Nosler brass in 260.....bummer

I've been reloading for 35 years and have never seen a brand new piece of brass do this.
I figured I may have some how or another nicked the case mouth while loading up some horn. 140 gr.
So I pulled it and much to my surprise, I didn't. Upon inspection of the case, I could quickly see the culprit. You could see a discoloration on the inside of the case right where the Crack was.
Bummer! Seeing as how expensive nosler brass is? Wtf!
Oh well, alls not lost I figured hey....might as well use this case to see what my free bore is with my new 260 lrp and Hornady 140g match pills.
Need to give nosler a call though.

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...psiwffcd4h.jpg

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...psiwffcd4h.jpg

I got some a while back and after one firing of modest loads I lost a dozen to loose primer pockets.

I was afraid you'd mention that. I too have been working on modest loads. loose pockets were the 1st thing I looked for and after one firing,they look/feel fine.

Annealing your necks will extend the life of your brass, and reduce splits.

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Originally Posted by 390fe

Annealing your necks will extend the life of your brass, and reduce splits.

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Very true but, one shouldn't have to anneal brand new brass....

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Originally Posted by eddiesindian

I've been reloading for 35 years and have never seen a brand new piece of brass do this.
I figured I may have some how or another nicked the case mouth while loading up some horn. 140 gr.
So I pulled it and much to my surprise, I didn't. Upon inspection of the case, I could quickly see the culprit. You could see a discoloration on the inside of the case right where the Crack was.
Bummer! Seeing as how expensive nosler brass is? Wtf!
Oh well, alls not lost I figured hey....might as well use this case to see what my free bore is with my new 260 lrp and Hornady 140g match pills.
Need to give nosler a call though.

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...psiwffcd4h.jpg

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did you pull this straight out of the box and load it?

Loose primer pockets was the reason I ditched Nosler 260 brass.

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Originally Posted by 390fe

Annealing your necks will extend the life of your brass, and reduce splits.

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I shouldnt have to anneal brand new,high dollar,over priced brass.

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Originally Posted by LongRange

did you pull this straight out of the box and load it?

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Yep,that's why I pulled it apart
. I thought for sure th e case mouth was either nicked,or,dinged or dented.
The second I pulled it I spotted the discoloration on the inside of the case mouth at the exact location of the crack. The discoloration isn't but 1/8 in. Wide and runs down the full length of the neck.

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Originally Posted by bama1

Loose primer pockets was the reason I ditched Nosler 260 brass.

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The more I hear that from you guys the more I'm liking the thought of annealing/necking down/turning my 308 LC Brass that of which I have plenty of.

That's not a crack....that's a FOLD. The fold evolves into a crack during sizing or firing.

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Originally Posted by eddiesindian

Yep,that's why I pulled it apart
. I thought for sure th e case mouth was either nicked,or,dinged or dented.
The second I pulled it I spotted the discoloration on the inside of the case mouth at the exact location of the crack. The discoloration isn't but 1/8 in. Wide and runs down the full length of the neck.

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ok first Fred is right...second and your not going to like this...but you shouldnt be pulling brass straight out of the box and loading it regardless of what brand it is or what it says on the box.it should at the very least have an expander ball ran through the neck...WHY...first to true up the necks and to see any defects like you have and second because your loaded neck size is is some where between .292 and .293 with unturned nosler and lapua 260 brass. if you measure outta the box brass it will be up to .012 smaller than your loaded neck which means you have up to 12 thousandths(or more) neck tension.

also(like we talked about last saturday)nosler and lapua brass have a lot less case capacity than remington brass...remington brass has about 56-58g H2O capacity nosler and lapua have about 53g H2O capacity so if your trying to load lapua or nosler brass using the hornady or sierra books you will need to reduce your charges because both books use remington brass for their load data...you have great brass 1 pc out of 50 does not make a bad lot of brass...also i bet most of the guys that had primer pockets open up after a few loads were using remington brass prior to using the nosler and kept the same charge weight which in turn created WAY high pressures....hornady lists 49g H4350 as max load with the 123g amaxes(if i remember correctly)in remington brass...in my fired lapua brass 48.5g H4350 fills the case to just below the mouth!!

dont let everyone elses experiences with nosler brass discourage you....remember this thread??

http://www.savageshooters.com/showth...r+brass+review

i was shooting retarded high charges to get the primer pockets to open up on that brass....imagine a 142g SMK going 3100fps out of a 260!!
i still have over a 100pcs left if you want them their yours.

Yep, that is a fold. Nope, you shouldn't have to worry about new Nosler brass, that is the reason it cost so much. Yep, even they have some bad slip through.


As far as primer pockets goes, never had any issue with nosler brass in ant of the several calibers I have used it in. Most people tend to run higher pressures than they believe they are. Not saying that is the case for every instance, but it is often.

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Originally Posted by sharpshooter

That's not a crack....that's a FOLD. The fold evolves into a crack during sizing or firing.

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Negative. Its not a fold. I have the common sense of looking at the case mouth of any case I'm working. With new brass....I looked at the mouth while priming, I also looked at the case mouth while powder dropping. I've loaded thousands of rounds and I know what a fold looks like and what it can do.

you guys, the inside of the case has a discoloration about 1-8th inch wide which runs down the length of the neck which is EXACTLY where the Crack is.
The picture shows the cartridge after I pulled it,saw what was wrong, used my collet die to pop the primer,half seated a 140gr pill, shoved it in my chamber, and closed the bolt TO Measure My freebore.
The case mouth looks canted due to me using that case to measure freebore. the bullet caused the deformation of the case mouth. due to the cracked case
Bottom line. Not using nosler anymore. I've already started prepping my LC 308 brass (anneal, neck down,turned).
I'm fully aw are of case capacities due to wall thickness etc.....
I've loaded thousands of rounds using new brass and have never had this bull**** happen.
I should of taken a picture of the inside of the case so you guys can see the discoloration. But I'm not. Just gotta take my word for it.
.....something must have gone wrong during extrusion of the case at the manufacturer. No big deal,just won't purchase nosler anymore.
Compared to my LC brass? Nosler doesn't even come close.

Hope you don't take this wrong but I'd contact Nosler. Send them your pic.
They've played straight with me in the past and I would believe they would make it right with you.

Well noted dewey. I confess I've been too busy preparing my once fired LC Brass 308 down to 260. If I said it's been a breeze I'd be lying. Time consuming but it's been worth it. I didn't want to go that route but I just can't see spending that much coin on brass. Its nice having reloading buddies to help with tooling and there time. I,ll be giving nosler customer service a call here shorty. I have a feeling that your exactly correct on them doing right.

a 142smk at 3100 fps out of a 260!! Wow. I would like to hear your load data.

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Originally Posted by seanhagerty

a 142smk at 3100 fps out of a 260!! Wow. I would like to hear your load data.

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this was last saturday out of a new 30" barrel

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LongRange... would you attribute the extra FPS to the added 2 to 4 inches of barrel or are you loading that hot... doesn't seem like 43 1/2 gr. of RL-17 is an extreme dose of gogo in the .260 case?

Sorry to add to the thread hijack but... I have a Criterion 28" bull 260AI that's doing around 3100 with Berger 140 BT-LR and around 44 grains Rl17. No pressure signs, easy bolt opening, and 9.5 MOA come up at 600 yards. I've tied my best 600 yard league scores with this load but I'm worried about it burning the barrel fast so I don't use it much.
Thread jack complete, back to topic for me. Why choose Nosler over Lapua? I'm just curious, I've never tried Nosler brass.

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Originally Posted by BarrelNuts

LongRange... would you attribute the extra FPS to the added 2 to 4 inches of barrel or are you loading that hot... doesn't seem like 43 1/2 gr. of RL-17 is an extreme dose of gogo in the .260 case?

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2 things...extra inches and to fast a burn for the barrel.

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Originally Posted by alphapygmy

Sorry to add to the thread hijack but... I have a Criterion 28" bull 260AI that's doing around 3100 with Berger 140 BT-LR and around 44 grains Rl17. No pressure signs, easy bolt opening, and 9.5 MOA come up at 600 yards. I've tied my best 600 yard league scores with this load but I'm worried about it burning the barrel fast so I don't use it much.
Thread jack complete, back to topic for me. Why choose Nosler over Lapua? I'm just curious, I've never tried Nosler brass.

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i normally shoot lapua but tried some nosler because of all the threads ive seen saying nosler was junk....i had 17 loads on 50pcs of nosler brass in a 300wm so that was also a reason i tried the nosler in 260.

sorry for the jack Eddie... if you guys want to talk more about this heres my thread feel free to post here...
http://www.savageshooters.com/showth...iterion-report

My experience with Nosler brass was not good. As noted above, primer pockets loosened even when loaded modestly.
I was able to obtain some Lapua brass and never looked back.

Roger that jerry. I only purchased 100 pieces of nosler. I'm starting to get loose pockets on about 5 pieces. They have but a mere 4 firings on them and the load is light to say the least.
I've already prepared my once fired LC 308 down to 260. They work like a charm and have shown no signs of primer pocket issues .
I got with nosler and they wanted to make it right. I told them thanks but no thanks.
I merely wanted to advise them of what I found.
Imo........there brass is full retail plus. Over priced!

I bought 100pcs of the Nosler .260's when they first hit the market. I have about 5 loadings on them now and a few are just showing some loosening of the primer pockets. I have never had any brass problems from them though.

I was tickled to death when they became available as they are much better quality than the Remington cases I was using.

Everybody has bad cases get through. I bought 50 Lapua .308's a few years ago and half of them were unusable due to overly small primer pockets. Just recently I had brand new Winchester .243's with cracked necks and mismarked case heads (.243 cases with .308 headstamps) in the same bag.

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Originally Posted by JCalhoun

I bought 100pcs of the Nosler .260's when they first hit the market. I have about 5 loadings on them now and a few are just showing some loosening of the primer pockets. I have never had any brass problems from them though.

I was tickled to death when they became available as they are much better quality than the Remington cases I was using.

Everybody has bad cases get through. I bought 50 Lapua .308's a few years ago and half of them were unusable due to overly small primer pockets. Just recently I had brand new Winchester .243's with cracked necks and mismarked case heads (.243 cases with .308 headstamps) in the same bag.

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holy cow......243s with 308 stamping?.......not good...
I totally agree as far as bad cases getting thru. it happens but at there price range?....just doesn't fit well with me.
I developed a good load with them so Ill use them until I cant anymore.
Sure do wish Id of found the gent out of Concho AZ that preps once fired LC 308 down to 260 sooner.

Yep.