Curious about 3 split necks

[Brute Killer]

Going thru my brass and I found one 300wm case with a split neck and two 222 cases with a crack half the length of the neck.
300 had 2 loadings as did the 222.
I evened up the neck walls with a trimmer, trying to just pare down one side to make the brass thickness even.
I'm using a mid range load of 74.2 gr RL-22 in the 300 and 23.I don't remember of Win 748 in the 222.
Using standard RCBS dies to resize.
Brass for the 300 is Hornady and 222 is Winchester.
Both bought new.
I'm kinda surprised to see failure so soon.

[kmon]

The only time I have experienced split necks that soon is with 264 Win Mag loaded pretty hot. Usually it is work hardening that splits case necks and annealing helps extend case life. But I usually do not anneal until after the third firing. If I were you I would anneal the rest of those brass before loading again if you do load them any more.

Perhaps you god some hard factory brass which happens sometimes but is not that usual.

Is brass length good, figure it is good for a guy that turns necks usually checks that as well. Saw some brass at the range one day with split necks that were reloaded for sure and curiosity got me and picked up a couple and noticed there was not normal marks on the case mouth, sure enough they were a few thousandths over SAAMI spec for case length. No idea on the history of the range brass though.

[Outbreaker]

I have also seen it with old brass. My dad had 30 year old 2 firings brass and he actually had necks separate.

[Brute Killer]

Yes, I check brass length and I trimmed the 222 before I loaded this last time. The 300 was good.

[Brute Killer]

I guess I'll have to look into annealing, then.

[kmon]

There is some very good annealing equipment out there but I am cheap, rather spend my $ on other things I guess. Anealeez is a good anealer that is under $300.

I haven't upgraded from using a drill, socket and propane torch with tempilaq to get the heating right.

[kmon]

There are some good and some not as good videos of annealing on youtube. Gives you a good idea of what is involved at least. I annealed some years ago getting a little more life from the 7mm-08 cases in the early days of that cartridge (early to mid 80s) when brass or ammo was hard to find. Back then I used the method that was in the Speer reloading manual with a pan of water and propane torch. That way seemed to work somewhat but not as precise as tempilaq and torch for temp control

[Brute Killer]

3 hundo! I'll buy $300 in brass next time.
I still have 50 new 222. I shoot it (so do the kids) more than the 300wm.

[Brute Killer]

Thanks for all the input, kmon.

[kmon]

Any time sir. I agree on that 300, the only thing I bought for my annealing was the tempilaq I had a drill, socket and torch, before that I used a baking pan, water and torch.

Most I do not anneal these days though it does extend case life. Don't shoot as much as I did for about 20 years and 3 or 4 loadings of brass will last me a long time with the brass I have now. I know bench rest shooters that anneal for every load. My shooting ability and most of my guns will never compete with those guys,

[M16]

How long had it been since you loaded them. Old reloads cold weld the bullet to the brass causing some of the necks to crack when fired. I've had that happen when brass sits uncleaned for a year or so. Load them up and get cracked necks. Now I clean all my brass before storing it for later use.

[Brute Killer]

First loading on the 300 was 10/06/15, fired 06/16/16. Second loading was 06/27/16. Fired 12/16/16
THIRD loading 09/14/17. So the 300 brass was loaded and fired thrice! Aha.
First cleaning was yesterday.

[Brute Killer]

I misinterpreted my record and didn't count the initial loading of the brass. The 300wm brass has 3 loadings/firings.

[Brute Killer]

Also three loads on the 222 brass, fired and loaded at similar intervals. I cleaned all the brass together yesterday for the first time. I didn't buy a tumbler when I first bought on my reloading stuff.