Case Head Separation Incident Anyone ? ? ?

[Jocko]

Was sorting through my '06 brass checking for "the dip" inside that happens before the dreaded case head separation. Subject came up with a fellow shooter at my local pistol match when another fella says -"just shoot 'em
till they crack, nothing to worry about." Said he's fired many rounds in his M1A & AR when the case head failed and the worst that can happen is part of it stays in the chamber. Thats why you get ruptured case remover.

HMMMM - I thought this occurrence could blow up the rifle and/or put a
person in the hospital.

Am I wrong ? Anyone ever have a case head separation happen ? What occurrs ?


Thanks all

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[jimb16]

Most of the time, just what he described.....Please note, I said most of the time. IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET FLASH BURNED AND IT IS POSSIBLE TO DAMAGE THE FIREARM at least in an autoloader. I've had separations in several firearms over the years. Sofar I've been lucky, but there is always a first time. Remember, the bolt is closed when this happens. The injuries and damage you are thinking about is what occurs with an out of battery firing. That is a very different thing.

[Pattern14]

Just this summer I had a full case head separation in an M1 and never realized it until the second round failed to fire. The first round fired and the head of the round separated and ejected and the second round jammed inside the broken case of the first round and stopped with the bolt open. No explosion, no flash of gas, nothing. BTW, this was the 2rd case separation in this M1 in 15 years.

FWIW, I've had several case separations with bolt rifles and NEVER noticed anything unusual until I ejected the cartridge.

Regards, George

[musketshooter]

An experienced reloader should be able to recognize an incipient case separation while inspecting caes prior to resizing or loading. There will be a slighly off color partial or full ring near the base that does not blend with the rest of the case's color. When in doubt, discard the case.

[jmoore]

Can't add much to the info above except to say it all agrees w/ what I've seen over the years.
I've had more ills w/ broken off case necks in semi-autos- things seem to get stuck together, but good, when that happens!

[Pattern14]

Ii was interesting trying to get that LONG round out of the chamber.

[Edward Horton]

If you reload, the proper method of fire forming prevents the case stretching in the web area and with the proper case gauges and head space control shims your case life will be much longer.

The .308 cases below were fired until destruction or case failure.





Below head space control shims are used below the resizing dies lock ring to prevent over resizing your cases and extend case life.



The RCBS Precision Mic can be used to measure your fired cases and to set up your resizing dies. The average cartridge case is .002 shorter than the minimum head space setting of each rifle. With the Precision Mic you set your reloading dies with the aid of your head space control shims to push the shoulder back .001 to .002 thousandths and thus prevent over resizing and shortened case life.

[JBS]

Repeated firing of ammo that is subject to incipient case separation will cause a gas cut ring or spots in the chamber wall at the failure area. It will look like the pitting on a bolt face caused by leaking primers. Needless chamber damage IMO. Watch for the pre-failure ring and discard the case. Set you sizing die correctly for your chamber and check your head space if factory ammo shows the ring on firing.

[jimb16]

It's interesting that you show the Fed cases as the earliest failing cases. My experience is that ALL for the case head separations that I've had, regardless of caliber, have been Federal cases! I won't use them in my rifles any more. Their pistol brass is ok, but I won't use their rifle brass. I crush it and throw it into the scrap bin.

[arado]

I personally have observed several rifles heavily damaged by out of battery ignition. They were all tilting bolt. Two were Egyptian contract SAFN where the bolts did not have the later added firing pin safety. Both were one piece firing pins. The other rifle happened to me. It was an AG42 Swede. It failed because I uknowingly was firing the Danish 6.5 ammo notorious for gilding jacket separation. It separated and fouled the chamber throat causing an out of battery firing.I was very lucky not to have been supporting the rifle with my hand on the magazine. Damn lucky. IT blew the magazine out and broke the stock. Iam very observant of my FAL's which I build for me and my French mas 44/49/49-56. The Mas is an incredibly strong design. I shoot only ammo I load. Regards, Gary