22RF Case Rupture?

D@D

What would cause this in a 22lr rifle? The ammo is Winchester Super X, the case split down the middle. It was the only one in the box that did it.

bpost

It just happens, any almost microscopic inclusion or flaw in the brass can cause a place of weakness in the case. The brass gets drawn, redrawn and stretched to make the case. As the brass flows during manufacturing the flaw is hidden. When the pressures of firing hit, it will fail.

An overly large chamber could also be the cause. Rarely a case will split in the head area, that is where danger comes in. Gas could be spit into the shooters eye. If the case is simply split in the middle length wise I would not worry for a moment.

charliemeyer007

I think its poor quality control. Last year I had 3 case failures in 3 different rifles using Federal, Winchester and Remington 22 ammo.
One was a partial rim seperation, one a complete head failure and lastly a case split. Now I fully understand why my dad prefered closed back action such as the Remington Model 12 and 121 over the open back such as Winchester Model 1890 and 1906. Reminds you that eye protection is not just a good idea, it could save your sight.

jjmitchell60

I just had one split out of a brick the other day. I noticed some "sounded" different and chalked it up to exactly what was said above, POOR QUALITY CONTROL! Well to make a long story short, near the end of the brick, one ruptured all the way down and even into the shell rim! It did spew powder and bits of brass back in my face but thankfully no injury. Out of that brick, that was the ONLY rupture but several sounded under loaded and many sounded like a hot load, the split case even sounded like a double load. So Like stated above, on the cheaper plinking 22 RF ammo, I chalk it up to very poor quality control. I have learned LONG ago to wear proper eye (and ear) protection when shooting anything but especially cheaper 22 rim fire ammo.

By the way, the cheap brick of 22 Rf that it happened from was a Wally World cheap plinker Federal 550 brick pack. I shoot a lot of PMC and Aquila target RF, never have had a round sound different in them but too expensive to go out and burn up 1000-2000 rounds in a day of them.

lts

I've had great results with the federal 550 packs we used to get at wally world for 8 or 9 bucks. Saw they're over 12 now. Price goes up, quality goes down......[:(!]

XP100

I have been shooting for many years. I have seen this problem several times. I think more people hear about it now because of the internet. Years ago you told a few people that you shot with and that is as far as it would go. Now you can let the whole world know in a few key strokes. Sometimes this is good and sometimes it is bad.