Splitting brass from AR after 1000rds or so

[PigPknHeat]

So I was picking up my brass yesterday after a range trip and one of the cases was split/cracked from the top to just after the neck where it starts to get fatter. I wish I kept it for a photo but I tossed it.

My question is, if that was the only one to do it in 1000rds or so do you think it was the ammo or the gun? The headspace was checked before round one and the gun runs flawlessly. Could it have been one bad round that maybe got set back?

Any thoughts? The ammo was new to me ill update later with details but it was DMS .223 or something like that (not DPMS) and seemed to be in good shape.

 

[soam]

So I was picking up my brass yesterday after a range trip and one of the cases was split/cracked from the top to just after the neck where it starts to get fatter. I wish I kept it for a photo but I tossed it.

My question is, if that was the only one to do it in 1000rds or so do you think it was the ammo or the gun? The headspace was checked before round one and the gun runs flawlessly. Could it have been one bad round that maybe got set back?

Any thoughts? The ammo was new to me ill update later with details but it was DMS .223 or something like that (not DPMS) and seemed to be in good shape.

If that was the only round that did it, I would suspect the ammo, not the gun. The brass on that round could have been brittle, especially if they were reloads. I've gotten reloads from a company called DRS before, and I was not impressed with the quality of the brass (several rounds had cracked/damaged brass). This was before I started loading my own.

 

[PigPknHeat]

DRS sounds right, ill have to check when I get home.

Can something like that cause damage to the rifle? if so even after just one?

 

[Steve Marshall]

That sounds like a stress crack. Not a big deal. Just not desirable. It could be that round was reloaded several times.

 

[akma]

Compare loaded rounds to fired ones to see if there is a difference in size. Also your reloading die could be the culprit by pushing the shoulder back to far. I had some Norinco 223's back in the early 90's that would do that even after annealing. They were just plain junk. I have also had good results annealing good brass. Annealing works great to extend the life of cases from work hardening. Start by annealing some cases to see if that helps with your cases.