Case neck issue?

[Dildobaggins]

Might be hard to see in the picture. It's a somewhat deep scratch in the neck of the case.

I bought a WOA barrel and these were the first reloads I ever did. I reloaded 80 rounds of Winchester brass with h335 and Hornady 55 grain softpoints and CCI #41 primers I used Hornady reloading data. Which compared to H335, and my Lyman data is incredibly conservative. I started loads at 20.6 which was barely enough juice for the gun to cycle and worked my way up to 23.4 grains. All the cases are like this. Is it something to do with the barrel rather than my reloads and signs of over pressure? This is my first barrel that I've used that didn't already come assembled to an upper. Also, my best groups were 20.8 grains at .37in and 23.2 grains at .41in. I was hoping to find a node and was unsuccessful I guess? The rest were sub moa. Are these safe to reload again?

 

[Lucreau]

I load h335 at 25.6gr with a 62gr fmj bullet. I would be doubtful there’s any pressure in yours. Hard to see in the pic but are you crimping? And is that scratch deep enough to be considered a crack? What dies are you using? Was that mark there before firing? Again, hard to tell by the pics but with the availability of 223/5.56 brass I’d just toss em if you had any skepticism about them

 

[Dildobaggins]

I load h335 at 25.6gr with a 62gr fmj bullet. I would be doubtful there’s any pressure in yours. Hard to see in the pic but are you crimping? And is that scratch deep enough to be considered a crack? What dies are you using? Was that mark there before firing? Again, hard to tell by the pics but with the availability of 223/5.56 brass I’d just toss em if you had any skepticism about them

I am giving the cases a very very light crimp. I'm using rcbs dies, a PMA mandrel die, and a Lee factory crimp die, but I actually just looked at some federal 62 grain fmjs I fired to sight the gun in, and they also have the same mark. Starts at the shoulder and goes all the way up the neck. Maybe I'll try cleaning the brass up and it'll give me a better idea of how deep it is.

 

[Lucreau]

I’d say if it catches your finger nail then I’d toss them. Can you scope your barrel to see if there’s any burrs that are causing it? Wondering if your die is making the scratch also. Hell, could even be your mag when the round is feeding out

 

[Maxduty]

The neck of the brass is hitting one of the locking lugs on the way out.

 

[Dildobaggins]

I’d say if it catches your finger nail then I’d toss them. Can you scope your barrel to see if there’s any burrs that are causing it?

I don't have a scope. I just read on another thread that it happens when the shell is ejected, and the fix would be to trim a coil or 2 off of the ejector spring. I'm going to buy one tomorrow now though, because I want to eliminate the burrs from the equation. Any suggestions on a good scope?

 

[Dildobaggins]

The neck of the brass is hitting one of the locking lugs on the way out.

Any suggestions on how to fix it?

 

[Maxduty]

trim the ejector spring 1 coil at a time until it stops

 

[Lucreau]

That^^

 

[Dildobaggins]

trim the ejector spring 1 coil at a time until it stops

Sounds like a plan! Thanks!

 

[Maxduty]

I don't have a scope. Any suggestions on a good scope?

Teslong

 

[Dildobaggins]

trim the ejector spring 1 coil at a time until it stops

Trimmed one coil off. Still scratching but it's minimal now. Probably trim one more off. Thanks!