AMP Annealer VS No annealing Vs Torch Head Annealer Vs 2nd/3rd Shot

[jdmecomber]

Finally getting around to read this and have an interesting thing I learned from it Id like to share.

I recently bought a box of Hornady 243win 58gr. Superformance varmint ammo from Scheels. The rifle is a 243 Ackley improved.

The other day I had a piece of brass have this same failure mark show up on the case after firing. The round audibly popped and smoke puffed from the action too. The case extracted in one piece but had the ring you're experiencing at roughly 5 firings. It was exactly that light color ring in exactly that same spot from ammo that was new from the factory. I pried on the case and it snapped right at that ring. It appeared that the case was very very thin walled at that section but I wasn't sure if this was due to the chamber being an Ackley and the case stretching so much.

Moral of the story? Hornady brass continues its reputation of being junk I guess....

I can tell you I will never use it again.

 

[tbrice23]

There is a couple of new cartridges that I'm interested in, 6.5 PRC and 224 Valkyrie one has only Federal brass available the other only has Hornady.... so I'm out on both counts.

 

[Rinky]

There is a couple of new cartridges that I'm interested in, 6.5 PRC and 224 Valkyrie one has only Federal brass available the other only has Hornady.... so I'm out on both counts.

Federal brass that bad?

 

[jdmecomber]

I can tell you I will never use it again.

I checked my headspace and it was around .0015-.001. I reset it to around .002.

I started my test and tried to complete it twice but couldn't get past three firings on each group of brass. What a waste to time.

Here is the test where I annealed after fireforming with the AMP, and then shot one group without annealing.

New Brass group 1
1 2872 AVG 2850 ES 38 SD 15
2 2853
3 2834
4 2856
5 2839

2nd firing AMP annealed
1 2860 AVG 2857 ES 16 SD 6
2 2861
3 2847
4 2863
5 2854

3rd firing no annealing
1 2880 this bullet I marked for more neck tension when seating
2 2866 AVG 2869 ES 17 SD 7
3 2874
4 2863
5 2864

FAILED BRASS!

New Brass group 2
1 2852 AVG 2863 ES 29 SD 10
2 2881
3 2864
4 2861
5 2858

2nd Firing AMP annealed brass
1 2863 AVG 2852 ES 14 SD 5.8
2 2849
3 2850
4 2850
5 2851

3rd Firing no annealing
1 2853 AVG 2861 ES 19 SD 6.8
2 2860
3 2861
4 2872
5 2863

BRASS FAILED! I guess a little more headspace made for more growth and the brass couldn't handle it?

Well sorry guys. I tried 2x times to make this happen and I think I am going to just throw the last unfired pieces in the trash.

 

[jdmecomber]

Couple pics

 

[Pdvdh]

I can tell you I will never use it (Hornady) again.

The unintended conclusion of your testing, one that cannot be disputed! Who'd have guessed that one was coming? Impressively POOR brass quality.

Hornady might add a caution to each box of factory ammo: Do not reload these cases. Designed for a single firing only.

They should also stop selling brass for the reloader, until they get a handle on QA/QC of the casings being distributed for consumer use.

 

[CaptnC]

It a shame their brass does not hold up any better because it seems the rest of their loaded ammo components are GTG. Everyone loves shooting their ammo.

I got 8 loadings out of Hornady 25-06 brass in my 6.5-06 before the cases started coming apart at the web. I didn't anneal at that time.

I've just recently started cleaning flash holes and their tooling is as good as Lapua. I always dump the shavings out in one spot to "track" how much trash is around the flash hole. Lapua and Hornady brass were very close to the same.

Federal brass...OMG...about every 20th case I have to use a drill bit to break the chunks out from around the flash hole.

Winchester is close to to Hornady and Lapua, Remington is next. But they are all leagues above the trash in a Federal case.

When I get home from the range...all the Federal range brass I pick up goes straight to the scrape brass bucket.

 

[jdmecomber]

The concentricity on factory hornady ammunition is impressive. Maybe I got a bad batch.

 

[sedancowboy]

It is all a bad batch!! Had new 6MM Creedmoor Hornady Brass split after 2 loadings and more split on the 3 loadings. No more Hornady brass for me. Glad that ADG are now making the 6MM Creedmoor brass. Great company and brass.

 

[Rinky]

It is all a bad batch!! Had new 6MM Creedmoor Hornady Brass split after 2 loadings and more split on the 3 loadings. No more Hornady brass for me. Glad that ADG are now making the 6MM Creedmoor brass. Great company and brass.

Can't really call it a bad batch when it's across multiple calibers and years of manufacture... it's just bad QC all the way around and that's why the reputation and inside jokes exist. Junk.

 

[WalksLikeADeer]

The concentricity on factory hornady ammunition is impressive. Maybe I got a bad batch.

jdmecomber:
It would be helpful if you would list the number of failed cases and the associated method of annealing for the failed cases so we could see if they are related to a particular annealing process?

 

[jdmecomber]

jdmecomber:
It would be helpful if you would list the number of failed cases and the associated method of annealing for the failed cases so we could see if they are related to a particular annealing process?

I guess I didn't think it was worth it because the no annealing group failed also at 5 firings. I had 22 out of 25 fail at 5 firings. 2 failed at the first firing.

 

[jdmecomber]

I guess I didn't think it was worth it because the no annealing group failed also at 5 firings.

I have some once fired Lapua brass. I will do two groups of 5 with it. I will do the anneal every time group and after two firings. I might be able to work on this in the next couple days.

 

[Pdvdh]

I'm reluctant to state this, but the fact that your Hornady cases were flawed could have affected your entire set of data. There's a lot of things that can affect ES/SD, and structurally flawed brass would be one of those things, in my opinion.