Recent Experience with Peterson Brass- Neck Breakage and Brittleness

[QuietTexan]

.331 sounds tight!..

I'd agree it's towards the bottom end of the range for .308 caliber. .333-.337 is more common, but if he's really using a .327 and is getting .334 fired neck OD then it's a move in the right direction.

 

[Idaho Lefty]

My first suspicion is your chamber may be on the big side (maybe even in neck clearance), especially when you mention having issues with other brass manufacturers. Compare a new case to a fired one, I think the brass is getting overworked.

AGREE,. the Volume of Soot around, the Case Neck, would lead me to believe that, he has an Oversized Chamber, ( in Neck area ) and probably, a slightly undersized Neck area, in the Sizing Die.
The OP needs to do some Measuring ( Chamber and Dies ) as the SOOT goes all the way down to,.. the Shoulder

 

[Veteran]

No it looks bad. Take another pic. It looks like there's a low/stretch area just below the line where it will separate. Could be from before you started only bumping 2 thou, but not good.
As asked before what's your fired and sized neck width?
And how are you annealing. I have a Annealleez as well, 6 to 7 seconds with the tip of the flame just touching the neck shoulder junction, is what I do. And I don't lube bullets for seating. I can get 15 firings from my 7mag Peterson brass.

As answered above, I have none loaded, none sized right now.
Only fired casings. I am also traveling and cant create or get
anything more for now.

The case heads are not damaged. No issues w case heads, just the necks at this time.

 

[Veteran]

I just checked 3 different 300 wm fired cases with .338-.341 fired dimensions. .331 sounds tight!.. Also crimping non- cannular projectiles can Dramatically spike pressure...albeit case head separations. As stated by others....DON'T CRIMP! Back that die off!

My fired cases are .334 to .335.

I'm not sure what brand you have that are .338 to.341, but it may be brand or chamber differences.

I plan to stop crimping, yes, unless shooting hammers and may try again then. I will also check my loaded rounds OD w bullet seated and subtract .002 which is what Redding says to specify the Bushing.

But I note the minimum bushing Redding shows for .300 WM is .331, so I must have blown the bushing size at 327 for sure.
Looks like this is the issue causing to much contraction and expansion over working the necks.



1) New .331 or larger bushing
2) stop crimping
3) lube case necks for easier seating.

Thats my plan.

 

[243winxb]

Looks like this is the issue causing to much contraction and expansion over working the necks.

This will do it.

Chemicals can also.

Over worked or defective brass. Cleaned/wiped with a bath towel, before loading.

These from soaking in a vinegar wash. The chemical damage can not be fixed by annealing. Copper solvents have ammonia. Dont get it near brass or on it. Dry chambers well before shooting.

Brass in my photos are 223/5.56 It is common for this new brass to have a donut at the neck/shoulder junction. The expander is near impossible, at times to pull the expander thru the lubed necks. The donut can be removed by neck turning.
A bushing die may help by not sizing all the way to the shoulder.

 

[243winxb]

Dawn Ultra Dishwashing Liquid contains up to 15% Ethanol .
Two (2) drops is plenty in a liquid wash.

Ethanol effect on cartridge brass.
The test fluids selected for this investigation were Fuel C, CE10a, CE17a, and CE25a. Fuel C was
selected as the control since it is representative of premium gasoline and is a standard test fluid widely
used for studying material compatibility to gasoline. Google- E15 effect on cartridge brass.

 

[Dirtrax]

My fired cases are .334 to .335.

I'm not sure what brand you have that are .338 to.341, but it may be brand or chamber differences.

I plan to stop crimping, yes, unless shooting hammers and may try again then. I will also check my loaded rounds OD w bullet seated and subtract .002 which is what Redding says to specify the Bushing.

But I note the minimum bushing Redding shows for .300 WM is .331, so I must have blown the bushing size at 327 for sure.
Looks like this is the issue causing to much contraction and expansion over working the necks.



1) New .331 or larger bushing
2) stop crimping
3) lube case necks for easier seating.

Thats my plan.

Copy all that, didn't mean to pressure you. One thing to be aware of is that the bushings aren't always the marked size. It is a good idea to measure them.

 

[SSG Graybush]

My fired cases are .334 to .335.

I'm not sure what brand you have that are .338 to.341, but it may be brand or chamber differences.

I plan to stop crimping, yes, unless shooting hammers and may try again then. I will also check my loaded rounds OD w bullet seated and subtract .002 which is what Redding says to specify the Bushing.

But I note the minimum bushing Redding shows for .300 WM is .331, so I must have blown the bushing size at 327 for sure.
Looks like this is the issue causing to much contraction and expansion over working the necks.



1) New .331 or larger bushing
2) stop crimping
3) lube case necks for easier seating.

Thats my plan.

No need to lube the case necks for seating. And no need to crimp either on a 300 wm bolt rifle. And if you do crimp, use a collet crimper, never crimp with a seating die.
Load a dumbie round, measure neck and order a bushing 2 or 3 thou smaller. But first, throw that old brass away. Start anew.
Once headspace is set, treat a belted mag just like a non belted case.
With my Annealeez I try to anneal each piece for 6 to 7 seconds, just barely get color change after each firing.

 

[QuietTexan]

1) New .331 or larger bushing
2) stop crimping
3) lube case necks for easier seating.

Thats my plan.

Looks like a good plan to me Hopefully it makes the brass last longer.

 

[xsn10s]

My fired cases are .334 to .335.

I'm not sure what brand you have that are .338 to.341, but it may be brand or chamber differences.

I plan to stop crimping, yes, unless shooting hammers and may try again then. I will also check my loaded rounds OD w bullet seated and subtract .002 which is what Redding says to specify the Bushing.

But I note the minimum bushing Redding shows for .300 WM is .331, so I must have blown the bushing size at 327 for sure.
Looks like this is the issue causing to much contraction and expansion over working the necks.



1) New .331 or larger bushing
2) stop crimping
3) lube case necks for easier seating.

Thats my plan.

I think I wouldn't crimp even the Hammer bullets either, at least at first. If you use an expander ball then give that a good polish. Mirror finish if you can.

 

[FullCurl8]

Looks like a good plan to me Hopefully it makes the brass last longer.

So how do you determine the repeatability on case neck lube for bullet seating? Neck tension would be all over the place I would think.

 

[FullCurl8]

My fired cases are .334 to .335.

I'm not sure what brand you have that are .338 to.341, but it may be brand or chamber differences.

I plan to stop crimping, yes, unless shooting hammers and may try again then. I will also check my loaded rounds OD w bullet seated and subtract .002 which is what Redding says to specify the Bushing.

But I note the minimum bushing Redding shows for .300 WM is .331, so I must have blown the bushing size at 327 for sure.
Looks like this is the issue causing to much contraction and expansion over working the necks.



1) New .331 or larger bushing
2) stop crimping
3) lube case necks for easier seating.

Thats my plan.

I would love to see you not anneal, not lube the necks, not crimp and neck size only and start shooting that brass. There are a lot of man inflicted parameters going into that brass that may have shot just fine without them?

 

[Patton243]

I have always had excellent results with Peterson Brass, but after 4-5 firings on my .300 WM, I am starting to see necks
tear, sever, and become cracked.

I annealed this brass every firing.

The reason I switched to Peterson was case head separations above the belt in 3 firings, on the other brands.

I bump the shoulders back .002 every time, and have been careful not to over exercise the sizing die into causing fatique above the belts which is where I had problems before. Now, I have had no more case head separations and not even the tell tale circular cracking that comes just before it separates. Instead on about 5 of 50 of my Peterson cases, I am seeing cracks, and neck severing as in the pictures attached.

I am shooting the Peterson .300 WM belted regular brass, not the long brass. I am lubing the bullet bases with graphite powder prior to placing them in the necks to seat them. I have spoken to Muddyboots and he has recommended I lube the case necks inside before seating with case lube. I will try that next. I also have the Peterson .300 WM longs but have not tried them yet.

Now, the rifle I am loading for and firing these in is not a regular bolt gun, instead it is a bit of an odd duck, the TC Encore with switchable barrels. So it is a breach loader with some tendency to possible head spacing issues.

I'd be interested in hearing of any similar experience with neck cracking and failures on Peterson or other brass.
See the attached pictures. I took all of these out of my tumbler this last go round and then when I inspected them,
found these issues. I will definitely check my breech and bore on the rifle for the severed neck which is missing on the one casing.
Just in case......, no pun intended.

Yeah, that one that is severed and missing the neck looks like I left it in the trimmer waaaaaayyyyyy too long......

Until it was waaaaaayyyyyy too short!

Peterson sucks IMO. I had cases crack on a 6x47 Lapua after 2-3 firings and they tried blaming me for not annealing them after each shot. Meanwhile I can shoot Lapua cases 10x and not have to anneal them. I don't understand how people think this company is so great. The brass is good out of the box, but the longevity of it IMO is garbage. I wont buy from them again after last years debacle.

 

[Patton243]

Oh and one more thing: I sent the cracked cases into Peterson and they took over a month to tell me I need to anneal after each firing. I then put some pressure on them asking if I could get a new box maybe the ones I got were defective. They assured me they would send me out another box free of charge after I gave them my address. I never received that box after several months. I even reached out 2-3 months later asking about the box they were going to send me out and never got a response.