SmallCaliberCentral

I recently had an episode with some HMS brass I got from some factory loads. I found several cracked necks while loading these cases in load development atr around the 2-3rd loading, not that big of a deal, I was planning on getting some other brass anyway.

Yesterday I was resizing some HMS brass and had a case rim break off in the holder leaving the case stuck in my die! I ended up getting the case out of the die but broke the spindle, and expander ball. Luckly they are Hornady dies and they are located only 25 miles down the road. I call them up and told them my problem thinking I'm gonna be buying parts. The nice lady I talked to at the service desk, asked what parts I needed and said they'd replace them at no cost! Well that was great, and I ran down there and pick up my parts free!

Today I went back to resizing 50 Hornady cases, 100 Winchester cases, than grabbed my first HSM case and broke the rim right off the case, leaving it stuck in the die again! I again got the case out of the die with just the expander ball getting toasted. Called Hornady and told them I need parts, thinking this time I'm going to pay for them, but she still said no cost and I'll get it in the mail. I'm real impressed with Hornadys products and service!

After that call I rounded up all my HSM cases that needed sized and chucked them to the trash. I'll just shoot up the rest of the loaded ones and be done with them.

Has anyone else had this problem with HSM cases?

PM sent - Got Neb?

PM back at ya.

Never did like that brass now I know why......shame, but That is GREAT about Hornady I've never had to call them. GREAT TO hear about GOOD customer service though..

I thought about buying some loaded ammo from them when i bought my first .204 but was warned that there brass wasn't the best. Glad i spent the extra money and bought 200 rounds of factory hornady.

Wow. This is good to know. I bought a bunch of HSM .204 cartridges a couple years ago and shot'em but haven't tried to reload them yet.

I wrote to HSM and this is what I got back:

In regards to the email you sent expressing your concerns about reloading
brass with the HSM headstamp. At HSM, we use only quality components that
will in turn make the end product as accurate, reliable and precise as
possible. We have sold millions of rounds of this brass without a bad
report. I personally have shot and reloaded the same HSM brass, over
several varmint seasons, without a flaw.

When reloading, any brand of brass, one needs to be aware of the pressure
fluctuations with different loads. Without looking at the brass that was
tore in half it is hard to say what caused it, but it sounds like it may
have been loaded that had excessively high pressures. These pressures could
have caused the case to fail, again without physically handling it and
talking it over with the loader it is hard to say what caused the problem.

As for reloading the HSM .204 brass, you shouldn't have any problems with
it. When developing your load watch for signs of pressure on the primer as
well as the case. However, if you do have problems with this please let me
know and we discuss what is happening and I will make sure that you get
taken care of. Thank you for bringing this to our attention as we have
never heard anything about this type of problem with our brass. If you have
any questions please let me know.

Thanks,

Nick Schiele
Production Manager
The Hunting Shack, Inc.
4406 Rathbun Lane
Stevensville, MT 59870
(406)777-2106 ext. 119
(406)777-3908 fax

Not that this helps much but at least he took the time to respond.