torch while holding and twirling the base in my fingers, and drop'em in a sink full of cold water. Works wonders. I shoot a lot of .35 Rem. It's both pleasant and effective.

Lemme know if it works for you. Betting it will.

[7of7]

Anneal the necks. (See the archives) I heat the necks of the ones that haven't yet split, in the dark, to just glowing with a propane torch while holding and twirling the base in my fingers, and drop'em in a sink full of cold water. Works wonders. I shoot a lot of .35 Rem. It's both pleasant and effective.

Lemme know if it works for you. Betting it will.

Dropping them in cold water really doesn't do anything except allow you to handle them faster... So, if you don't want to have to dry them just let them cool on their own...

[gon2shoot]

The 35 Rem has a short stumpy sholder and is easy to push back. As mentioned before, back off your sizer a touch.

[Bret4207]

Good advice all around. Anneal and watch your sizing. I have 35 cases I've reloaded over 10 times with no problems. I don't have a neck sizer so I partially resize with the FL sizer. In fact, it's time to anneal again I imagine.

This might be a good place for the Lee collet die. Wonder if they make a 35 Rem?

[largom]

Good advice all around. Anneal and watch your sizing. I have 35 cases I've reloaded over 10 times with no problems. I don't have a neck sizer so I partially resize with the FL sizer. In fact, it's time to anneal again I imagine.

This might be a good place for the Lee collet die. Wonder if they make a 35 Rem?



LEE does make 35 Rem. collet dies and they work good.
Larry

[mikenbarb]

I have a Lee collet FL set plus an older CH FL set and tried both with equal problems. Im gonna back off a bit on the sizer and do a chamber casting because I think it may be short chambered. I tried loading some jacketed .38 158gr pistol bullets and some 358429's and they wont allow me to close the action so im guessing its a chamber or throat problem. The bullets are showing signs of heavy engraving when loaded to the crimp groove. Im also gonna try some 200gr Hornady RN and a box of factory loads too see what happens.:sad:

[c3d4b2]

Dropping them in cold water really doesn't do anything except allow you to handle them faster... So, if you don't want to have to dry them just let them cool on their own...
7of7 is offline Report Post Reply With Quote

I read several articles on annealing brass. From what I remember the water dropping did nothing for the annealing process, it was to prevent the annealing from migrating to far down down the case. If I am remembering correctly..... you want a strong fine grained case head and a softer case neck. If you over anneal the case head / body area the case is not as strong and can fail.

[mikenbarb]

Remember guys, This is alot of factory new brass and all different brands of once fired. Its definatly not an annealing problem.

[Multigunner]

Stress Corrosion Cracking is a possibility, though they discovered the cause and cure in the 1920's. Its possible that the cases were properly stress relieved at the factory.
exposure to ammonia vapors can embrittle cartridge brass, even storage of Calvary ammo in stables could lead to split necks and shoulders due to ammonia affecting the brass.

[7of7]

Is this a new rifle? If so, I would try some factory ammo (1 box) and see if you get the same results. I definitely agree with doing a chamber casting. By the way, is this happening with all the brass, or just some of it?

[redneckdan]

I have heard of contender barrels chambered in .35 remington having the same issue. The cure is to expand the neck with a .375 expander ball, then resize to .35 The trick is to only set the 'new shoulder' down far enough that the case just barrel chambers. the net result will be a shoulder than has two 'steps' on it. The issue is that .35 remington brass seems to be short headspaced from the factory. After the first fire forming you neck size as usual.

[mikenbarb]

Its happening with a few cases in all brands so its not the brand. Their being fired in a Marlin 336 made in the mid 1970's. It has few rounds thru it so wear isnt a problem. Im doing a casting as soon as the Cerosafe comes in. I cant size just the necks or they wont chamber properly but I reset my FL die a half turn looser to see what happens. Im loading a few today and headed to the back yard to see what happens. I will post as soon as im done shooting them. Hopefully it solves the problem with less sizing.

[sharpshooter3040]

Hey Mike something else to check is the locking bolt and the breech bolt mating surface. A little bit of wear here will cause a tad of headspace which can cause its share of grief. Its fixable with some tinkering and a lot of patients.


Hope you get it figgered out
Doug



I have a Marlin 335 in .35Rem. Im casting a Lyman 358315 w/gc and sized to .358dia with Speed Green lube and #2 alloy. Im using new and 1 fired RP and WW brass, WW Primers , RX7 and Unique powder charges within the Lyman data. The cases are splitting lengthways in the shoulder area in a few spots. Im clueless why and if anyone has any ideas please let me know. The rounds chamber fine but sometimes a couple are a little tight closing the lever. All cases are FL sized and trimmed to 1.910OAL. Bullets are seated to crimp groove flush against the tip of the front band giving me a OAL of 2.480. I seat the bullets first and then crimp in a second procedure with a medium/light crimp using a Lee factory crimper and I also tried using a CH crimp seater die with adjuster backed out to just crimp. Im lost on this one guys, PLEASE HELP!!:(

[Throwback]

Short chamber leade is common in .35 Rem's in my experience. I have to seat deeper than the crimp groove in my Remington rifles.

[big dale]

A couple of decades ago I got a 7 TCU Contender and found I had trouble figuring out how far to screw the dies into the press till I tried smoking the neck of the cases and then it was pretty obvious. I have used this trick a couple of times since. I think the problem is more pronounced in cartridges with slight necks. At any rate it dosen't cost anything to give it a try.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

[Southern Son]

Mike,
Have you managed to stop the shoulders splitting yet? I saw that you were going to be test firing soon.

[mikenbarb]

Just an update, I did a casting and the chamber meets spec so im gonna back off the die a half turn and see what happens. Im headed to the range tommorow and will post how they do.

[mikenbarb]

Just an update, I backed of the die and it seems to have corrected the problem but its a little hard chambering sometimes with the larger brass. Im working up the loads slowly to see what happens. Im keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks everyone for the replys, Mike

[45r]

you might want to try 26.0 grains RE-7.My marlin 35 rem shoots clover leaf groups with that load at 65 yards with my 215GC MM boolits.It does the same with my hunting load of 30.0 grains Vitt -133.