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how can i inspect my 300 ultra brass for head seperation???


gingerbreadman

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considering the magnum brass isnt all that cheap i want to get as many shots out of it as possible..... a few of you may remember my threads on my sticky bolt, well i had a case head seperation (for the first time ever) and i came to conclusion that my problem lied in old brass..... i have bought new brass and shot 50+ rounds with no problems..... now i have about 40 rounds of brass that i kept no record of how many shots were fired through it and i know most of it is good, is there any way to tell what brass should be retired????? on some brass i noticed a line where it was getting thin but there was other brass that had no indications yet was giving me a sticky bolt......  

im not really too worried about this perticular batch if brass but id just like to know some warning signs of case head seperation before it happins.....

-gbm-

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Guest Dick W Holliday

This is second hand so treat as so but a buddy told me that he takes a paper clip and puts a small 90 degree bend in the last 1/8 inch or so and runs it down the inside of the case neck and runs it along the inside near the bottom....he says you can feel a depression along the case wall on the inside if it is  really tired and is getting ready to separate.....D I C K

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I'm not a big rifle guy, but my humble experience is that the neck will split before anything.  If you're running loads so hot that you're worried about the head separating first, you need to back off on the load.  If you "need" to run a load that hot, what you really need is to buy a rifle in a caliber where a mid-range load will do the job.  

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Lyman 47th Ed. says incipient case head separation in rifle cases often shows up as a thin shiny circumferential ring in the case body where it will end up separating.

The paper clip trick I've read of as a way of checking 50 BMG cases - not being a rifle shooter, I don't know if it applies to smaller (virtually all other) calibers.

(Edited by kevin c at 12:10 am on Mar. 9, 2003)

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Quote: from EricW on 9:36 pm on Mar. 8, 2003

I'm not a big rifle guy, but my humble experience is that the neck will split before anything.  If you're running loads so hot that you're worried about the head separating first, you need to back off on the load.  If you "need" to run a load that hot, what you really need is to buy a rifle in a caliber where a mid-range load will do the job.  


yes it does work for severly stretched cases (iv done this) but i have noticed problems before there are any signs visually outside or inside the case......

-gbm-

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Quote: from gingerbreadman on 12:18 am on Mar. 9, 2003


Quote: from EricW on 9:36 pm on Mar. 8, 2003

I'm not a big rifle guy, but my humble experience is that the neck will split before anything.  If you're running loads so hot that you're worried about the head separating first, you need to back off on the load.  If you "need" to run a load that hot, what you really need is to buy a rifle in a caliber where a mid-range load will do the job.  


yes it does work for severly stretched cases (iv done this) but i have noticed problems before there are any signs visually outside or inside the case......

-gbm-

Then I apologise for stating the obvious.

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