reasonablenut

Owwwie... Get a chrono so you can tell how hot the round is, or if you just have shitty brass...
 

I've never loaded for the M1 Carbine but in my experience case splits like that are caused by overworking the brass. The brass gets harder, work-hardened, at every resizing. The harder the brass the less it wants to conform to the chamber on firing. In loading the .38 special I found that different brands were more susceptible to splitting, for example PMC seemed to split after only two or three reloadings where Winchester might go eight or ten reloadings until splits became a real problem.

I don't think that this failure is caused by overloading. I'm guessing that you're using a carbide die. My suggestion is don't size any further down the case than you need to hold the bullet and allow easy chambering.

I'm not a reloading guru but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express. ;)
 

marc,
Thanks for the input. It was a carbide die, but this was the first reload after firing the factory ammo. Not enough reloading for the brass to get "work-hardened"? What do you think.
I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that it is just poor brass. I've ordered some Winchester and I will weight them comparatively and see if there is any appreciable difference.
Checked your blog, looks good, I will continue to check it.
Once again,
Thanks,
The Old Man
 

Thanks.
Reading more carefully you said "straight walled case". Just pointing it out that the carbine round isn't straight walled, it has a slight taper. That's why I guessed a carbide die. A carbide die is best for straight walled cases but you can use it on tapered cases, understanding that you work the brass more and more the further down you go.
Thanks again for the kind words, you're on my blogroll now.
 

From the sound of it, probably bad brass. Either that brand, or just a bad batch. It happens.

I've heard a number of people complain of problems reloading S&B brass, but I've got .45 cases that've been reloaded multiple times with no problems at all.
 

As with most semi-auto rifles you must *full length size your brass*. This is especially important in a military weapon with a floating firing pin. You do not want the brass to hang up on the way in to the chamber and have the floating firing pin set off your primer.

Ed
 

30 carbine loading (work harden brass) annealing your brass will give you a very long reloading life
and you will be surprised how easy it is to do... eamil me for help
murp1952@bellsouth.net
 

in reference to the split 30 carbine case i can 98% promise you it split because of a loading mistake like wrong powder or 2 much powder you are lucky you did not blow the chamber. i have loaded for years and years and never split any brass because brass does not wear out and if properly cared for it does not get hard from resizing. the only thing that causes ruptures is loading mistakes i have reused 30 carbing brass as much as 25 times never split had a single one split in any caliber if you are spliting brass your cup is above the safe range make sure you are loading them with the right powder and the right amount of powder
 

anonymous - please give info on annealing....How far down do you anneal?
 

M1 carbines are hard on brass. They often have generously oversize chambers that stretch the brass a lot. Plus, the slight taper works the brass more than you would think during resizing. You will notice that the stretch causes a lot of trimming of the case length after sizing. Be SURE to check and trim case length! I have had some good GI brass split like yours after 2 reloads, usually they are trash after 3.
 

M1 carbines are hard on brass. They often have generously oversize chambers that stretch the brass a lot. Plus, the slight taper works the brass more than you would think during resizing. You will notice that the stretch causes a lot of trimming of the case length after sizing. Be SURE to check and trim case length! I have had some good GI brass split like yours after 2 reloads, usually they are trash after 3.
 

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