270 wsm split neck

[lightflight]

So went out to the range today to shoot 270wsm. Reloads of my own. Out of the box of 20 I had 2 cases where the neck split. One half down to shoulder the other down to shoulder.

History of brass. Bought factory loaded win. Box shot it. this was the second time I have reloaded it.

Load. IMR 4350 58 gr with 130gr SST bullet.

Redding dies FL resize.

The first time I reloaded I had issues with working the brass as the only thing I have reloaded is 223 and 9mm which you can teach a monkey to do. The rounds were not fitting the chamber but I have that worked out now...

Could these two split case necks be due to over working the brass and/or having my FL sizing die set incorrectly?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[kc0pph]

Sounds to me like an anealing problem.

 

[lightflight]

Yeah I'm such a newbie. So looks like I need to anneal the brass after a reload or two?
Helps soften the brass and keep it from getting brittle... Correct?

Looks like I need to look more into annealing the brass...

 

[kc0pph]

Possibly. When you work the brass a lot it gets brittle. You soften it by annealing. I have 223 brass on its 30th reloading without annealing, same thing with 357 magnum. Now they are pretty low pressure. I think the Short Mag needs annealing more often, i remember reading it somewhere. For expensive brass anneal every few firings (2-5 or so) for cheap brass wait until one cracks then anneal them all, chuck back pieces.

Not sure this really applies but you also might be over working your necks. With pistol brass you bell it before you seat a bullet. If you bell too much your brass life sucks. Your expander ball might be a big large, but i doubt it.

 

[hammertyme]

I neck down 270WSM brass for a wildcat 6.5 cartridge.
I started splitting cases from the first time I shot the newly formed brass and lost 60% of the first 50 cases by the 3rd firing.

I annealed the next 50 cases before I did anyting else to the case. All is good and no more split necks.

Neal

 

[lightflight]

Awesome. Sounds like that's what I need to do then.

Neal... Do you anneal after every firing?

Also my wife would like to know if I was in any real danger. gun)

 

[hammertyme]

No danger at all. Danger is at the other end of the case. The neck end just quits holding the bullet in my experience.

I have not ever annealed the same case twice. There is a specific process for annealing so read up well.
Example: I crushed a case shoulder that was TOO soft. I got the case to hot down into the shoulder. Never had this happen before but I haven't had diminishing eyesight before either.

I anneal in the dark using but a candle so that I can see when the case neck is just turning orange. If one does it in the light it is too hot when one see's the color.

Neal

 

[.284]

One other reason might be headspace. You mentioned that at first the rounds would not chamber. I don't know if your overall length was too long or maybe it was headspace. If you full length size a case and it is hard to close the bolt then it may be your headspacing. Turn the sizing down about an 1/8 of a turn or so at a time until the bolt closes easily - like factory ammo. I had a few 270 wsm cases split on the necks like you described due to this. After I fixed that I now get about 5 reloads on average before the necks split. This is without annealing.
Just another thing to consider

 

[Fishhook805]

I neck down 270WSM brass for a wildcat 6.5 cartridge.
I started splitting cases from the first time I shot the newly formed brass and lost 60% of the first 50 cases by the 3rd firing.

I annealed the next 50 cases before I did anyting else to the case. All is good and no more split necks.

Neal

about to enter your world I have a 270 WSM at the smith right now having it chambered to a 6.5 I found 6.5x300 Lee dies and have 300 pieces of used 270 WSM brass. rate of twist I am still kicking around because of the constraints of the magazine related to case OAL and setting heavier bullets so deep, right now I'm thinking 7.5, should be back to me in a couple months.