Another Hornady brass thread!

[Starlite]

Let me see if I have this right. You bought 100 cases and loaded them so they would be fire formed to your chamber, then you loaded 50 (2 batches of 25) and fired them for final break in and load development. Then the remaining 50 were loaded with your best load and have been sitting from before last hunting season, so less than a year?

Did any of the two batches of 25 split their necks when you fired them?
What process did you use to clean your cases please?

Since you used the same dies with the two batches of 25 and if none of them split I don't see how the dies are causing this. To me it seems that something in your process has made the necks brittle other than resizing them.

By the way I am not a fan of Hornady brass, I have factory loaded 257 Roberts ammo here that some of the necks are cracked on before I have even fired them.

Yep I'd believe that. I recently bought some .223 Rem brass from bass pro ( 2 box of 50) I had 1 split neck and several with dented shoulders. They didn't even look Annealed. I called Hornady with both; my safety concerns and my displeasure with their product. Cant Say I felt very supported but was assured they were indeed annealed and safe to use. So I proceeded to load them for some general velocity #s but mainly to FF to the new Rem 700 with heavy 26" barrel. Well this was a disaster and only left me with more questions then answers. Of the first 10 rds (IIR) I had 9 misfires. At that point I packed up and went angrily on my way home. So after disassembling the remaining bullets I felt that the powder and primers were fine. Just to be sure I reloaded the powder and primer into a piece of IVI brass and covered it with the same 55gr VMAX To the same CBTO. I Went to the woods and attempted a firing. It Worked like a charm. At this time I felt that it had to be the brass; wasn't quite sure what. I say this because split necks and dented shoulders are soft and hard brass issues (as I see it). I called Hornady and this time spoke to someone who was definitely interested in talking and assisting me with my perceived brass issue. After providing all the COAL, CBTO, CBTD and the depths of the primers of the new unfired and the one piece of fire formed brass we had determined two things. First determined my head space was 3.5 thou and it was well within "Sammy" spec. So not likely the cause. Second I had several light primer strikes. According to the Hornady rep. My seated primers were 3 thou below surface and certainly within proper depths. I was pleased to hear that according to hornady they preach that primers should be seated from 5-8 thou and suggest using federal gold match primers and that I should replace my Remington 700 firing pin spring.
So at the end of the day without getting my brass to hornady they can't make a definitive reason for my issues.
It is worth stating that I also provided info that I had from the Lapua brass that also was new brass and that I had no issues whatsoever. I did tell him that I had no interest in getting compensation as I wasn't fully convinced that the brass was defective. However. I did state that I'd lost some faith in their product. He said he was going to ensure that I receive some new brass. I'm still watching and waiting.
I apologize for the photos. Poor quality.

 

[misterc01]

I use Hornady brass, and have not experienced problems with it to date. I measure the necks at four points, and if the same , proceed, If not, then I turn them for consistency. I use match grade bushing dies. So far, so good.

 

[tim_w]

Do you have pics of any of the splits?

Were they full splits down to the shoulder junction or partials starting @ case mouth and only a small way toward the shoulder?

Can think of two possibilities and maybe a combo of both.

 

[tim_w]

Most people think brass condition does not change over time , its static. But that is only true in the fully annealed state. When brass has stress/energy worked into it that force /pressure between crystals and joints can create changes.

Example:
Someone that has one of seating load gauges from K&M or 21 Century etc. Size a few cases 10 (all the same lot firings) Immediately after seat a few bullets. Record the force readings. Now wait a month or two and using the same bullets seat the rest. See what the peak force load is on those compared to the others......
,....................


They see the same cracking thing in copper pipe and when temp cycled ( no where near annealing temps. Cold hot water levels. The pipes were developing cracks in the work harden stress areas. Very Low temp annealing eliminated it.

With poorly annealed from factory case necks could have contributed to this in combo with the cold. It is also posdible that it started at stress risers micro cracks at the shoulder neck junction hence my question and pic request.

 

[okie man]

They split all the way to the shoulder neck junction or farther. All I did to them for first firing is run my expander down the neck to true them up then uniform the primer pockets and check flash holes for burrs. I will say the depth of primer pockets were all over the place because some needed just a quick bump and some needed a couple cuts with clearing the chips between cuts. Same for trimming after fire forming.

 

[SSgt G Cody]

This splitting of brass necks is odd. The only similar incident I've heard of is when a friend of mine chilled in cold water his newly annealed (and still hot) brass, fresh out of the oven. After loading and shooting these 50 rounds, over half had split necks. Extreme stretch can cause some too. Treat these babies gently, and they'll last many reloads. After annealing, allow brass to cool slowly before further prep.

 

[tom pickup]

I know this has been said before but , why does it have to be like this? So I fire sized 100 Hornady 6.5 creedmoor cases while breaking in my new rifle. Loaded 50 in 25 case batches doing final break in and load development last summer. Loaded the other 50 with my best load and never fired a shot during hunting season. Went out today, 30 degrees , and started shooting . I put 10 rounds down the tube and half the cases had split necks. Any one else have an issue with necks splitting in the cold but not when it's warmer? Should I be looking at a better quality brass? 2 shots per case isn't gonna be any cheaper than 5 plus from Lapua or adg . Thoughts?

I have the same thing with my horandy cases. i was thinking of sending them back to see what horandy says.

 

[jjmp]

I'm really liking my Bench source annealer,but it can't fix the Fact that I'm hearing more Bad then good about Hornadys brass across the board , gone are the days Remington & Winchester brass were so very plentifull ,yes I'll give Federal honorable mention ,hey Hornady turn Down the speed of your machines and give US our Money's worth, this Ain't the Gold show but then again it mite be .

 

[okie man]

I have 3 firings on a bunch of federal gmm 308 brass . It's gonna get annealed before I load again but it did better than Hornady match 308 brass. Those lost primer pockets after 2 firings.

 

[mlberg]

I'm on my fourth firing of Hornady brass in a Savage 10 BA Stealth 6.5CM, all different lots and have no issues with Hornady brass. The gun shoots .3MOA. I took a cold bore shot at and 8" square plate at 800yds and hit it. I anneal after every firing with an Anneal Eze annealer. I'm pushing 140gr ELDM's at around 2700fps. Hornady brass works for me.

 

[Equalizer]

I gotta say this is pretty slick.... after reading this thread I am going to try the primer pocket repair and the salt bath annealing!!!

re Hornady brass... I have had mixed results. The 6.5 Saum was weak. The 6.5 Grendel has held up so far. I have also used their 358 Winchester brass (held up pretty good too) and recently I bought some of their "top shelf sorted" stuff for 338 WM & 264 WM. I'll check the latter ones out for consistency/longevity for sure. As someone else mentioned in some calibers it's much easier to find Hornady brass than other brands. I personally like R-P & Winchester and I love Lapua but sometimes ya gotta use what ya can get or have on hand.

 

[3030hunter]

For what it's worth, I got my 30-30 with three boxes of the Hornady Lev Evo... and found cracked brass on the factory loads prior to firing. Even the one's I pulled that looked fine, 3/4 brass came out cracked at the shoulder after firing. I even loaded some of them down to low pressure trailboss loads and still got cracked shoulders after firing, (no reshaping). Next step is to try and temper a couple that look okay and see how it turns out. The pic isn't the best, but you can see the crack starting at the neck there.

 

[Rob01]

For what it's worth, I got my 30-30 with three boxes of the Hornady Lev Evo... and found cracked brass on the factory loads prior to firing. Even the one's I pulled that looked fine, 3/4 brass came out cracked at the shoulder after firing. I even loaded some of them down to low pressure trailboss loads and still got cracked shoulders after firing, (no reshaping). Next step is to try and temper a couple that look okay and see how it turns out. The pic isn't the best, but you can see the crack starting at the neck there.

Other brass doesn't do it?

 

[3030hunter]

Haven't had a

Other brass doesn't do it?

Haven't had any issues with reusing Winchester or PPU. and this is the first time I've seen Brass cracked from the manufacturer. Might have been a bad lot of brass, but it makes me wonder about their process. I plan to tear 5 down this weekend and temper to see, but it's certainly possible many of them have cracks too small to see.