Something out of the norm made that brass brittle. I'm wondering about ammonia or similar exposure as a possible explanation.
Or lack of annealing prior to reloading.
Something out of the norm made that brass brittle. I'm wondering about ammonia or similar exposure as a possible explanation.
Metal fatigue does occur from work hardening the brass during reloading true. However, if you look at the OP's cases, it is pretty obvious that they have not been reloaded much if at all.
How do you get that?
They were range pickup, unknown history.
There is minimal marking of the cases. Cases that are reloaded and shot get little nicks from extractors and case holders and marks from where the die stops at the case holder. Looking at them again, they may have been only fired once.
You can't resolve extractor and ejector marks. They accumulate.
Proper annealing lets cases last many reloads. That's the point of doing it.
I have never a single failure or substandard performance from Remington centerfire ammo. Much of it has been excellent.