it has been years since this has happened to me and yesterday 2 out of 20 failed ,i always check the insides with a bent wire ,this batch only lasted 3 loadings ,i think i will toss the other 18 . these were light loads too.
Complete separation like that is scary stuff. Especially with that much powder(.375) Never been a fan of Remington rifle brass.
this was the 3rd loading and they were not heavy loads ,i should have gotten at least 5 out of them ,belted magnums do have a shorter life but not 3 loadings, i use corn cob in a vibratory cleaner ,once in a while walnut with rouge.
it has been getting worse i also had trouble with remington .222 cases ,the necks were splitting after 1 firing ,but i consider myself fortunate to find any brass these past few years,you have to take what you can get
Yeah that was my initial thought with that cal. I've been buying ammo more recently just for the brass because of that very reason.
unclefess what polish are you adding to your corn cob. if its ammonia based thats most likely your problem.
k, dillon is good stuff. You never know who might be using brasso..... This is an odd problem for the second firing. Id take that gun to a gunsmith and have the headspace checked. Seems like the case is having too much room to grow.
As of the shortage, it seems that rp brass has gotten thinner and thinner. At least in 223. I've got no experience with that caliber so I'm not much help. Clean the others, and take a pic. Let's see if they have the telltale ring.
Was going to suggest getting the headspace checked as well. Make sure you lube the cases adequately because you can create a weak spot during resizing if you don't use enough lube.
Are you perhaps oversizing the cases (not according to standard die settings, but to your specific rifle) causing the brass to be pushed back too much at the shoulder? I partial full length size anything that's not going through a semi auto. The question of headspace is mentioned above, that's another possible gremlin. That one can be fixed with partial full length sizing as well. Maybe garbage brass?
Most factory barrel/ chamber using belted magnums are headspaced off the belt. If it is not reloaded " off the belt " or is reloaded using the shoulder, the belted area can have "slop" and much like a early glock .40 is unsupported, hence the break next to the belt. I don't know how the op is reloading, I assume he is doing it correctly thus my remark about Remington brass sucking in the past 5-8 years. It's in my experience highly variable in weight and case volume, and only last MAYBE half as long as "good" brass.
I hadn't considered the belt issue, as I've not reloaded enough to trash brass in my 458 Win Mag. Once a belted cartridge is fired once, what happens? Does it not push the shoulder forward, and stretch out the head by the belt, forming a perfectly headspaced casing?
Depends on how you are sizing it, from the sound of how you are explaining it, you are taking collet size? It takes more than one firing to stretch the whole case, it does expand to fit the chamber but it shrinks (so it can be extracted) after firing, steel case your statement would be true. That's why it jambs some guns. The chamber still has the lip for the belt as far as I know. If full length sizing that belted lip gets bent back and forth and breaks. It's unsupported in the chamber. Reloading Belted Magnum Calibers Number 9 and 8 is what I always thought about belted mag. But he is trying to sell his die. I find his no. 3 post silly, I Ioad right on the ragged edge of feeling or having pressure on the bolt cam. On some guns I've had good success with doing so. You would have crank a bolt pretty hard to do what he is suggesting. Jambing into the lands on a tight chamber can also create the same effect. Bullet ogive also effects this. Without knowing or pointing fingers at the cause I would look to Dillon Lee rcbs they all talk about problems and techniques, where I am only a redneck gun nut.
The collet sizing or neck sizing die would probably work best for leaving the entire case alone except for the neck. I was referring to partial full length sizing, using a standard die, and backing it out a certain amount. When you do it right, it sizes the neck, doesn't push the shoulder back, and might size the casing somewhat, but barely. The technique above works fine with non belted cases. I'll definitely have to read up on it more before I start with the 257 Weatherby!
Imo collet sizing is generally the most accurate(the best) and makes the brass last the longest, but it's fire formed to that specific rifle or chamber. Belted mags are definitely cool, most of my calibers are common, and mass produced and more adorable to shoot. I think the best most available info is the 300 win mag, all the same rules should apply. That's the info I'm sharing and only experience I have with them. The op said he has been loading for a few decades so I think it's the junk american brass.
