.300 WSM Winchester Brass - Split Necks

[Muddyboots]

Anybody run into this? First load yielded 8 split necks out of twenty rounds. Moderate load, new brass full length sized to headspace, shoulder not touched in sizing. Necks lubed in sizing and bullet seating, the usual stuff. In 30 years of loading, never had this kind of brass failure. It almost appears the brass is too brittle. I've got message into Winchester but curious if anyone has had this happen. Occasional split neck but not rampant like this.
Muddyboots

[DDelle338]

   Wow! I can't see that happening on the first load unless the brass is to hard.
   I have been using Winchester brass I bought last year and haven't had any problems with the necks. I lost some because they separated at the case head. But even that was after several hot loadings shot from my Encore. Get ready to send them back to Winchester so they can test them and replace them for you. Or you could try to anneal them yourself. But Winchester should fix the problem.

[Kurt L]

I agree that you must have just got unlucky and got some hard brittle brass.
as stated you could anneal some but that takes the chance of returning them back
for replacement out.good luck hope to here they replaced them.

[Muddyboots]

Well I spoke to Winchester, or left them a message thinking who knows when I will get return reply. Got one in less than an hour. Returned call and discussed issue with them. Sounds like they will stand 100% behind the cases and have asked for return of both fired and unfired for testing. They indicated they will be sending along compensation so obviously I am satisfied with their customer service. Went through the reloading steps with them and I actually committed one misstep in my opinion when I was shooting. My range process is to look over each case after firing for case and primer condition. This last time, I only looked at the primers and did not really look at the case necks. If I had, I would have stopped my shooting immediately to determine cause of the split necks. Primers were fine and nicely rounded so I really didn't have any pressure concerns. No bolt lift or case stickiness either so life was grand. Basic procedure we all should  be following at range when firing new step up load is examine each case neck, case body and primer for any indication of case failure and or pressure BEFORE the next round is cut loose down range. I am embarrassed that I did not follow this basic premise. I see so many folks at range just load up and cut loose without case inspection. This is a recipe for failure and could result in serious injury. You don't have to have a max load to have an Ah crap happen. In 30+ years of reloading I have had only one case head separation because I followed this simple process. And that was caused by who knows what since it was only failure in that load lot and rest were perfect. Go figure. Anyway, just thought I pass along Winchester customer service appears to be pretty good and what I think is a pretty good lesson learned even for an experienced reloader.
Muddyboots

[Luckyducker]

Muddy, I have not had this happen with 300WSM even after several loadings of same brass, but I did have this happen with 264Win using Winchester brass.  I just tossed the splits and quit buying Win. brass for this caliber.  Don't get me wrong here, I'm not mad at them or anything I just have a bunch of Rem brass for 7Mag that I ran through my sizer die and made 264 brass out of that works great.

[Muddyboots]

Just as a follow up. Winchester recently sent me 100 rounds of brass and letter confirming the alloy was too hard. I was obviously disappointed when it happened but bottom line is Winchester did not blow me off and followed up on it. Yes, the brass failed but they stood behind their product and I am OK with that. This was first time I ever had problem with Win brass so I will continue to use Win brass as long as they stand behind their product like they showed.
Muddy

[Kurt L]

That's great I am glad they stood up to the plate and made things right.
After they tested and found the problem, I wonder how many others had this
problem and never contacted them.

[DDelle338]

I try to make sure I contact the manufacturers when I find a problem. Not just because I want compensation because usualy its not very expensive. But because I figured no one else let them know that there was a problem. If they know, then they can fix the problem or proceedure, reducing my chance at having an expensive problem later.

[charles p]

I purchased some bulk 300 WSM brass from Midway and had one case in the batch that had a 243 WSSM headstamp.  It was stretched so far on the 300 WSM Winchesters factory die, that it hardly had any neck at all.  Sent the case back to Winchester and never heard a word from them.  Strange.  I think they might outsource some of the brass manufacturing.  Military is buying a lot of ammo.

I'm not unhappy.  The bag of brass contained an extra case so I got my money's worth.