The ring of doom! Ringed brass cases.

[Smellydog]

For education purposes only to any new reloaders if you get any brass with a ring appearing discard it. Do not load it up again!
By inserting a piece of bent wire you will feel the area of thinning which will result in a case head separation.
Hope this helps someone.

 

[Overlay]

What causes that sd thin worn wall and excessive pressure or just wear and tear on any calibre. I’ve never seen it before

 

[bowji john]

Is that 556 link ?

 

[Stalker62]

What causes that sd thin worn wall and excessive pressure or just wear and tear on any calibre. I’ve never seen it before

Wear and tear - reloading.
Excessive pressure will exacerbate it.
Not annealing will exacerbate it.


You re-use the brass enough, this will happen.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Keep it as a means of demonstrating use of firearms if ever visited by a new and eager FEO!

K

 

[bowji john]

Or screwing up your reloading

I’ve called this 403.95 Jeff!

 

[Smellydog]

What causes that sd thin worn wall and excessive pressure or just wear and tear on any calibre. I’ve never seen it before

S62 covered it well.
These are an overbook 222 load and have been reloaded about 4x but even standard loads eventually this can happen.
Just don't ignore it, that's the point .

 

[SCC]

One cause can be bumping the shoulder too far back (too much head space) causing excessive stretch in the case each time its fired. Eventually it thins out and fails near the end of the web.
Make sure your full length resize die is set so the shoulder excactly fits your chamber.

 

[Overlay]

S62 covered it well.
These are an overbook 222 load and have been reloaded about 4x but even standard loads eventually this can happen.
Just don't ignore it, that's the point .

My 222 6.5 purchased sako factory and 3 uses later in the scrap bin. Never seen that ever, something to take onboard

 

[Apthorpe]

I'd just add that you should file the end of your bent wire to a sharp tip so that you can feel where it is thinning better.
Sometimes (or maybe often? I defer to an expert) you feel it thinning from the inside before it is visible on the outside.

 

[Foxyboy43]

Yep - more common than you think and can lead to great excitement when one lets go - ignore the ring at your peril!
This link from an old post on the Reloading Process and a few examples for emphasis…l
Overview of the Reloading Process - From Spent Case to Loaded Round



The early warning tool for detecting Insipient Case Separation (from a wiper stiffening rod). Note that the point needs to be filed to a flat narrow point to better find cracks!

 

[wanderer]

Very good info. I know about the method with the wire but only because someone told me.
So not something everyone would know about.

 

[Stalker62]

At the risk of 'upsetting' (I don't care); those who wilfully continue to claim that the head/bullet/head, argument (there is no argument - it is bullet), does not matter.

Herewith, we are talking about case head separation. This is a real thing.

Education, reloading, firearms, ballistics, it is a real science. Nomenclature is important.

It is OK to not know a thing.

It is not OK to 'know' a thing, and then wilfully continue to plead that it does not matter. It does.

It is no good sticking your 'bullet' in the sand...

 

[webley701]

Not annealing will exacerbate it.

AMP (who make by far the best annealer) did a comprehensive test which didn’t bear this out, i.e. annealing had no effect one way or another).

Your other points are very valid though.

 

[Dalua]

I've had this with the two earliest rifles/calibres for which I reloaded - at which time I had not undertsood the helpful practice of setting FL dies to resize correctly for a particular chamber. Instead, I was blindly following the instruction to squish that case right down to the shell-holder each time. The .270s were 'going' just above the web, but the .223s were showing the ring of death where Smellydog's .222 has it - a good deal further towards the shoulder.

As Webley701 points out annealing seems unlikely to have any impact, nor am I sure that higher-pressure-than-sensible loads alone would do it either.

As I understand it, if the case fits the chamber properly - meaning that there is no headspace when the bolt is in battery - then the relative movement of one part of the case relative to the rest during firing, which causes the stretching, physically cannot happen to any significant extent regardless of pressure or annealing.

As an aside, I've never been much good at detecting the incipient problem with the paper-clip-type apparatus. A look inside with an endoscope/borescope, however, is very revealing.

 

[Quixote]

What causes that sd thin worn wall and excessive pressure or just wear and tear on any calibre. I’ve never seen it before

Repeated firing eventually thins the case wall at it's weakest area (usually just above the web on the inside of the case head). It's basically metal fatigue induced by cyclic stress. Indicates imminent case head separation and a world of pain

 

[Smellydog]

Hmm, I think you will find that the brass under pressure flows forward, that is why we have to trim the brass! Where it's to thick to flow is where the thinning occurs.

 

[deeangeo]

The method to defer case head separation is NOT to full length resize to SAAMI/CIP spec. F/L re-size to the fired case HEADSPACE dimension. Set your die up correctly to do this. Once set up, shoulder bump should not be greater than Max. .003" (Preferably a little less) Anneal of course to keep case neck & shoulder in good order so that necks don't crack & the case obturates well.
Doing the above will increase case life - probably significantly.

 

[Quixote]

Anneal of course to keep case neck & shoulder in good order so that necks don't crack & the case obturates well

What happens when you forget

 

[Dalua]

Some discussion here

Case Head Separation Signs?

Hi, I‘d thought I would tap into the collective reloading wisdom here. These cases are 30-06 Bremmer cases that have been fired three times. The load is quite hot being 51.0 grns of VIT N150. The cases have stretched a bit and will require a bit of trimming if reloaded again. My instincts...

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