Reloading issue - Not mine. Opinions welcome

[cajuntec]

A friend brought these in today. He says he is neck sizing, using a full length die and just not going all the way down. Asked where he was stopping, he said the bottom of the die is right where the break is on the third case (you can see where the other two are showing marks / signs of fatigue / pending separation)

Looking at the primers, they are flat, but I've seen worse. No swipe marks on the case heads at all. No other splits, except for that clean break you see.

My initial thoughts were that his attempt at neck sizing was somehow causing fatigue at that particular point in the case - especially since that is exactly where the die is stopping. I also asked if his dies were clean or had any sharp edges / issues. I believe he said (I have to re-confirm tomorrow) that he was not on the upper end of the recommended reloading powder weight.

Thoughts?

All the best,
Glenn

[kmon]

Does his resized brass all fit well in the chamber or is there any difficulty closing the bolt on his "resized" cases? Is he bumping the shoulder back any or just mostly sizing the neck? Is he seating the bullets into the lands? How many loads on that brass?

I have only seen a couple cases fail at that point and they were hot loaded, neck sized with the bullets seated into the lands. Firing pin drives case forward as far as it will go then pressure causes the brass to grip the chamber tight before the case pushes back against the bolt face stretching the case where it has not gripped the camber walls fully stretching the case at that point. Have only seen this on cases that have been fired several times.

[Livin'2hunt]

This is why i use dedicated neck sizing dies. I have some RCBS dies for my 260 Rem that would do this if i tried to neck size with them. That's why I purchased Redding competition dies. Life is better lived that way. If I recall, Hornady brass is relatively soft so, I would venture to say, he has fatigued the brass. That or he isn't resetting the headspace enough. A tight bolt cam would reveal that. I would tell him to stop doing it this way before he wins an award he doesn't want.


Also, factory or custom rifle? Most factory 7x57s are rated for heavier bullets (170 grain +). How is he seating them from the lands and what bullet is he shooting?
.

[kck]

A friend brought these in today. He says he is neck sizing, using a full length die and just not going all the way down. Asked where he was stopping, he said the bottom of the die is right where the break is on the third case (you can see where the other two are showing marks / signs of fatigue / pending separation)

Looking at the primers, they are flat, but I've seen worse. No swipe marks on the case heads at all. No other splits, except for that clean break you see.

My initial thoughts were that his attempt at neck sizing was somehow causing fatigue at that particular point in the case - especially since that is exactly where the die is stopping. I also asked if his dies were clean or had any sharp edges / issues. I believe he said (I have to re-confirm tomorrow) that he was not on the upper end of the recommended reloading powder weight.

Thoughts?

All the best,
Glenn

In my opinion, I think your 3rd paragraph hit the nail on the head. He's overworked the brass at a weird spot on the body and the others are about to do the same. Either FL size all the way or NS, bump shoulder and then FL size as needed but don't do it this way.

[Radar]

How many times has he reloaded the cases? Has he had to trim them alot?

[cajuntec]

Does his resized brass all fit well in the chamber or is there any difficulty closing the bolt on his "resized" cases? Is he bumping the shoulder back any or just mostly sizing the neck? Is he seating the bullets into the lands? How many loads on that brass?

I have only seen a couple cases fail at that point and they were hot loaded, neck sized with the bullets seated into the lands. Firing pin drives case forward as far as it will go then pressure causes the brass to grip the chamber tight before the case pushes back against the bolt face stretching the case where it has not gripped the camber walls fully stretching the case at that point. Have only seen this on cases that have been fired several times.

I'm going to re-engage with him this morning. I know he was having difficulty a while back with closing the bolt, as he was ONLY neck sizing, and not bumping the shoulder back. I loaned him my Hornady Headspace Gauge set, and he did say that after he bumped back the shoulder, that problem went away. But I don't know how far back he bumped it. I don't know if he is seating into the lands, or how many loads he has on this brass. I'll ask him those questions this morning if I see him. Thank you.
All the best,
Glenn

[cajuntec]

This is why i use dedicated neck sizing dies. I have some RCBS dies for my 260 Rem that would do this if i tried to neck size with them. That's why I purchased Redding competition dies. Life is better lived that way. If I recall, Hornady brass is relatively soft so, I would venture to say, he has fatigued the brass. That or he isn't resetting the headspace enough. A tight bolt cam would reveal that. I would tell him to stop doing it this way before he wins an award he doesn't want.


Also, factory or custom rifle? Most factory 7x57s are rated for heavier bullets (170 grain +). How is he seating them from the lands and what bullet is he shooting?
.

I only neck size for one cartridge - the .30 Herrett - But I do have a neck sizing die for that, and I recommended that to him when we first started having this reloading discussion. He's still using that FL sizing die.

You're also the third person I've had a conversation with that mentioned Hornady brass being soft. I don't use much Hornady brass, so I had nothing to compare it to. But that seems to be a common theme - soft Hornady brass.

It's a factory rifle. I'm going to ask him how he is seating them today, and which projectile he's using.

All the best,
Glenn

[cajuntec]

How many times has he reloaded the cases? Has he had to trim them alot?

Not sure. I'll ask today. He was in a hurry when he dropped these off with me yesterday, so we hardly talked about them. He just wanted me to check them out and let him know what I thought. I wanted to get different opinions. I've reloaded for a while, but I'm far from being an expert.

All the best,
Glenn

[Radar]

What you got that 30 Herrett in? I had one in my Contender and it shot real well.

Dont mean to side track the thread, but had not thought about that one in years.

[cajuntec]

What you got that 30 Herrett in? I had one in my Contender and it shot real well.

Dont mean to side track the thread, but had not thought about that one in years.

Same. T/C Contender. Original Easy-Open frame. Love the platform. I also have .357 Max, 7TCU, and 7-30 Waters - All pistol barrels.

All the best,
Glenn

[BrianL]

IMO, not working the brass all the way is causing brass with different OD along the case causing different pressure on that area. Either get a neck die or full length size.

[berettadave]

I'm sure the die adjustment is causing this. It's too far up the case for it to be the classical head separation issue I would think.

[sierracharlie338]

X2 on the Redding neck sizing dies. I run them on my 260 and over six reloads have had zero problems. I am also using Lapua brass . . .

My opinion is that the use of the NON neck sizing die being used for neck sizing and the combination of soft Hornady brass are the reasons for the issues.

[Artos]

This seems odd...if the bottom of the die is stopping where the break is, then he is likely barely even resizing the very tip of the neck to get tension on the bullet & am betting the rest of the body is not being squeezed enough & he is having to cam over the bolt to get some cases closed. Neck sizing only is not a good thing if your bolt is not closing easily. At some point you are going to gall the locking lugs. I want all my cases to be minimum full length sized to where there is no bolt resistance from the case being too tight in the chamber when closed.

Tell your friend to run the die all the way till it touches the shell holder and do a complete FL run...throw out any other remaining cases that have been through the original procedure.

[cajuntec]

This seems odd...if the bottom of the die is stopping where the break is, then he is likely barely even resizing the very tip of the neck to get tension on the bullet & am betting the rest of the body is not being squeezed enough & he is having to cam over the bolt to get some cases closed. Neck sizing only is not a good thing if your bolt is not closing easily. At some point you are going to gall the locking lugs. I want all my cases to be minimum full length sized to where there is no bolt resistance from the case being too tight in the chamber when closed.

Tell your friend to run the die all the way till it touches the shell holder and do a complete FL run...throw out any other remaining cases that have been through the original procedure.

You know... I hadn't even thought about that. If the bottom of the die is stopping where the break is, I don't see how he is sizing the neck either. Hmmm... I really need to talk with him this morning. Hoping he stops by the office.
All the best,
Glenn