Well this was a first for me. Reloaded 460, below max, in Hornady brass. Opened the cylinder up and this is what fell out. I had already shot one other full cylinder with no problems, so this was one out of ten. Shooting session over...

How many times was it loaded?

First time - it was unfired brass. But I?m learning it could be tied to several things. Possibly...weak brass, magnum primer (recipe called for it), too tight of a crimp, etc.

I?ve already ordered starline brass and I?m going to rework the load with non magnum primers.

Hmm, that's weird. The placement and type of split is strange, too. I've had lengthwise splits in revolver cartridges, but never across. Plus, it's well above the case head, not near the edge of the die marks.

I've got some 460 S&W Hornady brass that I've run hot 4 or 5 times with no issues yet. Probably just a bad case, but I certainly can't fault you for wanting to go with Starline.

I have more issues with sticking brass from Hornady in my Casull and .480 Ruger revolvers (including factory loads). Lab tests from Speer (on Casull cases) indicate that sticking cases are a brass hardness issue. WW brass tested as the hardest, and as having no problem with sticking cases. I have not seen this particular problem before, but it looks like a manufacturing defect to me.

The only 30-30 brass I've had to discard was Hornady stamped and it was always head separation about 1/2 inch up the body. I've never had that failure with another brand even with 2-3x more reloads.

Thanks everyone. I'm chunking all of it - just don't want to take any risks. Jason Hornady is a friend of mine from a past life and I've sent the picture to him.

I've previously had head separations in bottlenecked rifle cases. In the bottlenecked cases the causes were variously: headspace issues, improper annealing/hardness at manufacture, full length resizing too many times. Critically all of these caused head separation much closer to the case head than shown in your example. However I've never heard of it with straight walled cases. The only straight walled case splitting I've seen have been longitudinal in the body or neck.

If you know Jason Hornady it might be a good idea to keep the damaged case and the others from the batch. I suspect that any decent manufacturer would want to identify any metallurgic problems before they cause more serious issues.

I would have sent back all the cases to Hornady, with a letter of explanation and the separated case or cases I would have kept them separate in a small baggie. You might not be the only person to experience this, and may or may not get compensated for the effort.
But it is best to let Manufacturers know what is going on with their products.

Glad no injuries or calamity with your weapon.

I've never used Hornady/Frontier handgun brass, but I can tell you in rifle brass it has not held up for me. Loads in the upper PSI/CUP range the primer pockets enlarge due to very soft brass. Case stretching is more of an issue as well. I had to do more case prep with the Hornady brass with every reload over any other brass I used at the time. For my rifle brass now all I shoot is Norma or Lapua in handgun brass I stick with Starline. If you're not a reloader (just a one-n-done shooter) then Hornady is fine, but wouldn't be any better than the rest.

This kind of separation is from oil or long brass... or from shooting 45 colts in a 460...

I appreciate the response freedom475, but none are true in this case. All were trimmed, book recipes for 460, and I always wipe my brass down (inside and out) with acetone after they come out of the tumbler or when brand new. Carbide dies too so no case lube was used.

How about your cylinder chambers?? I have had this happen a lot while wet wiping my Sharps rifle, if I leave a little moisture in my chamber.

My 460 x-frame would do the same thing to my brass every time I cleaned it...because of the trace of oil left behind in the cylinder after cleaning.

Annealing brass will do some really great things...but I can't say that it will help you in this case..?

Hmm not sure. However, I?ve switched to starline brass and have put at least 50 more rounds through it at max loads. Not another issue at all. I really think it was weak brass.

Thank you again for the help.

Glad to hear Starline is working you.. Most of my competition brass is Starline.

I actually stopped using Hornady brass years ago when they started selling "short" brass to accommodate there plastic gel tip ammo...VERY frustrating!!..LOL