Case necks splitting

[DRC458]

... Seems I remember reading about sizing the case so that they headspace on the shoulder and belted rim. Apparently, that method will increase the life of the brass.

This. And anneal.

 

[MoBoost]

For annealing I use a cordless drill with a socket in the chuck. Drop the case head first into the socket. Spin and hold the neck in the flame until the brass turns blue. Drop the case into a can of water.

I use a chopstick that fits tight in primer pocket - works well on belted and rimmed cartridges that tend to wobble in a socket. I've also noticed considerable accuracy improvement after annealing non-premium cases.

 

[HMFIC]

Not really sure this applies to the case neck issue but I think there are a few tricks to resizing belted cases. Seems I remember reading about sizing the case so that they headspace on the shoulder and belted rim. Apparently, that method will increase the life of the brass.

This makes sense, but if the shoulder was set too awfully far back, I'd really expect brass failure near the belt before the neck. I've never reloaded any belted magnums, but given that they headspace on the belt, if you're full length sizing and then blowing it back out every time, then you're going to experience much greater brass working and fatigue than you would compared to cases that headspace on the shoulder and don't experience nearly as much expansion. This is ESPECIALLY true if you're setting back the shoulder too far.

I'd be neck sizing only. It should give you upwards of double or perhaps triple the loadings and it will also save on some trimming as well. Anneal if you want, but I'd spend money on a collet die immediately.

 

[MoBoost]

Don't confuse gunsmithing and reloading. The purpose of the belt was early double rifle extraction, and purely esthetic nowadays. The gunsmith has to make sure that belt fits tight to avoid unneccessary case expansion above the belt, reloading has to be done off shoulder.

 

[HMFIC]

Don't confuse gunsmithing and reloading. The purpose of the belt was early double rifle extraction, and purely esthetic nowadays. The gunsmith has to make sure that belt fits tight to avoid unneccessary case expansion above the belt, reloading has to be done off shoulder.

Roger that. Shoulder should fully engage the chamber as in non-belted cartridges. Get a collet die for neck sizing only or I suppose you could just unscrew your full length die a couple thou at a time until you get your shoulder to fit better

My understanding of the original purpose of the belt though was due to early cartridges that had sloping shoulders that didn't allow for precise headspacing off of them. The idea had nothing to do with extraction, if anything, it had more to do with the fact that the purpose of the longer sloping shoulders was to aid in feeding. Imagine a big game hunter finger fobbling his H&H rounds while reloading his double rifle in a hurry or having a magazine feeding issue when you're going for the second or third shot on the charging elephant or rhino.

 

[MoBoost]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.375_Holland_&_Holland_Magnum

 

[HMFIC]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.375_Holland_&_Holland_Magnum

Meh... I don't take wiki to be the gospel on this. All you have to do is switch over to the .300 H&H wiki article and it says the opposite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.300_H&H_Magnum

 

[Shadowrider]

FYI, The belted magnums were originally needed to prevent the firing pin from driving the cartridge forward. It started with the .300 H&H. They didn't have enough shoulder to prevent misfires. Had nothing to do with extraction, they have a rim for that.

 

[MoBoost]

Meh... I don't take wiki to be the gospel on this. All you have to do is switch over to the .300 H&H wiki article and it says the opposite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.300_H&H_Magnum

Touche, but I'm going to say that 300 article is plain wrong; tiniest shoulder is used for headspace (400 Whelen) and even straight wall cartridge can be headspaced without belt - off the mouth e.g. 50 Beowulf.
With that said, and despite of hundreds of internet and published articles, the only logical reason for belt was push type extraction.

 

[MoBoost]

FYI, The belted magnums were originally needed to prevent the firing pin from driving the cartridge forward. It started with the .300 H&H. They didn't have enough shoulder to prevent misfires. Had nothing to do with extraction, they have a rim for that.

I have to disagree.
0.050+ space at the shoulder would blow the cartridge in half right above the belt.