When a case head separates

[chookah]

G'day all.

I have some ammo which is coming up to 10-11 firings now, so I'm getting conscious of head separation which could start happening soon.

I'm inspecting the brass and all looks ok to my eye. I read that for some people they have case separate partially that looked ok before firing. Or you just miss something in an inspection. You know, crap happens...

Say a case separates in the chamber, is there much chance of it damaging the chamber or throat? Or whatever?

Cheers.

[Monty]

With reloads I have had a few and seen a few centerfire case seperations (shooting .303's and .308's on the range does tend to give rise to overusage of brass) I have never even noticed until extraction, never seen any damage done at most a bit of inconvenience because a case extractor wasn't handy.

When it comes to ex mil ammo it is scarier. There is a reason most rifles have gas escape ports. Wear your glasses.

USUALLY (but not always) before it seperates you will see a crack start to develop just up from the base, this is very obvious with winchester brass sometimes after only three or four firings. And it is due to the brass thinning out. (minimum size brass and max chamber exacerbates it). I check with a piece of wire every time after I full length size.

This explains it well: from .303 British (Steve Redgewell), goto the link for the ful;l article with illustrations http://www.303british.com/id29.html

Case Head Separations

At the other end of the case, there can be a problem with separations. They are caused by a combination of events which leads to total case perforation near the head - this is the area just forward of the rim. (Fig. A - below) The perforation starts as a gradual thinning of the case wall. The thinning is caused by brass flowing forward from the head area upon firing. This creates a thin spot at the case head. (Fig. B - below)


Figure A.


Figure B.

Any case with a small shoulder angle, that is fired using maximum loads, will have brass flow. It moves toward the case mouth at a much greater rate than cases with more steeply angled shoulders. Improved or Ackley type cases with 35 or 40 degree shoulders are examples of brass with steep shoulders.

When you fire and full length resize your cases over and over, this aggravates the situation. Brass will continue to move forward. The weaker spots on the case are flexed, squeezed and contorted. Case necks become brittle.

Neck sizing reduces the occurance of seperations as the brass isn't worked as much.

I have had more damage occur from neck splits and primer pocket/primer blowouts than I have ever had from seperations. Thankfully now that most of my milsurp is gone I hardly ever have any issue.

[SendIt]

For the most part you can simply pull them out.

Like Warrigul said, typically there will be a partial crack around the brass instead of complete separation.

Ejection might be tight, but the brass should come out without any long term problems for the rifle.

[Bills Shed]

Good write up Warrigul.

I too have had a separated head from the main body when shooting an old .303. I did not help matters as I was playing with some hot loads and as the .303 is a rear locking action, it was all stacked against me.

No damage to the rifle and the case was easy to get out. More the hassle of getting the stuck case out. 10 mins worth of fiddling and all was well.

I have spoken to several old shooters from times after WW2. ..303 were the main staples for target shooters and hunters alike.

Many were rechambered to 303-25 etc. They would fire the brass until the head fell off as a matter of course. Tough times lead to getting the most out of you consumables.

I would not go that far these days though.

Bill

[Old Fart]

For the most part you can simply pull them out.

Yup.

OP, even if one is really jammed or the head comes apart again it's usually not too bad.

A cleaning rod with no tip down the muzzle can be used to knock them out.

If there is really nothing to get a purchase on, a smith can plug the neck of the separated case to block the barrel and will lay a bit of wire in, then pour in lead to make a cast and pull the whole mess out with the wire handle.

[Rippah]

Larry Potterfield does a video on what Old Fart explained above to remove a completely separated case.

Youtube.

[chookah]

Thanks all, and for the pics Warrigul.

I knew of the wire trick but didn't quite get it.

Makes perfect sense now.

[Apollo]

If there is really nothing to get a purchase on, a smith can plug the neck of the separated case to block the barrel and will lay a bit of wire in, then pour in lead to make a cast and pull the whole mess out with the wire handle.

There is a much better product to use than Lead, called "Cerrosafe" Casting Alloy which makes life a lot safer and easier.

[Old Fart]

Righto.

I didn't actually know what it was to be honest. I took a stab at it being lead just to explain the casting removal.

Casting allow it is then

[Ariat]

Chookah,

Here is the removal video the guys are talking about with the casting allow and some other methods.

How to Extract a Broken Shell from a Rifle Chamber

The block of alloy in the movie even says 'cerrosafe alloy' on it

[Old Fart]

Well there you go