G’day Gents,
Had a few shots out of this rifle today and noticed what I believe evidence of poor headspace on the fired cases.
They are reloaded cases however the load is around mid range so well below max load.
Primer is ever so slightly flat however no apparent cratering.
Over to the brains trust for you sincerely appreciated input.
Bit hard to tell but is there a definite lip/ bulge or is it just the scratched section. My 30-06 brass looks scratched like that but doesn’t have any head space issues.
Mate definitely a slight bulge where that demarcation line in the case is. Apologies I should have annotated that in my first post, photography doesn’t clearly show it either mate.
I might cut the case to expose the true extent of the problem.
Might be the best idea. Also, maybe, try different brand of brass, personally I only ever had experiences with Winchester brass. The only brand I FL sized, looked at and chucked in the bin. But yeah, cut, scrape inside, take a look and maybe try a different brand, before diagnosing the rifle, rather than crappy brass?
Yeah mate fair enough. It is a mates rifle and I think the brass is rather long in the tooth so perhaps that’s another contributing issue.
Did the brass come out or go into the chamber with the matte finish ?
Definitely looks like the beginning of a case head separation. Typically an indication of high round brass, oversizing or too large a head space. This can also happen if people have multiple actions the same and use the wrong bolt.
Mate the brass had been sonic cleaned a few months ago however had a matte appearance when I loaded them.
The more polished appearance below the bulge appeared after firing. I will take it out on the weekend and fire a few factories through it so as to rule out the brass. It is of an unknown age so I have no idea how many times it has been fired.
The rifle is fairly old, it’s a Parker Hale and I am guessing from the early to mid 80’s so approaching 35-40 years old. It still has original barrel which exhibits all of the signs of significant use.
Fairly normal for older rifles. Generous chamber, combined with the brass being relatively thick at the base. The case fireformed to the generous chamber. The base, being thicker and supported by the rim etc, does not expand as much. It’s also why the case wall is scuffed and the base is shiny, the wall is contacting the chamber and scuffing, the base does not, so remains shiny.
It probably expands on firing, at the base, but not enough to fireform it.
Edit: as far as a remedy, none really, beyond a new barrel or rechamber. Different brass will produce different results, some may be worse , some better depending on how thick the brass is and how it’s drawn during manafacture.
Case life, probably shortened slightly. I would not be overly concerned.
Fired a few factory rounds through it over the weekend and same result. Cases appear exactly the same.
IMO it may be a headspace issue however it could be just where the case is in contact with the chamber as it rubs back and forth against the chamber. The part that is still shiny in most probably the unsupported part of the case that is not in contact with either the bolt or the chamber.
Makes sense mate. Thank you.
If you dont wanna cut the case, you could try the bent up paperclip, with ground point on the end. Bend it like a hook that fits in the case mouth, to feel if there is a definite crack forming. Works for me…good luck anyway…
