Why reloads scare me...

[OTShooter]

Jim, that's a classic brass failure. Usually it happens in the first firing, and I f memory serves, it's due to the brass being work hardened, rather than a bad load - thus no odd feel or sound. If the case survived the first firing, on subsequent resizing that work hardened part would be even harder, and more likely to fail the next time. It's not a "scary" failure, but it's sure not something you should feel happy about!

Commercial loaders have boucoup insurance because they can't vet every piece of brass they get. The big ones have strict QC at every step of the process to avoid spending time and effort on loading brass that isn't up to par. Smaller outfits often do fine, but skip some of the pre-loading QC that you and I would do as a matter of course.

So I would have no problem buying "remanufactured" rounds from Black Hills, but I'd be cautious about "Bob's Bigtime Bullets" rounds. It's not the size of the operation, it's the fact that there's a minimum "critical size" that allows the remanufacturer to do all the QC I want done and still make money.

[Battle Cock]

Jim, that's a classic brass failure. Usually it happens in the first firing, and I f memory serves, it's due to the brass being work hardened, rather than a bad load -

I was out burning powder with a couple buddies this afternoon and a .44 mag Desert Eagle had a malfunction (surprise surprise) that highlighted this exact type of failure.

The ammo was brand new Federal Fusion .44 Rem. Mag. 240 Grain and the last round of the magazine flipped a 180 and stuck in the action with a case failure prominently displayed. I checked the other expended casings and this was the only one showing a failure.

[Aberration79]

This is why its important to have a chamber that fulling supports the casing.


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[The FNG]

I reloaded about 300 rounds of 300blk last night off of some brass I converted from old 5.56 i had and about 35-40% of the brass I ran on the Dillon did this in the powder station .
Attachment 717
It reminds me I need to go play the lotto so I can afford the Giraud annealer .

I've had this on my Dillon too. Is annealing really the solution?

[Jerry R]

You might check to see how snug the Dillon shell plate is. If there is enough slack for the cases to "wobble" as they enter the powder die, the powder funnel can catch on the case lip just like that. Ask me how I know

Not saying that is THE problem, but it is something to check.

The shell plate should turn freely, but it should hold the case firmly with very little slack. They will wobble some, but should enter each die perfectly straight. No offense meant, but I will also assume you are using the correct die and funnel for the caliber conversion kit. I worked a help desk a long time ago and asked silly-assed questions then too. "Is it plugged in?"

[The FNG]

You might check to see how snug the Dillon shell plate is. If there is enough slack for the cases to "wobble" as they enter the powder die, the powder funnel can catch on the case lip just like that. Ask me how I know

Not saying that is THE problem, but it is something to check.

The shell plate should turn freely, but it should hold the case firmly with very little slack. They will wobble some, but should enter each die perfectly straight. No offense meant, but I will also assume you are using the correct die and funnel for the caliber conversion kit. I worked a help desk a long time ago and asked silly-assed questions then too. "Is it plugged in?"

Your question is not out of line. I'm using the .223 shell plate. There is a decent amount of wobble, so I guess I'll try to tighten the plate a little to see if that helps.