Funny Thing with my 22 hornet reloads

dtknowles

15 years ago I reloaded 100 rounds of 22 hornet. I fired some of them and the rest went into storage. I got them back out earlier this year and was inspecting them. Well, not really inspecting them but looking them over before taking them to the range. Almost all of the loaded rounds had neck splits but the fired ones were not split.

perry shooter

Hello I have and use 22 hornet for 40 years what you have is the fact of work hardened brass. Every time you work brass SIZE/SHOOT/RESIZE the brass gets harder but also brittle. the case after it was shot did not split because in had no tension on the neck .However the loaded round had tension and after a time it split . You need to aneal the case mouth /neck. I saw a truck load of match 45 FEDERAL for the military pistol teams have case splits before ever fireing the first time still in factory box . Federal told military poor storage conditions . Same conditions for last 50 years at Quantico. Federal would not replace so Quantico started loading their own . Federal did replace after no more orders came in .

dtknowles

Thanks, PS. That is want I wanted to know, had anyone see this before. The cases had a few but I don't know how many, reloads on them. Too late to anneal them now. Have to consider annealling on the next batch.

Tim

Highball

Hornet brass is thin. The actual problem here is age hardening...the stress of the neck over the bullets over time split the case.

Rescue what you can...pull the bullets and anneal the necks.

sandwarrior

dtknowles,

I'll second what highball says. Age hardening is a big killer of anything with copper as an alloy. The probable initial cause is work hardening but splitting over time is definitely age hardening.

sandwarrior

dtknowles,

I'll second what highball says. Age hardening is a big killer of anything with copper as an alloy. The probable initial cause is work hardening but splitting over time is definitely age hardening.

dtknowles

Sandwarrior

If the culprit is age hardening, is annealing still the solution?

Tim

mrbruce

Brass can get to be be harder than the hubs of hell, and can be brought back to usable again by careful annealing.

perry shooter

Hello You can aneal brass at any time

sandwarrior

dtknowles,

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Like MrBruce and perry shooter say. Hardening is hardening and annealing is annealing.
For whatever reason your brass gets hard...anneal it. So yes to your question.

SawBonesBob

quote:Originally posted by perry shooter
Hello You can aneal brass at any time


IMHO, It may be just a tad too late to anneal after the cases have already cracked[:D]

dtknowles

SB Bob

Yes, split necks are for the recycle bin. The ones that had already been fired before storage and did not split could be annealled along with all my other cases.

Tim

leeblackman

Brittle brass, over time with changes in temperature, metal expands and contracts and expands and contracts and expands and splits. This is why it is so important to keep ammo stored indoors where temperature and climate are steady and controlled to an extent.

It musta been heartbreaking.

dtknowles

Not heartbreaking, just weird. Fortunately Hornet brass is not rare.

Tim

dljacko

I have experienced this problem with old brass. I now only size enough to headspace in my rifle and anneal once fired brass because I find that factory ammo has brass that is a little hard for my liking, but I guess they have to stick to a standard hardness for legal and technical reasons.
Cheers.