Thread: case separation

Recently I got a lever action 357 magnum in which a case broke off about half way. To get the remaining bit out I got some kneadit and pushed some up from the chamber end past the case. I then put an ear plug in the muzzle and rammed it down the barrel to push the kneadit tight while having my finger over the end of the chamber. Two hours later after it had set hard I tapped the end of rod with a plastic hammer and out it came. Easy as.

Lucky that ear plug was there when you kneadedit........


i'll see myself out...

I see what you did thear

How on earth do you get a straight-walled case to separate in the middle Gary?

Im guessing its someone elses rifle , not Garys own firearm.....

That is a good effort. Probably been reloaded like 4,000,000 times.

It was a Uberti winchester 73 and the owner said the case had been reloaded many times.

Greetings all,
Although the Uberti 73 is made of modern steels it is still a springy action. There will be a pressure limit that the case can take without stretching in that action. Once exceeded the case will stretch a little in the middle each time it is fired until it breaks. A simple check at each load can weed out the cases that are showing signs of stress.
GPM.

Keeping a check on the length of the cases at reloading time is a good step to keeping case seperations at bay. If you are finding cases exceeding noted max case length more than once or at the most twice, then it is time to toss the case.

It can happen on any case - straight walled or necked, easy to check for with a bent paper clip, look up "incipient case seperation " case