22 K Hornet

[VAHunter]

Has anyone had this issue before??



I'm getting this about 5-7% of the time with the fire-forming load I'm using at the moment. (11.5 gr H110, virgin Winchester brass, CCI400, 35 Vmax square in the lands.)

When I was trying out Lil-Gun I was having about 40% failure rate.

Should be well under max pressure and didn't seem to have this issue with a small lot of Hornady brass I tried.

Think it's just issues with the brass? I've never seen anything like this before.

[MIBULLETS]

Never in that location on the case. If I ever have an issue it was at the shoulder and only with brass that had been previously fired in a standard Hornet chamber. I usually just load up a mid to upper range standard Hornet load and form away and with new brass never have an issue. Very interesting.

[VAHunter]

Nobody else I've shown has saw this either.

I'm guessing just a weak batch of brass. Never saw it out of the Hornady, but it was terribly inconsistent in weight.

[Screaminweasil]

Yes sir....looks familiar. I started lubing my cases and the problem is down to 1 in 50 if that.....sometimes none. Lube my cases with tetra lube oil......while forming now. 12.0gr AA1680...40gr bullet in the lands....virgin win brass. I was having and still have an ocassional split IDENTICAL to yours......much worse like 10 out of 50 before lubing.

I've only had my K hornet for a few years and newer (within the last 2 years production) Winchester Virgin Brass is all i've shot in it to fireform. I have over 500 formed though and once I started lubing cases, the problem is either 0 in 50............or, at most.....2 in 50 that will split like this. (I tend to shoot 50 at a time fireforming). I had two split in the last 150 forming................but, I'm generously lubing my cases. Before lubing, I easily had 5-10 of these splits per 50......sometimes worse. I don't know what the deal is......but any failure I've had has been due to the splits in the pic below. I've got several hundred formed cases that have been fired over 3 times without issue. However, I have had an occassional split from a formed case and it's identical to the fire forming splits we are experiencing. Could be brass? Don't know, and I'm not sweating it since figuring out the lube scenario. I suggest lubing your cases for fireforming (if your not already) and I bet the problem nearly goes away. Many guys lightly lube their cases to reduce splits when forming to K hornet.

[Alan in GA]

I'm not remembering where you're at power level wise with that load however you indicate low pressure. Case splits like this can happen when a load too low in pressure is used just because of the maliable behavior of brass when stretched and formed by gas pressure. If it were my barrel I would try a closer to a max load, at least for the standard 22 Hornet, and try.
And of course if defective brass nothing will help. Is this recent manufacture WW brass?
I think first step might be to call the manufacturer and see if there have been issues with your lot # brass.

[reed1911]

The problem is with the Winchester brass not your loads!

We started seeing the same issue here which is why we dropped them from our supply. Not only are folks (myself included) seeing it in the .22K but also in the regular Hornet. From loads all over the map in terms of pressure with no easy discernible way to cull the bad ones until they fire.

Switch to one of the other brass makers until WW can get it cleared up. Not much they will do about the brass once fired since they have no way to verify the loads you used. But internal testing by WW should prove the issue to themselves.

I've had great luck with the PPU, Nosler, Hornady brass in the past few years.

[chuckshooter]

yes I have had the same thing happen.these are 20ah. It was a 22k hornet, now a 20AH and way better. I would try aa1680. as you found out little gun is to unpredictable. and I didn't have any luck with H110 either

[chuckshooter]

and I would suggest cci450 primers just for the thicker cup

[Chuck Miller]

I've formed a lot of K Hornet brass but always with a stout max load for the Hornet. After reading this thread I went and checked, about 50/50 Rem and Win, I don't remember losing any, about 200 rounds of each. I was using IMR 4227.

[MIBULLETS]

I see the headstamp on the brass is "WIN" all of mine were the older "W-W". Maybe as reed said, it could be newer brass.