What's wrong with this .44 Brass !!!

[cali-man]

I have at least 2.5K through my DE in 44 mag and have never split a case like that. That is with max charges using H110. My 50AE brass usually only last 2-3 firings due to the neck splitting when slightly belling them.

[Wrangler John]

Those splits can be the result of over sizing with a single ring die carbide die, then expanding short and applying a heavy crimp. The bullet will produce a quite noticeable bulge in the case and split upon firing. Usually it takes more than one firing to split the case, depending on the brass age, hardness and manufacturer. This is often caused by a reloader that is attempting to remove the case bulge from the head area after firing with a carbide die. Carbide dies are only for neck sizing down to where the base of the bullet sits. Even straight wall revolver cases have a slight taper to the case body, and running a carbide die to the base will remove that taper. Just sizing a little too much below the bullet base can lead to the problem.

If the expander stem does not expand the brass to where the bullet base is seated, the brass will be stressed at the bullet heel, which is why the case splits from that point downward to the thicker brass near the head. The cases appear to have been fired in a larger chamber because once the brass split it lost the ability to spring back into shape after firing. This is especially noticeable in cases fired in revolvers with maximum diameter chambers.

Redding sells a dual ring titanium carbide die that corrects this problem: http://redding-reloading.com/index.p...g-carbide-dies

I have experienced this problem, which is why I discontinued use of carbide dies for certain revolver cartridges in favor of standard full length dies. The splits are not the result of high pressure or being fired in the wrong chamber, but are the result of over sizing and under or short expanding, that resulted in over working the brass, leading to failure. While the problem exists primarily with carbide dies, it can also occur with steel dies where chamber and die dimensions do not agree.

The picture of the split necks on bottle necked cartridges can be due to a few other factors other than metal fatigue. Older lots of military ammunition can fail with split necks due to age hardened bullet sealer, and galvanic neck to bullet welding by ionic displacement. We often forget that dissimilar metals can be subject to cold welding from a chemical reaction between them. When I decided to pull apart several hundreds of rounds to scrap the brass, it was found that some bullets couldn't be pulled using a collet or inertia puller. Remembering the cold welding factor, I found that by seating the bullets deeper until I heard a loud 'snap' signifying the bullets had broken loose, afterwards the bullets pulled readily. While this ammo dated to the 1980's, the process begins as soon as the ammo is loaded.