Split Neck !

just

Well-Known Member
Hi there, on close examination of my Hornet cases about half of them have split necks !! They've probably been used 4 o'r 5 times. Is this the end of the road for them !? and what causes this !? Thank's lads..
 
The brass is extreemly thin on hornet cases you are lucky to get that many uses from them. I have 250 12g cartridge carton full of used cases mainly norma if you want some a pm and p&p costs you can have some.I once bought a batch of cpc rounds and almost all of them split on first fireing they were cheap and the brass seems very brittle.Yes it is the end of the road best place for them in a scrap dealer mind you it will take a lot to make that worth the trip even at £2000 per tonne.
 
If I only got 5 fireings out of a Hornet case I would be looking at my loads.
I have Remington cases that have just been loaded for the 10th time, and PPU that have more than that.

Neil.
 
As stated before, chuck the whole batch, including those that haven't split yet.

Anneal the necks between loads and they'll double in lifetime.
 
Your split necks are not a result of the load, but the loading process. You're overworking the brass.

Are you still using that crappy RCBS sizer die that gave you problems when you first started?? If so, ditch it and buy a Lee Collet sizerdie. This will allow minimal (or adjustable) sizing without dragging that super thin Hornet brass over that awful expander ball. Then buy a Lee Universal expander die. This will allow your bullets to start straight into the case, instead of jamming themselves into the case mouth -again, working the brass. Then a get factory crimp die because it's a good idea!

Hornet brass is too thin to work like you would regular rifle brass. Find a way to treat it nicely and for heaven's sake, keep track of the number of loads.:p~Muir
 
If using the same brass everytime in the same rifle, I avoid FL sizing more than once, and only neck size each time. As mentioned above, overworking brass (the result of constant FL sizing, among other bad practices) will cause something known as "work hardening", which means that each time you FL size, the brass will flow back to the size it was before you FL sized it (the dimensions of that particular rifle chamber) then you cut more, and it will fill the gap again and so on. Brass on the move like this becomes very brittle and will split.
 
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