Houston, we have a problem…

[DLSJR]

Last weekend I was participating in a Mzuri Safari Club fun shoot at one of our member’s ranch. I was shooting the .375 H&H I recently had built and experienced a problem I’d never seen before, a full Case Head separation! I was shooting some handloads with a 300 grain TSX pushed by 70.0 grains of Reloader 15, Federal 215 primer and once fired (2nd loading) Federal brass. It’s a middle of the road loading giving us about 2,400 fps thats easy on the shooter but excellent for buffalo.

The first shot, off Gunstix at 100 yards, was spot on. I cycled The bolt and fired a 2nd shot. The 2nd shot hung up momentarily when I cycled the bolt; and when I did pull it rearward, all that came out was the cartridge case head. The body of the case was stuck in the chamber. I looked at the first case I’d shot, and while it was in one piece it had partially burned through also. I didn’t have anything to remove the stuck case so I simply switched over to my .416 Hoffman and kept shooting.

On my way home I stopped to leave the rifle with the gun builder who loads all my rifle ammo. We inspected all the 375 ammo, finding about another half dozen rounds with visual defects that would have failed if I’d shot them. All fired brass from other manufacturers inluding Nosler, Norma and Remington cases, was fine. The defective brass was all from the same box of Federal factory loaded ammo That we had reloaded once. The stuck case wouldn’t come out with a bore brush so the gunsmith had to remove the barreled action from the stock and create an ‘easy out’ tool to remove the stuck case. Since the stock had been removed, we shot the gun half a dozen times to RE-zero it to 1” high at 100 yards. One round was from the same lot of failed brass and showed signs of beginning case failure while the other five rounds from different brass were all fine.

I was fortunate this problem happened on the practice range instead of in the field while buffalo hunting. We hadn’t bothered to check the brass while loading as it was once fired factory ammo. Won’t make that mistake again. We are also inspecting every single round that we’re taking to Tanzania in a few weeks. None of the ammo will be using Federal brass except for factory ammo loaded with 300 grain Bearclaws, which are my favorite buffalo bullet.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Glad you weren’t injured. It’s definitely an eye opener when that occurs.

 

[DLSJR]

Glad you weren’t injured. It’s definitely an eye opener when that occurs.

I actually had no idea either case had failed until I tried to extract the 2nd shot case. The rifle, based on a pre-64 Express Action, did its job as designed, deflecting any escaped gas out to the side.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Do you have another brand of brass?

 

[steve white]

My nephew will not reload 375 H&H more than twice without signs of "incipient case head failure" I have wondered if belted cases are ever as long lasting as straight ones.

 

[Hunter4752001]

Fairly common issue with 375 H&H. Two issues to consider:
i. Try using a standard LR primer rather than a magnum. Allegedly the Magnum primer in a bottleneck case causes a high pressure spike. Don't know if its true, but those I know who have shifted away from magnum primers have experienced longer case life.
ii. Probably a more important issue. The H&H case is a belted case which means it headspaces on the belt and not the shoulder. As a consequence if your chamber is a little long it will cause the case wall to stretch. There a few kits out there (such as Hornady among others) that will allow you to measure the base to shoulder distance of a fired case. Adjust your sizing die to size to only a couple of thou less than the fired case length.

 

[John the Electrician]

I had the exact same issue with a Savage 110 in 7mm REM Mag. At the first firing of factory ammo, stress could be seen in the brass. Just above the belt; a reload of once fired brass sometimes resulted in separation.

I didn’t care for the gun anyway and explained its limitations to my non reloading nephew who received it as a gift.

 

[DLSJR]

Do you have another brand of brass?

I’ve got plenty of brass including Nosler, Norma, PPU and Remington. I’m about to order another bag of Remington cases and have 100 cases on order from Quality Cartridge (I really like their brass) whenever they do a run of 375 H&H.

I’ve also got over 200 rounds loaded, mostly TSX and Bearclaws but also some A Frames and Cutting Edge solids. My son and I are fortunate that both of our 375’s shoot all the different ammo very near each other. If I shoot just TSX, I get groups under .75”. If I shoot groups with all four different bullets, 1.25”.

 

[BnC 04]

You mention you have your ammo reloaded, any chance the casings are not on their 2nd loadings? I have had that happen exactly as you described but I pushed my luck on reusing cases when I knew I should have discarded the cases. Just a thought is all.

 

[Hunter4752001]

Also a reason to reserve a quantity of virgin cases for dangerous game or critical/expensive hunting.

 

[DLSJR]

You mention you have your ammo reloaded, any chance the casings are not on their 2nd loadings? I have had that happen exactly as you described but I pushed my luck on reusing cases when I knew I should have discarded the cases. Just a thought is all.

Actually, the guy who loads for me is also a great rifle builder and custom loading source. I know him well and trust him completely with my rifles and ammunition. I think I’m the only guy he loads for that shoots a 375. We actually used this box of factory ammo for barrel break-in, then he loaded then with TSX’s for me. I know the cases were only shot twice, but I understand why you asked. Going forward, we’ll only be loading cases twice before we discard them. Fortunately, I don’t shoot heavy rifles enough to burn through all the loaded ammo and components I have anytime soon. With over 200-375 and 100-416, I’ve got a pretty decent stock of loaded ammo.

 

[WAB]

This has happened to me once with a .375 H&H. In my case it was pushing too many cycles on the brass. I learned my lesson! It doesn’t sound like that’s your issue.

 

[DLSJR]

This has happened to me once with a .375 H&H. In my case it was pushing too many cycles on the brass. I learned my lesson! It doesn’t sound like that’s your issue.

We concluded that it’s simply a batch of bad brass. All defective cases originated from a single box of Federal factory ammunition. Have never had a single problem with any other brass, Federal or other brands.

 

[Woodcarver]

I've had some issues recently with factory Winchester ammo for both the 270 WSM and the 300 WSM. Had 3 boxes of factory loaded 300 WSM give me 19 case neck splits-factory load, not reloads. All those once fired brass that didn't split have been marked for very careful inspection before reloading. Just brought home my son's 270 WSM to work with. He has about 50% case neck splits on the once fired brass I reloaded for him. I suspect this brass missed the annealing step when the factory manufactured it. Unfortunately, it's all nickel plated, so the usual discoloration of the neck is hidden by the plating. It might all go in the bad brass box.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Please have the smith check the headspace. If the headspace is good I would try neck sizing only.
Please post pictures of your fired primers it could point us in the right direction.
Lastly, I have found federal brass to be the worst in 375, but it looks more like a rifle issue to me.

 

[Philip Glass]

So sorry this happened but thankful it happened at the range.
Y’all know my opinion on this subject so I’ll leave it at that.
PG

 

[shootist~]

Although they are usually good for 3 reloads (in 30-06, 223, etc), I've avoided Federal brass for many years. I tend to buy and use Lapua and Norma. Remington cases seems to be fairly decent too, although I've never pushed the number of reloads with any.

For peace of mind, I would check the "Cartridge Headspace" with the Hornady Cartridge Headspace Tool. More to make sure your Resized brass is not being Excessively resized.
This is a shoulder setback measurement - fired cases Vs resized cases. Measuring unfired factory ammo is also helpful. (Even though belted cases are headspaced at the shoulder - you don't want a huge gape between chamber and shoulder, IMO.)

In working up loads a few years ago during the great ammo shortage:
Many of my Federal 338WM cases were showing similar impending case head separation after the third reload (4th firing). M reloads for the 338WM are on the mild side. And I was only setting back the shoulder about .004". My buddie's 338 WM did the same with his saved Federal brass a few months later. (Both rifles are Sako AV's.)

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Last weekend I was participating in a Mzuri Safari Club fun shoot at one of our member’s ranch. I was shooting the .375 H&H I recently had built and experienced a problem I’d never seen before, a full Case Head separation! I was shooting some handloads with a 300 grain TSX pushed by 70.0 grains of Reloader 15, Federal 215 primer and once fired (2nd loading) Federal brass. It’s a middle of the road loading giving us about 2,400 fps thats easy on the shooter but excellent for buffalo.

The first shot, off Gunstix at 100 yards, was spot on. I cycled The bolt and fired a 2nd shot. The 2nd shot hung up momentarily when I cycled the bolt; and when I did pull it rearward, all that came out was the cartridge case head. The body of the case was stuck in the chamber. I looked at the first case I’d shot, and while it was in one piece it had partially burned through also. I didn’t have anything to remove the stuck case so I simply switched over to my .416 Hoffman and kept shooting.

On my way home I stopped to leave the rifle with the gun builder who loads all my rifle ammo. We inspected all the 375 ammo, finding about another half dozen rounds with visual defects that would have failed if I’d shot them. All fired brass from other manufacturers inluding Nosler, Norma and Remington cases, was fine. The defective brass was all from the same box of Federal factory loaded ammo That we had reloaded once. The stuck case wouldn’t come out with a bore brush so the gunsmith had to remove the barreled action from the stock and create an ‘easy out’ tool to remove the stuck case. Since the stock had been removed, we shot the gun half a dozen times to RE-zero it to 1” high at 100 yards. One round was from the same lot of failed brass and showed signs of beginning case failure while the other five rounds from different brass were all fine.

I was fortunate this problem happened on the practice range instead of in the field while buffalo hunting. We hadn’t bothered to check the brass while loading as it was once fired factory ammo. Won’t make that mistake again. We are also inspecting every single round that we’re taking to Tanzania in a few weeks. None of the ammo will be using Federal brass except for factory ammo loaded with 300 grain Bearclaws, which are my favorite buffalo bullet.

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@DLSJR
Belted cases are the baine of a rekoaders life especially the 375H&H. The problem lies with most people think the case head spaces of the belt. In theory a good idea BUT CHAMBERS VARY. Here in lies the problem, people full lenght size off the belt and invariably bump the shoulder back unintentionally. This then creates a problem with case stretching and incipient case head separation. Undetected this causes complete case failure next time the round is fired.
Simple solution is to treat the 375H&H as if it is a non belted bottle neck case and full lenght size so the case is just a slight crush fit in the rifle, or neck size the case.
This prevents case stretching and you will get far more reloads per case.
It is a common problem with the 375H&H and some rimmed bottle neck cases especially the 303 British. Changing reloading habits will solve the issue.
If the case gets hard to chamber, trim to lenght then keep adjusting the FLS die down a millipoofteenth at a time until you get a firm fit. NOT A TIGHT FIT. You should feel just a very slight resistance when you close the bolt.
Just the rant of an old rifle loony that has blown a couple of 303 cases before he learnt how to reload it properly by necksizing and not bumping the shoulder.
Bob

 

[Inline6]

Let your smith know, if he would have done a chamber casting he could have avoided some of the things he did to remove the brass. It is a pretty easy process.

Belted magnums for me get reloaded twice. That is the most I will do. When hunting will only use new brass, will not chance it. Do people get more, yes they do. Are they running a risk of what happened to you, IMHO yes.

 

[DLSJR]

Please have the smith check the headspace. If the headspace is good I would try neck sizing only.
Please post pictures of your fired primers it could point us in the right direction.
Lastly, I have found federal brass to be the worst in 375, but it looks more like a rifle issue to me.

Wyatt, we actually were able to confirm it was a batch of bad brass. We found 8 or 9 bad pieces that all came from the same batch of Federal factory ammunition. I’ve got a bunch of other brass I’ve shot through this rifle that are Norma, Nosler, Remington, and none of them show any signs of problems. Even other Federal brass has shown no problems, except from what came out of the same box of 20 factory ammo.

I leave in a few weeks for a hunt in the Selous. None of the ammo we are taking uses Federal brass, except for some factory ammo. The handloaded ammo we are taking is all new, unfired brass That’s Norma or Nosler brass.