Case failure, what causes this??

[HuntMeister]

.243WSSM factory Winchester ammo, 100 gr I think it was. I have 3 or 4 cases like these and a couple more that have shorter cracks in just the shoulder of the case. Is this the nature of this cartridge, just some bad brass or could this be a problem with the rifle?
Can this damage the chamber?
Is it anything to worry about?
TIA

 

[Leadeye]

I've never had a case split all the way to the shoulder before or just split in the shoulder but I have not reloaded for this cartridge. I would say that a chamber cast for your rifle is in order and then check it against the correct dimension.

 

[6birds]

I have seen WSSM brass crack at the inner shoulder, never as bad as that. Do you still have the factory ammo box?

 

[Yeah]

Do you have calipers? Measure the OD of necks that didn't split, if so.

Never loaded 243 WSSM, but I can say that Winchester's 7WSM brass fell off in quality post New Haven. Wouldn't surprise me is the WSSM brass suffered as well. As far back as those are split I'm thinking brass defect.

 

[ANeat]

Thats pretty bad for a first firing of a factory round. It shouldnt damage the chamber but its not a good indicator for that lot of ammo

 

[6birds]

Brittle, I've seen real high fallout with the WSSM brass, reloaidng or re-forming for other calibers. Keep the box and un-fired ammo, call Winchester, but take pics before you send them the box.

 

[HuntMeister]

I have seen WSSM brass crack at the inner shoulder, never as bad as that. Do you still have the factory ammo box?

I still have all the boxes and I do not know for sure which one or ones they came from. I believe Dad shot out of 3 different boxes the day that this occurred and I didn't catch these failures until I had already tumbled the brass.

Why do you ask about the box?

 

[6birds]

I still have all the boxes and I do not know for sure which one or ones they came from. I believe Dad shot out of 3 different boxes the day that this occurred and I didn't catch these failures until I had already tumbled the brass.

Why do you ask about the box?

You can get the Lot # from the ammo box, and may help you get a replacment box from Winchester. If you've shot it all, don't bother calling them.

If you don't have any more factory loads, just scrap what you have, don't reload it.

 

[Aszerigan]

Those aren't first fired brass. Look at the resizing marks near the base of the brass. Plain as day - this brass has been resized, and with a high shell plate to boot.

Where did you buy this ammo? There are obvious signs of major overpressure here. Are the primers backing out, or are they flattened?

 

[HuntMeister]

Those aren't first fired brass. Look at the resizing marks near the base of the brass. Plain as day - this brass has been resized, and with a high shell plate to boot.

Where did you buy this ammo? There are obvious signs of major overpressure here. Are the primers backing out, or are they flattened?

Andrew you are correct that they were resized, I resized them before I noticed the splits. They were factory loaded ammo when the splits occurred. Sized them on that new shiny Rockchucker!
I did look at the primers and saw no signs of over pressure.

 

[03A3]

I have never seen a neck split that bad, not into the shoulder. As the guys have said, the brass must be brittle, very brittle.

 

[j706]

Sheezz that is messed up. I have never seen that before. And more then one to boot. Something not right there for sure especially for factory loaded ammo.

I am wondering if the OP's rifle has an over sized chamber in the neck area.

FWIW that is a neat looking little cartridge. Reminds me of the 22 PPC

 

[Aszerigan]

Sized them on that new shiny Rockchucker!

Wow, you weren't kidding about setting it up fast. Didn't you just pick that up like.... 12 hours ago?

I am wondering if the OP's rifle has an over sized chamber in the neck area.

Good point. A loose chamber would most likely cause the brass to over expand and split. Do you have any that aren't resized? If so, take a micrometer to the neck and check the diameter - see if its excessive.

 

[HuntMeister]

Wow, you weren't kidding about setting it up fast. Didn't you just pick that up like.... 12 hours ago?



Good point. A loose chamber would most likely cause the brass to over expand and split. Do you have any that aren't resized? If so, take a micrometer to the neck and check the diameter - see if its excessive.

Told ya I was antsy to get my mitts on it!!

I will have to see if I have any unsized fired brass for it. That particular rifle has never produced cases like that before and it now probably has +200 rounds thru it. It has produced some cases that had the beginnings of splits in the shoulder area and it was always the nickel plated stuff and I just assumed it was because of the nickel. If I find fired unsized I will check dimensions and report back.

Thanks again for all the help fellas!!

 

[bstewrat3]

I saw the same thing happen a couple weeks ago at Atterbury. The guy didn't pay attention when buying ammo and realized something was wrong when he got some blowback from the receiver. He was using 223WSSM in a 243WSSM. You may check the headstamp.

 

[Aszerigan]

He was using 223WSSM in a 243WSSM. You may check the headstamp.

 

[chipdog4]

Just chalk it up to crappy Winchester brass. It was incorrently annealed or not at all.

I had 3 out of 100 22-250 Rem factory 45gr loads split just the neck. I annealed the rest after firing once and will get around to loading them when my current batch wears out.

 

[Boiled Owl]

Chipdog:
Winchester replaced a bag of 100 22-250 brass for me. They were splitting the necks on every case I shot. Two different powders, broke down the loads and weighed the charges to assure they were correct. The only problem was having to break down the cases and ship them back. They were nice enough to give a me a $10 coupon to offset some of the frustration. Not bought Win. Brasse since.

 

[03A3]

I don't like the sounds of this at all. I have a bunch of recently bought Winchester brass in 22-250, 25-06 & 308 still in the bags.
Why is it you can buy a supposadly good product from someone like Winchester and end up with junk? How many corners will they cut to try to improve their bottom line?

Rant over.

I've thought about this some more and agree that measurements of fired cases should be taken, and if possible a chamber cast should be made as one gentleman has suggested.

 

[bstewrat3]

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