case head separation

I thought I'd post this up , it might save you a trip to the gun smith . I almost always loose brass due to primer pockets getting loose , or split necks or shoulders . better brass seems to have solved my primer pocket problem . annealing my brass has solved my split neck and shoulder problem . now I've had a few case head separations . I need to start watching for the groove inside the case more than I have in the past . thought I'd show you guys how I've been able to remove the remainder of the brass case from the chamber when the head comes off .

this happened a couple years ago with my 300wby . I removed the case by taking out the bolt . putting a cleaning rod through the barrel from chamber to muzzle . then I screwed on a new stiff 30 cal brass cleaning brush , and pulled it back through the bbl towards the chamber . the brush caught the brass case and removed it first try . the dent is caused from the chamber pressure getting around the case .





today I went shooting my 338 lapua . second shot the case head separated . I tried to remove it as I described above but it did not work . I then took a 12 gauge cleaning brush and put it in the ejection window of the action , screwed on a cleaning rod and pushed this brush into the remainder of the brass case . I pulled the cleaning rod back out and the case came with it . I then took a 12 gauge swab and cleaned the chamber .



I'm not saying this works every time ,but the stiff brushes have saved me twice with no damages to the rifles . I hope this saves you a headache , Jim

Great idea Jim. Never thought about trying that. Knock on wood I haven't had a CHS in quite awhile.

Jim, thanks for your post! Do how many times you fired that piece of brass?


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Is it possible to check cases for pre-head seperation before it really happens? Will a paper clip with the end bent at a 90 degree angle work? Give it a little feel around the bottom of the case?

Your method is a great trick.

I dunno if it's a perfect way to do it, but the paperclip method seems to work pretty well. It's amazing how small or shallow a trough your fingertips can sense using the paperclip.

If the brush doesn't work, an appropriate tap will. A 7/16 fine works for most magnums. Remove the bolt and us a ratchet, six inch extension, and the appropriate socket to turn the tap into the case. Be gentle. Then just use a cleaning rod through the muzzle to tap out the case. As the brush is less aggressive, I would try it first. Great idea.

I had a separation at the range one day and found a slim sharpie marker I had a long was perfect for shoving into the case... it caught perfectly and slid the case right out..... I start looking real hard for signs of possible case head separation after 5 reloads of anything nowadays.

joelkdouglas":3vasc4ag said:

Jim, thanks for your post! Do how many times you fired that piece of brass?


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on the weatherby , I won't guess it wouldn't be anything accurate . with remington brass I usually get loose primer pockets around 4 or 6 shots . I got a deal on a bunch of Rem brass so I'd bet this is rem brass . I'd say less than 6 shots , or the primer pockets would be to loose to use .

I've been thinking on the Lapua today, I lost track . I started out using 25 pieces of brass to do load development . 5 of these pieces get hammered , I run them right up to find my max powder charges using the stiff bolt method . I've done this with 3 different bullets . so 5 cases have been abused , but never gave up a primer pocket . mistakenly these 5 got mixed in with the other 20 . I'm about half way through my second box of 300 gr elite hunter bergers , so this is 150 bullets . plus 2 other bullets I've played with . probably about 100 or so of the 300gr berger OTM's . and probably about 20 or 25 accubonds 300gr . so if these all have the same amount , about 10 - 12 shots on each case . the load I'm using is a 300gr elite hunter @ 2930FPS . it does show how long quality brass can last with proper sizing .

I'd say you should be able to feel inside with a paper clip to check for the groove . I'll pull these apart , and not shoot them . when I do i'll try to feel for this groove , and post what I find . I'll bet there are 4 more ready to separate .

I think I might be a little shy getting a tap in there . but I'd say if you were careful it would work well .

I'm glad you guys appreciate the tip , it could save you some down time and money at the gun smith .

Scotty , I don't get many either . when I do I get that sick feeling .

I don't recommend that you do this.... but Dad was known to run his 7Mag pretty warm in his younger days and he didn't throw anything away if it wasn't totally broke. So...he kept a rat tail file of the appropriate diameter in his hunting "box". The handle was heated and bent at a right angle so the file could be turned and pulled out once it contacted the shoulder or neck of the ruptured case. Worked.... CL

A good, butt first bounce on concrete will usually do it when the case is cool. Also plugged the neck with a patch, sucked up 5 minute epoxy in a straw, blow it out in the case and leave the straw in. Pull the case out when the epoxy gets hard.

I keep a broken shell extractor in the range box for everything I carry.
Never had to use one. Yet.
Sort of like taking an umbrella to keep the rain away.

But I do like the brush idea. Thanks for the tip.

Jim, have you been working the brass a lot? Full sizing dies?

Does working the brass a lot tend to stretch the cases and thins the web area causing it to separate?

TackDriver284":loffy223 said:

Jim, have you been working the brass a lot? Full sizing dies?

Does working the brass a lot tend to stretch the cases and thins the web area causing it to separate?

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I neck size only usually 2 times to get my brass fully expanded , then I partially full length size every time . I have my body die adjusted to bump the shoulder back about .002" . I'm using off the shelf redding die set , micrometer neck size bushing die , body die , micrometer seating die. I use the redding competition shell holder sets to be able to easily set my shoulder bump . I think I'm using the +.008" shell holder with this rifle . so if I was using a standard shell holder with this die set , adjusted by the die instructions , I would be pushing the shoulder back an additional .008" .


yes , if you over work the brass you will shorten it's life . if you adjust your die by using the provided instructions you most likely are over working the brass . this is exactly where that problem shows up .

It's what I figured Jim, I also full length resize using the Redding die, then use the full length with the bushing with the Redding after that and size only 80% of the neck. After maybe three firings I use the full length without the bushing and a slight cam over to bump to .001 to .002 I mostly use Norma and Lapua brass though.

I'm bringing this one back up . I decided to shoot the rest of that ammo just to see if I only had 5 bad cases from being beat during load development from high psi loads . if I did I was going to keep shooting the good brass until I got more brass to fail , then junk it all . to get right to the answer the brass is done . I have 3 more that the heads came off when extracting the fired case . I have a couple more that have black smoke sign on the outside of the case . I have a couple more that I can feel a sharp line on the outside of the case with my fingernail . I made a tool to try and feel for a groove inside the brass case, I can only feel a groove on the ones that show smoke on the outside , the others feel the same as a new case . my tool might be to thick , I used a piece of welding rod probably about 1/16 diameter . I might give a paper clip a try yet . the good news is the cleaning brush removed all 4 of the cases easily on the first try .







I spent this afternoon cutting necks on some new brass . my eyes are not what they used to be , for doing fine work I really like this lighted magnifying glass . it works great for when you need to dig out a splinter too .

Been using one those lighted magnifiers for some time even before I started wearing glasses since some of the work I did on hand guns required fine detailed work that I couldn't do with out one.
Thanks for the tips.

cloverleaf":2ibkripy said:

I don't recommend that you do this.... but Dad was known to run his 7Mag pretty warm in his younger days and he didn't throw anything away if it wasn't totally broke. So...he kept a rat tail file of the appropriate diameter in his hunting "box". The handle was heated and bent at a right angle so the file could be turned and pulled out once it contacted the shoulder or neck of the ruptured case. Worked.... CL

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That has been my method when needed, just be careful and it works great.