Case separation

[rookhawk]

I'm talking on the phone right now with the owner of larrywillis.com.
Larry sold the company 5 years ago. They are in full production and still in business.

 

[rookhawk]

I just got off the phone. I ordered a collet die for myself to keep the 100+ 375HH variant cases in good condition.

 

[358 Norma]

Incipient case head separation can be a problem if you:

A.) Reuse your brass A LOT

B.) Full length size frequently, rather than setting your shoulder so you get to headspace in a second location, preventing stretch originating at the web.

C.) You own a .375HH or any of its child cartridges.

Allow me to explain point C because its an obscure point most are unaware. The 375HH headspaces on its magnum belt. With firing, your cases bloat, getting fatter and fatter and your die can never push them back to shape, nor can the chamber because you're not getting the body of the case into full contact with the chamber on a 375HH family case.

Solution to point C above? This dude invented a collet sizing die for 375HH family of cartridges. This will put your case back to factory specs in a way that no standard die set can accomplish: https://www.larrywillis.com/

The manufacturer states: "This ONE die and collet is universal and works on ALL of the popular belted magnum calibers including: .257 Weatherby Magnum, 6.5 Remington Magnum, .264 Winchester Magnum, .270 Weatherby Magnum, 7 x 61 Sharpe & Hart, 7mm Remington Magnum, 7mm Weatherby Magnum, 7mm STW, .300 H&H Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum, .300 Weatherby Magnum, .308 Norma Magnum, 8mm Remington Magnum, .338 Winchester Magnum, .340 Weatherby Magnum, .350 Remington Magnum, .358 Norma Magnum, .375 H&H Magnum, .416 Remington Magnum, .458 Winchester Magnum, .458 Lott Magnum and several belted wildcat cartridges. There are no extra collets to buy when resizing different calibers. The U.S. Secret Service was one of our first cusputtomers to purchase this product."

I DO NOT size any magnum cases without using this die! Saves me a lot of money on brass, with that said I only hunt with new or once fired brass!

 

[30.06king]

Any brass not sized for correct headspace can eventually succumb to head separation. The number of firings before this occurs is relative to several factors of which brass quality is one. The brass I found most easily failing in this respect is Hornady. Not saying I have used absolutely every brass brand available as I could choose only from supplies available in New Zealand and Hornady is available almost everywhere and usually among the most reasonably priced. My belief is that these days Hornady uses brass of compromised quality, related probably to budgetary restrictions. I think in earlier times they used better brass.
Personally, whenever on the hill the only handloaded brass in any of my rifles is Norma and it may have been reloaded multiple times. Same with my 375 H&H on Africa hunts. Just cycle all rounds taken on a hunt through the action first to avoid any question of field reliability.

 

[AimSmall]

Earlier this year, I was back in Africa with my .375 H&H magnum, and a new recipe including Hornady cases, RWS 5333 primers, Reload Swiss 60 Powder and Degol (Lion Load & Starkmantel) 350 gr bullets.
The accuracy was very good in my rifle and the effectiveness on games too.

One day, I was following a wounded eland with a tracker. The animal had been shot the day before, just before dusk and one of its shoulder was broken. In the sand, we saw that the animal dragged its right front leg and we caught up with it really quickly !
In a little gap, I was able to see its head and neck. I took a shot and I dropped it.

My rifle is a Blaser R93, and I tend to reload it really quickly. The bolt is so smooth and having used this rifle in driven hunt to get used to it, it became a muscle memory to handle his bottle.
But this time, I felt something strange in my handle. The bolt was stuck and impossible to feed a new round into the chamber.
View attachment 695599
I was surprised, because I'm used to cycling all my ammunitions after the reloading process, to be sure they feed flawlessly.

I pulled the bolt back, and what a surprise to extract my cartridge stuck in the front part of the case that I fired just before.
View attachment 695600View attachment 695601View attachment 695602
That is my first case separation. I didn't recover the rear part of my case and when I shot, I didn't notice anything strange. The two little holes milled in the barrel at the level of the cartridge belt probably did their job.

I checked others rounds I shot during that trip, and I only found one that has a little cracked a bit above the belt.

Having a huge doubt, I went to the shooting range back at home and I fired several ammunitions on target, and some show the same problem.
View attachment 695603

I'm using Hornady cases because they are the easiest to get where I am, and not too expensive. But you get what you pay for !

These cases were not used a lot, maybe 3 times, and even, I make a minimum shoulder bump. However, it seems they couldn't resist a long time.
Earlier this year, I saw a video on youtube where Desert dog outdoors said Hornady cases were crappy.
I started to use Hornady cases with my .458 Lott and I have never had any issue. Here is why, I started to use them in .375 H&H magnum. But, I think I will switch to Norma cases now.

Have you already had such problem ?

You note a "new recipe" on this trip. How many grains of Reload Swiss 60 were you using?

 

[Kevin375]

You note a "new recipe" on this trip. How many grains of Reload Swiss 60 were you using?

71 gr of Reload Swiss 60
My case capacity (fired) is 96.4 gr of H20.
COAL : 3.564'', then I can crimp in the cannelure.

Quickload is a bit generous this time :
Theory : 2246 f/s
Practice : ~ 2310 f/s with the Starkmantel bullets. The Lion Load's are slightly slower : ~ 2291 f/s, because they are a bit shorter. Same point of impact and a good accuracy : 1 MOA and even a bit less with the Lion Load's.
This recipe is not at its maximum and there is still a good margin of safety.