Interesting Find - Be Careful

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AVirginian

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I finished cleaning some 9mm brass and as always, I stand them up looking for the occasional 380 or 9mm Makarov. I noticed that one case looked different so I took a closer look to discover a shelf inside the case. The headstamp is MaxxTech.

I then sectioned it with my Dremel and as you can see in the second photo, the case volume seems to be significantly reduced. I tossed the 10 or so that I found.

Just thought I'd mention this as if they were loaded with a full charge the reduced case volume might cause a problem.

Bryant
 

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THANKS!
I just bought a bunch of range pistol brass locally, and this is something I should most certainly be looking for.

I can see that brass locking a progressive press up in a big way!

Good clean cross section by the way.

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Wow! I have a few cases with that headstamp also,will throw in scrap bucket now. Thanks for the heads up


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OUTSTANDING Post - THANX!!!

While I do not play with any 9mm toys, this is a HUGE safety issue! I have not seen this before, but now I wonder if some dufus company might do something so stupid with .40 brass too? I will be watching . . .

Thank you again for being vigilant and sharing this critical information with us.
 
Eastern European origin also known as BlackMaxx or Tul MaxxTech. I first saw this crap with Ammoland headstamp. They have shown up with the headstamps of IMT and FM also.

Throw them away. They are junk for reloading as the case will separate at the ridge.

Another headstamp to avoid is TulAmmo. I am not sure what they make their brass out of but it is just as soft as aluminum cases.
 
Interesting case design. The step is a positive stop for bullet seating. The thickened brass at the body should tolerate higher pressure without blowing out. Note how thick the web is. Probably used a stiff charge of fairly fast powder. I don't know if they were wanting to prevent a target level load from having a lot of extra space in the case, or if they meant it to be fired in a fast full auto weapon without bulging and affecting extraction. Oddly expensive approach unless brass is cheap there. Obviously, standard load data would not apply to it.

You always have to inspect cases. I once got a freshly fired LC .30-06 case (this was from a DCM match back in the days when ammo was issued) that felt odd. I weighed it and it was 35 grains heavier than the average. Looking inside, there was a dark area around the flash hole. I applied a dental pick and retrieved a 35 grain slug of lead. It was apparently part of a bullet core that fell in at the factory. This was in government loaded ammo. QuickLOAD suggests it would have raised pressure about 10%. Nowhere near proof pressure, but not something I wanted in my handloads.
 
First time I found one of these I also wondered if the idea was to prevent bullet setback, because if that is the idea -- the idea itself is sound. Not sure about the execution of the idea and for a handloader, this is a very obvious pressure raising situation.

I also cull all of these from my brass supply, but this is not at all difficult for me since I sort all handgun brass by headstamp anyway.

Fantastic pictures and sectioning, OP! :cool:
 
I have seen this "step" in cases marked 'Perfecta' as,well but not THAT substantial of a change. Thanks for the heads up!
 
I am not scared, I sort cases and match them by head stamp and then by weight. BY WEIGHT:eek:

There is nothing entertaining about pulling the trigger without knowing what was about to happen. After I loaded a few hundred cases and then weighted them the thick cases would show up as cases with more powder than I had planned on. I can not think of a more embarrassing answer after my reloading rendered one of my guns scrap; "It must have been a double charge:confused:".

F. Guffey
 
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JeepHammer
.....
Information found on the 'Internet' is worth EXACTLY what you paid for it...
Everyone on the internet is an 'Expert'.
Click to expand...

My public education and books from the library were free.
The information varied from worthless to valuable, just like internet posts.

I asked my father in 1994 how he was making 20% and I was losing 20% on the stock market. He said that when Merrill Lynch calls, 95% of the time thier spiel is worthless. He said I have to realize when I hear something worthwhile.

Reading the internet is like looking for deals on the stock market, deals in a gun show, hunting, or fishing... a long time between opportunities, but you have to know one when you see it.

There ARE a few experts on the internet.
 
I found a bunch of these style cases while running my xl650 using range brass I picked up.. I set them all aside for later. I loaded them with the same upper end data hodgdon called for the cast 125 grbullet I was using and fired 10 of them through my Sa mac carbine. I had no issue's with them.

I ran the other 10 through a ruger p89. Seemed fine to me. I picked them all up and threw them back Into the brass bag.
 
I process at least a thousand rounds of 9mm a week from our local range and I haven't run into one of these yet. I will BOLO for these. Thanks for the heads up!
 
But... with such a thick case I bet it will take lots more pressure!

For people who shoot such as IPSC they might want to try a 'major' load out of a 9mm with such cases.

Deaf
 
MaxxTech 9mm

Thought I had found a good handful of nickle plated cases at the range yesterday. But what a disappointment. Nickle plated yes. But these are the "dreaded" bullet shelf 9's. Glad I had read about these or I "may" have been tempted to try a reload. Really appreciate the heads up. And, the photo of the dissected cases was terrific.
 
I'd be willing to try loading it. But, I would start pretty low with a fast powder and see what happens. You could ball park the lost capacity by looking at how many grains of water a standard or average 9mm case holds, then look at how many grains of water this case holds. Then you could monkey around with the seating depth of a bullet in quickload calculating the difference in volume and see how that affects pressure. It would give you a starting point to work a load up.

Or you could just throw them in the trash :)
 
I see about 10 of them in every 2,000 case batch I clean and inspect....and I toss them out as well.

Glad to see you cross section one...I was going to get around to it ....but just haven't yet...

They jam big time in station 1 ..if you don't get them sorted out / the shelf does not let the resizing - depriming die drop into the case very deeply..!!
 
I load them promiscuously with the rest of the range pickup.
Velocity difference due to reduced volume is slight and I have not had one to separate. Maybe because I take so many to lost brass matches. So they don't get many cycles from me.
 
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