MThuntr
Well-known member
Yikes this 5.56 empty was on the ground at the range. Not sure what's going on here but I can only think the shooter's gun fired out of battery. Major picker factor I bet
Yikes...range find
- Thread starter MThuntr
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ImBillT
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Excessive headspace, sized too much in a die, or reloaded too many times. It’s called case head separation.
MThuntr
Well-known member
I guessed excessive headspace might be an option too. The bulge was only on one side of the brass too. It still had a crimped primer so I ruled out reloading.
Doublecluck
Well-known member
Reload long enough and it will happen, years ago when started reloading I could never get a clear answer on how many times brass could be reloaded, lots of depends answers. After 11 reloads on win 7-08 brass I found my answer when that happened to one of my cases. I tossed the whole lot, and it wasn’t too scary, But from my understanding people do get gas Burns on the face in certain rifles now and then from it.
44hunter45
Well-known member
Another TLDR post from 44hunter45...
Google "incipient case head separation". The two main causes are excessive headspace and pushing the shoulder back when re-sizing. The two are related in that when you have excessive headspace, your case stretches to fill in that longer chamber space and then it gets pushed back when you resize. The stretching happens right there at the base as in the OP photo.
It can be obvious sometimes if your re-sizing die leaves a bright ring around the case near the base. More so with small base dies.
You can make a tool to feel for this by finding a piece of stiff wire that will fit through the case mouth and bending a 90° leg at the bottom about 1/8". I use an old coat hanger. You can now feel if there is a ring around the inside of the case at the base. Those cases should be rejected. I check any rifle brass I pick up and reject the failures to the melt bucket. With a little practice you can feel it easily.
Brass which weighs really light after sizing and trimming is a good candidate to check.
OR chuck....
Highly tapered cases like 22-250 or 6.5x55 are more prone to this.
Weapons which regularly have this issue should be checked out thoroughly. One of the causes is an excessively soft heat treatment of the action or bolt which allows it to stretch under pressure. If your fired brass does not want to re-chamber or your bolt is stiff to open, you may have an issue other than over-pressure loads.
Old military surplus rifles need to be watched for this. My 6.5x55 Husqvarna had to be re heat treated and re-barrelled. If you can scratch the bottom of an old military action with a file, it needs a deeper inspection by a gunsmith.
Google "incipient case head separation". The two main causes are excessive headspace and pushing the shoulder back when re-sizing. The two are related in that when you have excessive headspace, your case stretches to fill in that longer chamber space and then it gets pushed back when you resize. The stretching happens right there at the base as in the OP photo.
It can be obvious sometimes if your re-sizing die leaves a bright ring around the case near the base. More so with small base dies.
You can make a tool to feel for this by finding a piece of stiff wire that will fit through the case mouth and bending a 90° leg at the bottom about 1/8". I use an old coat hanger. You can now feel if there is a ring around the inside of the case at the base. Those cases should be rejected. I check any rifle brass I pick up and reject the failures to the melt bucket. With a little practice you can feel it easily.
Brass which weighs really light after sizing and trimming is a good candidate to check.
OR chuck....
Highly tapered cases like 22-250 or 6.5x55 are more prone to this.
Weapons which regularly have this issue should be checked out thoroughly. One of the causes is an excessively soft heat treatment of the action or bolt which allows it to stretch under pressure. If your fired brass does not want to re-chamber or your bolt is stiff to open, you may have an issue other than over-pressure loads.
Old military surplus rifles need to be watched for this. My 6.5x55 Husqvarna had to be re heat treated and re-barrelled. If you can scratch the bottom of an old military action with a file, it needs a deeper inspection by a gunsmith.
MThuntr
Well-known member
thanks for the info I've been loading for 16 years and have encountered most classic head separation resulting from multiple reloads...this one threw me since it was Lake City brass I picked up from somebody else's ammo and the one side had a bulge while the other showed no signs (bright ring or slight bulge). Since it had a crimped primer I assumed the brass hasn't been reloaded.
44hunter45
Well-known member
Crimped primer is new info. I think then your assumption is right that this came from a rifle with an issue.
