Double Naught Spy
New member
People often don't, even experienced shooters.
Blew up my Sig P229
- Thread starter HughScot
- Start date
How old was the ammunition? Federal says the lifetime of their ammunition
https://www.federalpremium.com/company/faq.aspx
The 40 S&W was a high pressure round from the get-go, Wiki states that pressures were set at 35,000 and that is pretty hot for pistol ammunition. (My 45 ACP target loads just function the slide
) As ammunition ages, the pressures go up. I have a number of posts of rifle and pistol blow ups with twenty or so year old factory ammunition. This may be what happened, old ammunition, and the unsupported part of the case head blew out.
Glad you were not hurt. Always wear your shooting glasses!
https://www.federalpremium.com/company/faq.aspx
The 40 S&W was a high pressure round from the get-go, Wiki states that pressures were set at 35,000 and that is pretty hot for pistol ammunition. (My 45 ACP target loads just function the slide
) As ammunition ages, the pressures go up. I have a number of posts of rifle and pistol blow ups with twenty or so year old factory ammunition. This may be what happened, old ammunition, and the unsupported part of the case head blew out.Glad you were not hurt. Always wear your shooting glasses!
ammo.crafter
New member
too bad
I had a similar incident with a Colt Delta Elite 10 mm.
Just as you detailed there was an abnormally loud bang and I immediately felt like hornets stung my hands and my face hurt.
To make a long story short, it was determined the ammo, PMC, was triple loaded and was supposed to have been taken out of circulation and destroyed.
Colt did right by me and replaced the gun with little argument.
Glad you are OK
I had a similar incident with a Colt Delta Elite 10 mm.
Just as you detailed there was an abnormally loud bang and I immediately felt like hornets stung my hands and my face hurt.
To make a long story short, it was determined the ammo, PMC, was triple loaded and was supposed to have been taken out of circulation and destroyed.
Colt did right by me and replaced the gun with little argument.
Glad you are OK
I meant loaded the magazine with the cartridges and then inserted it into the pistol. I just would have thought you'd notice if it was brass or nickel plated brass. Are you saying someone loaded ammunition you didn't look at it into your pistol and you then fired the pistol?
To the original poster... I'm glad you're okay. I really want to find out the outcome of this. I have some "old" Federal Hydrashok ammo, which was my old defensive ammo for both 40S&W and 9mm.
Now something that I don't understand, but always gets repeated? Why is 40S&W considered High Pressure? 9mm runs at the same SAAMI spec max pressure 35,000 PSI. That's the same as the spec for 40S&W. I know you have to be careful about not getting bullet setback on the 40S&W, and the recoil always feels more intense compared to the 9mm, but it's also a heavier bullet that I'm pushing through.
But the oft repeated comment is ... "it's a high pressure round"?
Now something that I don't understand, but always gets repeated? Why is 40S&W considered High Pressure? 9mm runs at the same SAAMI spec max pressure 35,000 PSI. That's the same as the spec for 40S&W. I know you have to be careful about not getting bullet setback on the 40S&W, and the recoil always feels more intense compared to the 9mm, but it's also a heavier bullet that I'm pushing through.
But the oft repeated comment is ... "it's a high pressure round"?
I will let you know as soon as I know more. Federal and I are emailing at this point and they asked for pictures of the case and the gun which I have sent to them. Sig is sending me a FedEx label for me to ship the gun to them. I'll wait on shipping until Federal gets back to me or I tire of waiting. Since the case can't be positively identified I am not expecting much from Federal.
I also bought a box of Federal HydaShok in .380 and I'm not going to be using them. Both boxes were purchased back in the '90s. I have the .380 box but not the 40 sw box. I'll err on the side of caution.
While looking up bullet setback on Google I found this interesting article.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/05/battered-bullets-does-bullet-setback-matter/
I also bought a box of Federal HydaShok in .380 and I'm not going to be using them. Both boxes were purchased back in the '90s. I have the .380 box but not the 40 sw box. I'll err on the side of caution.
While looking up bullet setback on Google I found this interesting article.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/05/battered-bullets-does-bullet-setback-matter/
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Here's a reference indicating in the late 90's Federal redesigned its .40 cases due to failures:
http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/40fed-kb.html
"The causality in this instance appears to have been the Federal nickel-plated cartridge case, and is not an unknown happenstance with this particular manufacturer. It was prevalent enough that in late 1995, the Anoka, Minnesota-based ammunition company quietly undertook a redesign of their .40 S&W cartridge case to strengthen internally the area of the case web. While no one at Federal has been willing to address this for the record, it has been suggested that this move was dictated by the popularilty of the .40 S&W Glocks (with their unsupported chambers), and the munitions giant's attempt to hedge against a kB! with any of their ammunition."
http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/40fed-kb.html
"The causality in this instance appears to have been the Federal nickel-plated cartridge case, and is not an unknown happenstance with this particular manufacturer. It was prevalent enough that in late 1995, the Anoka, Minnesota-based ammunition company quietly undertook a redesign of their .40 S&W cartridge case to strengthen internally the area of the case web. While no one at Federal has been willing to address this for the record, it has been suggested that this move was dictated by the popularilty of the .40 S&W Glocks (with their unsupported chambers), and the munitions giant's attempt to hedge against a kB! with any of their ammunition."