Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Old 220 Swift ammo.

Found a partial box of 220 Swift that I reloaded, 6/1/2002. Relatively moderate load of IMR 4064 (37.5 grs) topped with a Nosler 52 gr bullet and Rem 9 1/2 primer in a R-P case.

When I shot the first one, I got 5 splits equally spaced in the neck of the case. Primer looks good.

What do you think is the problem? Shoot them or pull them?
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I pulled a bullet just to check for corrosion or what ever. There was a little discoloration on the bullet but not bad. Powder smelt good and fresh. I decided to try moving the bullet, so I seated them another .005". There was an auditable click as each bullet moved.

However two more fired with exact same results as above. Must be some brass embrittlement happening, but I'm not sure why that would be. I've got brass older than me that still shoots fine.

I reckon I would not shoot any more of them.

Seems like I have heard this before, old ammo splitting necks.

Might be interesting to cut one in half and take a look.

I guess you could pull them and anneal the cases and try again.

It's just strange to me. The brass itsef can't be more than 26 years old. Not sure of the number of reloads, but my records indicate this is the second reload for them. In the box were 5 that had been fired back in 2002-3, with no problem. The rest have been safely stored in an unused day pack side pocket for the last 14 years, along with a pair of custom molded earplugs I thought I had lost.

I may have used a Foster inside neck reamer on them, but that has never caused a problem before or since.

Seems to me the brass just brittle sitting around....

on old ammo Like that I've even disassembled the ammo, deprimed it and then annealed it... then reassembled it..

many of the necks still split.. if not on that firing then the next one...

you can play with it, or just shoot it then scrap the brass..

I had a batch of 222 ammo that was last reloaded in 1993
2 out of 5 rounds split the necks

I tossed the splits and annealed the remaining cases
No further issues

I have an unopened box of 250 bulk 220 brass I bought 15+ years ago. Hope it doesn't do this. Probably going to just pull the bullets and chunk this brass.

That brass would have to be really special, expensive and hard to find for me to pull bullets, anneal, reload, etc. I'd probably chunk the whole lot and start over.

I've read stories about bullets being "welding" to the case, but setting tham back a tad should break that up. I guess certain lots of brass become more brittle with age than other lots.

DF

Aww for the normal guy, yeah...

but then, that ain't me... I emjoy spending time at the reload bench in the evenings... away from the world out in the garage..

just the radio on the local HillBilly Station.. and putzing around at the bench....

guess that is my version of my wife being glued to the TV when she's home from Work, or on the week ends...

Gotcha...

And, I do understand...

DF

Partial box?

Obvious embrittlement. Especially if you never annealed those cases previously. You COULD save them, but....

Unless the brass is part of a larger lot of pet brass, I'd just trash it. Fewer than 20 cases isn't worth possible neck burns in your chamber. Go buy a new bag and 14 years improved bullets and have fun.

Brass hardens as it ages, so does copper. If a roll of copper sits for a few years, it won't unroll very well. Just an old plumbers observations. New brass pipe threads easy, but let it get old, the die will chew the threads off as it threads.