40 S&W case question

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xcc_rider

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So I've gotten back into reloading after several years and am seeing things I've not seen before. I've read about "Glock bulge" and unsupported chambers causing bulging in the 40 S&W but since I've never reloaded them it's new to me.

I came across 1k "once fired" brass and from what I'm seeing minor circumferential bulging appears somewhat normal for the 40. I figure I'll full length size them and go from there. I've tumbled the lot and am hand separating them as I go. I've found a lot of minimal bulging cases, some "Glock bulging" and I have come across a couple of weird ones I figured I'd ask about.

In the pic below; the right case appears to be a typical Glock bulge but what are the scoring\grooves on the case? The scoring is the way around the case and deep enough to catch your fingernail on. I assume these cases are not reloadable as the grooves will in time stress fracture and do unpleasant things.
The case on the right has a circular bulge in it with a sharp edge that also catches your fingernail. What can cause this and again I assume these are not reloadable also.

If anyone has some insight on this I'd appreciate hearing from you.
thx, dan
 

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The scratches are very regularly space, so I expect they are from slightly premature and fast extraction from a fluted chamber. That also accounts for the bulge being so pronounced. Probably a submachine gun of some kind.

That circular mark is left when a cartridge is fired in a pressure test barrel with conformal transducer. But who knows at what pressure they were tested? Pressure testing is done by large volume manufacturers to adjust powder charge. Was that case with a low charge, a high charge, or one that was just right? I don't know.

Personally, if you have plenty of brass without these marks, I'd scrap them. If I were determined to try get some loads out of them, I'd section a few of both of these to see if they are thinned to the point I didn't trust them, and then I would still shoot something below a maximum load in any that passed inspection.
 
Machine gun and pressure test barrel... I kind of guessed the same for the circle case but the fluted barrel is interesting.
I'm chucking all the the odd ones. Bummer tho, it was a great deal but not so great anymore since I'm probably looking at tossing 10% of the cases.
Thx for the info.
 
They are not supposed to sell pressure tested brass. They are supposed to be scrapped. I wouldn't load them. You see this occasionally in rifle brass also.
 
One thing I would like to suggest is to get a small base die.

I don't have a small base die in 40 s&w because all my brass was first fired by my guns. But if you plan to scavenge range brass or some other cheap stuff, small base size them and the ones that won't go, chuck 'em in the trash
 
The circular mark does like a pressure test case. I'm guessing the other was fired in an MP5-40 with a fluted chamber.

I'd pass on that batch of brass.
 
I'm hand sorting all of them and the scored, Glock bulged and pressure tested cases (and any other anomalies) go in the recycle can.
I looked at the product description below and rereading it I can see where some pressure tested cases can be included in their "testing".
It sure isn't how I interpreted it the first time and I'm a little surprised the vendor sold them the way they are. There's other brass vendors out there so I guess I'll try a different one next time.

"These cases have been fired and they still contain the spent primer. These cases were fired by ICC Ammo, a premium frangible ammunition company, as they tested their loads. They have only been fired once."

I'm ordering a base sizing die to handle the best of the cases in this batch and I'll use it on any range brass I pick up too. The rest are trash.

I agree reloading my own fired brass is ideal but I'm reloading for two SIG's (my daughter's and mine) and a carbine and buying factory rounds to build up a couple of K's worth of brass is unmanageable on a retired\fixed income.
 
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I hear you. I load range pick-ups in 40 cal exclusively and if they look hinky, I pitch them. I use Lee basic dies and I've had no problems with the rest.

My basic 40 load is pretty mild, 4 grains of W231/HP38 under a cast 180 grain RNFP or TC bullet. Basically 45 ACP velocities and pressures. It feeds slick and shoots to the POI of 180 grain factory FMJ, in every 40 I've tried it in.
 
Just got done sorting the cases and had 413 rejects out of 1000. 41% rejects aren't good.
291 scored MG fired cases
103 pressure test cases
19 general defects

I paid more for true once fired cases and basically ended up paying double the price I could have gotten generic once fired cases elsewhere.

I'm firing off an email to RMR this morning to see if they'll make good on it.
We'll see...
 
Well, no reply from the vendor today.
Figure I'll give them a few more days and try calling. I've heard good things about them. Hopefully something will come out of it.

Edit: Got a call tonight from Ryan at RMR wanting to know more about the brass. He was very surprised at the pic I sent him and explained they bought the brass pre sorted from the manufacturer and didn't do the normal in house sorting they usually do. His advice was the same as the forums to not shoot the brass and that they're sending me out a new order of 500 to replace them.
He also asked if I would scrap the bad brass to make sure it got out of the system.


I'm happy and I'd call that pretty good customer service
 
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I've read about "Glock bulge" and unsupported chambers
Click to expand...

Just to share a little information about the 40 S&W. Many pistols have unsupported areas in the chamber where the feedramp is located. Some have
larger cutouts than newer generation Glocks.

The majority of the brass I find that has been fired in a Glock has a bulge, but it isn't due to the feedramp cutout. It is due to the generous chamber on a Glock factory barrel. The bulge will be in a different location. I will include pictures of both. Rarely in early generation Glocks you can have OOB (out of battery) firing. This is rarely seen and can have bad consequences if the brass wall fails.

The first picture is the Glock bulge due to a generous chamber.

The second is a bulge (not necessarily fired in a Glock) due to the unsupported chamber where the feedramp is located.

[URL=http://s860.photobucket.com/user/jepp2/media/GenerousChamberBulge.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s860.photobucket.com/user/jepp2/media/FeedRampVoid_zps95694a5c.jpg.html][/URL]
 
Good pics of the two. The "Glock bulge" I'll resize, the unsupported chambers I won't. I don't like the sharp edges on the unsupported chamber cases. I think they're too likely to rupture along the edges.
I could be wrong but it's my call. Besides, when I load for my daughter to shoot I make sure she only gets the best of the lot.
 
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