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Anderson 50 Beowulf extrusions

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I am reloading 50 Beowulf for my BIL. Already made a few test rounds, ran them through his gun and everything seemed fine.

My recipe doesn't really pertain to my question, but for the record, I'm loading 40.9g IMR 4227, CCI 350, Speer 325g JHP.

After the test rounds fired fine, he gave me the rest of his factory Anderson brass, about 60 rounds, to finish loading. I am trying to be very careful with the loads, so I weigh each round by hand. Started noticing that some of the cases wobbled on the scale. Turns out there is some extrusion on maybe 20% of the factory cases. Here is a picture of one of the worst ones, which I had already primed because I wasn't looking for over-pressure signs on factory rounds:


They range from something similar to this, down to the point where you have to drag a fingernail across to even know it's there. The other 80% are completely flat.

I took EC's courses, so I know that some soft factory ammo tends to extrude even if it's not over-pressured.

So finally I get to my questions: Anybody familiar with Anderson 50 Beowulf ammo at factory pressures, and is this normal? Should I toss the ones that are extruded or just keep reloading them at my current minimum pressures?
 
I don’t know anything about that caliber, so I can’t help you as to whether 20% is a common rate. When I used to reload brass (slowly starting to get back into it), I didn’t bother with cases with extrusion. However, I was shooting common calibers - 9mm, 380ACP, 40S&W, 45ACP, etc., so I had literally thousands more pieces.

At the very least, I would consider tossing the most severe brass with such issues.
 
Thank you citoriguy. I have already set all of the worst ones aside, pending a decision on what to do with them. Anybody else have an opinion on this? EC? Bueller?
 
That case looks like it experienced a pretty severe over-pressure. Brass shouldn't extrude like that no matter how soft it started out.

The most reliable way to detect over pressure is to do a very accurate before and after measurement of the case diameter at the case head just in front of the rim. That area of the web should not expand more than 0.001" under normal pressure conditions, and any expansion beyond that indicates an over pressure event.

When I say accurate, I mean use a micrometer to make the measurement (and not a vernier or digital caliper) and use a Sharpie to mark the exact place on the case where the measurement was taken (by "exact" I mean the points on the case where the micrometer contacted it), and remeasure on the same marks after you fire the case.

Since it's too late to do a "before" on these cases, see if you can find some unfired rounds from the same batch. Make several measurements at points around the diameter of the case just ahead of the rim, then do the same to some of your fired cases, then compare.

Either way, don't reload the cases with the extrusion on them.

Our of curiosity, did the primers go in real easy on the ones you reprimed?
 
EddieCoyle said:
That case looks like it experienced a pretty severe over-pressure. Brass shouldn't extrude like that no matter how soft it started out.

The most reliable way to detect over pressure is to do a very accurate before and after measurement of the case diameter at the case head just in front of the rim. That area of the web should not expand more than 0.001" under normal pressure conditions, and any expansion beyond that indicates an over pressure event.

When I say accurate, I mean use a micrometer to make the measurement (and not a vernier or digital caliper) and use a Sharpie to mark the exact place on the case where the measurement was taken (by "exact" I mean the points on the case where the micrometer contacted it), and remeasure on the same marks after you fire the case.

Since it's too late to do a "before" on these cases, see if you can find some unfired rounds from the same batch. Make several measurements at points around the diameter of the case just ahead of the rim, then do the same to some of your fired cases, then compare.

Either way, don't reload the cases with the extrusion on them.

Our of curiosity, did the primers go in real easy on the ones you reprimed?
Click to expand...
Roger all Jim. Thanks. I only have one unfired factory round from him, and will do the measurements you suggested. I will ask him to buy another box of Anderson and I'll collect a couple of them next time he visits, for double checking the measurements.

Primers went in hard. So hard that I pulled the hand primer apart a couple of times to make sure nothing was binding up.

My BIL is a gun guy, but not a very knowledgable gun guy. Is it possible that this could be caused by a dirty gun? I didn't inspect it or clean it before we shot it on this last visit.
 
I doubt a dirty gun could cause it. The only causes that I can think of for that are excessive pressure and/or excessive headspace.

Before you shoot the next ones, measure the OAL, then chamber a round (by dropping the bolt on the round in the mag), then eject it and measure the OAL and inspect the bullet for rifling marks. If the bullet is jamming into the lands (or jamming and setting back), it could cause a pressure spike.

Also measure the headspace length. Measure from the case head (avoiding the extrusion) to the shoulder of the fired case, and do the same on the unfired one. If the headspace length of unfired case is much shorter than the fired one, this could be a contributing factor.

Did you happen to notice the condition of the primers from the fired cases?
 
Didn't pay much attention to the fired primers, since I was reloading once-fired factory stuff.

I will set the extruded cases aside, finish loading the good ones, and wait for his next visit. Then I'll do the tests you suggest and resurrect the thread, since I don't have any fired cases that I haven't already sized, and only one unfired factory round.
 
I can't comment on your specific question, but what I can add is the Anderson brass in known to be poor quality for reloading.

I was given some Anderson once fired factory brass, quite a few cases were destroyed, the shooter didn't realize how lucky he was that his gun didn't go Boom.

Buy some Starline and be done with it.
50 Caliber - Beowulf® Brass - Magnum Large Pistol - Brass Cases
 

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