I forgot to speak of this part,
Lots of new reloaders get confused about the expansion ring and the ring caused by incipient head speration. Perhaps I can add to the confusion....
I have been reloading for my 30-30 most of the year now, at least 30 rounds or so a month. Today, after loading a firing the cases I have been working with all this time, I went to resize them again and found a ring around the case just abouve the expansion ring. The common knowledge is that this occurs on the inside of the case, that as the seperation nears, a bright ring will show up (hence the confusion with the expansion ring) and if one has a paper clip straightened with a small 90 degree bend that is sharpened on it, dragging it on the inside of the case will reveal the "step" where the brass is seperating. THIS IS NOT AN ABSOLUTE TRUTH. My first impression on seeing was "Where did that dirt come from"? 1 of 5 cases has a ring completely around the case. It is dirty in apperance, it undulates, is not perfectly parallel to the case head like the expansion ring) and indents from the OUTSIDE. I find NO crack or joint or seam or anything when dragging a point over the inside of the case. When I found this, as I continued resizing the group of five cases, each one shows a minor line, minor meaning you have to LOOK for it, but it is obvious on examination. Five cases of the lot (of 10) that have not been through the next firing and resizing (they are loaded ready and waiting)
The line of seperation is about 3/32" above the expansion ring as is the minor line. to all new reloaders and old alike who have not seen this, closely examine your cases as you resize them for line parallel to and just above the expansion ring. The minor lines I refer to look for all in the world to be scratches at first. On examination, it is obvious they are not. But there is little in the sizing, loading and firing of a case to make scratches along the circumference of the case just above the expansion ring. The indentation is readily evident with your fingernail (not on a minor line, at least in these cases) Had I not seen the worst example of this, I would have missed the minor lines, a glimpse is not enough to catch what you are seeing.
Another point of reference is that factory loaded brass I fired today measures 2.035", my brass measures 2.095" and has never been trimmed. That is a growth of .060" a full 1/16". I not trimming know it's bad practice guys, a trimmer is next on my list of things to get.
I used to shoot a 22-250, it had to be trimmed at least every other firing, it grew by about .004" a resizing. I've reloaded for a 30-30 in past, just never shot it enough to see this. Laziness. Familiarity breeds contempt. Not checking as I went.
For the record I have no idea how many times these cases have been reloaded. I can count at least 7, and the real figure is more likely to be something like 10 or 11. Remington brass. I bought the ammo in the early ninties.
Another point is that untill today my brass has always split on the case mouth before I've seen this. This group is brass I annealed. That was at least 5 loadings ago, and I know I had loaded the stuff at least 4 times before annealing it. I annealed it because I was using the Lee neck sizing die on it. But I continued to have sticky cases and I couldn't prove any gain in accuracy so I quit using the neck sizing.
If I can rememebr anything else pertanent I will post it. Hope this helps others, JP
