Quick Tips: Incipent Head Separation

How to check for signs of incipent head separation. What can happen is if the brass thins enough at the web of the case it can separate and leave the body of the case in the chamber while removing the head. Usually a bore brush will remove the rest of the case but you might need a broken shell extractor. Neck sizing will reduce stretching but do not neck size for semi autos for any reason!

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• ammosmith
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• reloading
• guns
• incipent
• case
• head
• separation

[makun16]

I was shooting mil surp 5.45 out of my AK today and it ran 120 rounds just fine even through rapid fire like it should.Then When I shot the fallowing round, I experienced case head separation.The case head with part of a length of case measured a littler over a 1/4 inch.I did not even know it occurred until the bolt wouldnt close.I examined the other fired cases and they appear normal.The diameter stays really close the same to an unfired case.Could this be excessive head spacing issue? Thank!

[ammosmith]

@makun16 Yes and or a bad production run on the ammunition itself...sounds like excessive headspace though.

[brshooting]

I've been noticing a line about 1/8" above the extractor groove on some of my 44 Magnum cases. I cut one open today and the inside looks normal, so I'm guessing it's a distortion created by the dye and not a split. I reloaded them tonight and I'll check them again next time they are reloaded. Nice video. Thank you.

[ammosmith]

@brshooting Yes..that's just a pressure ring...when you get it and you can feel a indentation there you have a problem...that's why a unfolded paper clip is a great and cheap tool to help you detect it.

[triggerjunkie08]

is it normal for once fired cases to have the ring after resizing it for the first time? i have four different brands of brass and they all have the ring. am i resizing them wrong?

[ammosmith]

@triggerjunkie08 Yes. This is just one sign of this problem. A pressure ring is normal but if you check the inside of the case and feel the groove developing then you need to destroy the case.

[semtech30]

I had a head case separation on my 30/30 rounds. The cause was hardening of the brass.

No one anneals in this area for fears of weakening the brass. The brass near the head is thicker for stength not harder. If it hardens it will pop or crack, as mine did. The shells I loaded were all difficult to compress in the sizing die. A good indication that the brass is hard and brittle. Beware.

Brass will harden with age, not just from working it.

[anood41]

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[gyrfalcon]

Would you agree that his case was okay to reload again even though it was developing a groove? I've heard that just resizing the neck can actually cause case head separation to occur faster especially in firearms with springy actions...

[ammosmith]

@griffy85b We have one now! We've been using it for just over a year now. Check out some of our latest videos.