[buddybaer]

I was checking a box of Sellier and bellot commercial 54r ammo and noticed 3 out of 20 rds. in the box had a split neck where I could pull the bullet right out of the case ! This ammo was the heavy ball fmj with a brass case.
I'm wondering whether a lot of brass cased ammo develops split necks over time ?
Time to check my Yugo 54r.

 

[creepiE]

Thats a shock. Sounds like a production issue, cheap brass etc. S&B is good stuff.

 

[Deputy Dan]

I wonder if it was a bad lot of brass? My M39 produces it's best groups with S&B 180 Gr SP, and never had any split necks on hundreds of rounds purchased over the years. Do you still have the box to see what the lot number was?

 

[buddybaer]

It was in an odd lot of ammo I think I got from Gunbroker a few years ago.
I got it along with a couple of boxes of the Czech silver tips.
I still have the box and lot number.

I too was surprised because S&B is supposed to be very high quality.

 

[gun_lover]

Getting it off of Gunbroker are you sure that they were not reloads? It just really surprises me because S&B typically has very good ammo and it would be very uncharacteristic of them to send out ammo with bad brass...

 

[buddybaer]

I doubt they are reloads.I wouldn't have bought them if they were reloads.
Any thing to look for to see if they are reloads ?

 

[1 EYE]

Check the primers to see if they are reloads. I just reloaded 300 S&B 303 cases and dident have any splits necks. The S&B brass will start to split after just two or three times at the reloading bench its not every good brass.

 

[barnetmill]

Quality brass even after the first reload should not show cracks. It appears to be a case of improper heat treating or lack of it. The neck of a cartridge during the case forming process must be annealed to soften the brass to prevent case neck splitting. It appears that someone blotched that step.

I have seen splits on military ammo and I assume that is why it was surplus. I suspect that age will cause this to happen in work harden brass that was not annealed.

 

[mrbullets]

IIRC a couple years ago there were posts here that mentioned S&B casings with weak brass. Seemed to be limited to one caliber. Maybe it was the 7.62x54mm?

 

[ammolab]

I had a few hundred rounds of the "older" S&B 54R softpoints in the Blue boxes/white label. Many developed split necks after a few years on the shelf. These were NOT reloads, bought straight from the wholesaler.

Must have been a production problem with the neck anneal process.

Other than that and those darn SHALLOW primer pockets...OK quality ammo.

 

[buddybaer]

The necks don't appear to be annealed.

 

[cosmoline 1]

I suspect reloads too. S&B is top quality full power and in my experience decently accurate (new) but the brass SUCKS for reloaders and will sometimes split on the 1st firing/reloading regardless of caliber, not to mention the shallow primer pockets.Yugo(especially PPU) exhibits none of these issues

 

[1 EYE]

Cases that have been reloaded and run in the vib brass cleaner will not have annealing marks. Another way to see if ammo has been reloaded is it is super shinny.

 

[ammolab]

The necks don't appear to be annealed.

Commercial ammo (S&B, Win, Rem, NORMA, Federal, Etc.) is polished AFTER it is neck annealed. You can not see that it was done, but it is still supposed to be part of the Cartridge case forming process.

Military and some commercial ammo ( Lapua comes to mind ) anneal the case neck AFTER the final case polish. Nice that way as you can see that it was done.

But see it or not....bottleneck cartridge cases should be annealed after final forming to prevent age cracks at the case neck.

 

[RH7777]

It has been well known in our circles of re loaders, that S&B brass is very inconsistant and considered not good for re loading. Most is very thin. Complete case seperations on .303 even with light loads is common.

We have our expert hand loaders do all re loading and they have told us, not to give them S&B brass to load.

This is not new info. been that way for years.

I respect their opinon and we do not use S&B brass.

If others have had good results with S&B brass, it would indicate that there is a lot of inconsistancy in the mfgr. process.

 

[cosmoline 1]

FWIW I reload them if I pick them up at the range for free, for plinking, but I don't waste time giving them much prep since I know they won't last long & I check them for signs of imminent seperation after each firing.