First post here, awesome forum so far from what I can tell. I have 5 boxes of Winchester factory 25 wssm ammo with 120 grain hollow points loaded in it. While sighting the rifle in, " Browning A Bolt" I'm noticing atleast 1 outta every 3 cases seems to be cracking at the neck. I know wssm brass tends to do that after a few reloads but very surprised to see it happen with factory ammo.... Anyone have experience with this? Should I just pull them all, dump the powder and reload them myself? Ty ahead of time.
25 wssm Factory Brass Cracking
- Thread starter Jcorb81
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PddPdd
Well-Known Member
If you have an annealer I would try what you proposed including a step for annealing the brass before re-sizing and reloading.
std7mag
Well-Known Member
I'll agree, sounds like the brass got hard.
You can work harden it, or it can age harden.
I'd pull the bullets, powder & primer and anneal.
You can work harden it, or it can age harden.
I'd pull the bullets, powder & primer and anneal.
I've had this happen with other Winchester ammo, almost like they skipped an annealing step. New factory ammo I saw it in was several years old at least, and it didn't do it while new. I'd shoot it, and anneal afterward.
Yup, I've had the same experience.
Even the ones that I thought didn't crack did on subsequent firing. I'd pull em all and anneal.
YMMV.
Even the ones that I thought didn't crack did on subsequent firing. I'd pull em all and anneal.
YMMV.
I've used an ep integrations for years. They're pretty affordable compared to other options, and very simple
Mikecr
Well-Known Member
The WSSM ammo is disposable. It fires reliably, kills things, mission accomplished.
You will not really be able to fix that brass with annealing.
On the other hand, Win 'Reloading brass' in 25WSSM is pretty good, and you can pick plenty of perfect from it.
I bought a ton of that, measured thousands, never a failure.
I gotta say, given this brass thickness and alloy, If anybody is killing this brass BEFORE blowing up their guns, they have utterly failed in chamber designing and/or reloading departments.
You will not really be able to fix that brass with annealing.
On the other hand, Win 'Reloading brass' in 25WSSM is pretty good, and you can pick plenty of perfect from it.
I bought a ton of that, measured thousands, never a failure.
I gotta say, given this brass thickness and alloy, If anybody is killing this brass BEFORE blowing up their guns, they have utterly failed in chamber designing and/or reloading departments.
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Thank you. Sounds like I'll be buying an annealer and pulling a bunch of bullets and reloading them...
If you don't have an annealer send it to me and I'll do it for you! You pull the bullets. PM
if interested.
Joe
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No....you should send pics and box lot number to Winchester and get replacements....FREE
65x55Shooter
Active Member
I've had a Browning A-bolt in 23 WSSM for 20 years and had the same cracking issue. Some of the nickel plated brass cracked at the first firing and most always did after the first reload. I'm glad to have the input about annealing if the brass survives the first firing and I'll give that a try as I have a BAM from Little Crow, for WSSM cases. Thank you
