Would I Have Noticed This?

M

markr6754

New member
Cleaning my brass from last night's testing. Discovered one case in my box that gave me pause. I was shooting 115gr Everglades FMJ RN over 4.0gr HP-38. COL 1.125" WIN cases and Remington 1 1/2 SPP. Everything about this case seems to fit my loads, except I don't remember having anything odd happen. So I'm wondering if I would have noticed this when firing, and what would I have expected to have happen.

I don't plan on reloading this case.
 

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It happens, probably a defective case from the start. I have found one or two over the last 10 years in 9mm. Doesn't seem to happen much with 9mm for me but it does happen.

I load my handgun cases till they split or I loose them. If you wouldn't have seen it before reloading you would have found it when either resizing or seating the bullet.
Not much resistance in the handle with either one. That a tip off for me.
 
I also find split cases by low resistance in dies.
I salvage them for components.

A friend says he shakes empties by the handful and can hear the dull clunk of a split case in with the jingle of the sound ones.
 
This is the way I find them too. They make a distinctive clinking sound.
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I've heard that to but I've never tried it.

The feel of the resizing is the easiest for me to detect. Even with a progressive (lnl-ap) I can easily feel the difference.

I find a lot of .380 brass mixed in my 9mms by the same method. On the same note if I feel a case resize too hard it comes out also. I figure it's gotten hard, and is going to split so it goes in the scrap bucket.
 
Probably just a bad case.
I've had it happen - even with a few rifle cartridges. (And nearly always Remington brass.)

RE 9mms: During firing, I've seen additional 'smoke' from the ejection port and/or heard a slightly different report.
 
When I was picking up my brass last week, I found that ones brother. Since I usually clean up pretty well it was most likely shot that day.

Never noticed a thing while shooting.
 
RE 9mms: During firing, I've seen additional 'smoke' from the ejection port and/or heard a slightly different report.
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I was shooting some Blazer Aluminum, bought in the glory days of $3.87 at Academy, that had been dampened by fire hose water in the Incident with house fire. A friend noticed flash out the ejection port. I picked up a number of split cases and one very bad burn through. My chamber was scored. It polished up and shoots ok, but the mark is still there. I figured several months in an unopened but wetted case had unobviously corroded the aluminum.
 
There is no way of knowing what happened, as I have said at least once there has to be something about the sequence of events that take place between pulling the trigger and the bullet leaving the case that reloaders do not understand.

I have had 3 bottle neck cases out of 8 fired cases that were ejected with the same malady as your pistol case. I understand for most that would not be a concern but I had 800 rounds to go. I found the problem was common and should be expected with the ammo and or rifle.

Back to the big inning; I do not want anything between the case and chamber but air, I do not want my chamber to be exposed to hot, high pressure metal cutting gas, meaning 2 out of eight cases that exposed my chamber to hit, high pressure metal cutting gas was 2 too many.

I understand it is necessary to start over: "I had 800 rounds to go" SOOO:) instead of firing the 800 rounds I started pulling pullets: after that I posted the results. All of the experts claimed the problem could not be caused by my finding. I have more ammo from the same source but refuse to fore the ammo in the trashiest if chambers.

trashiest if chambers
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I have no fewer than 20 replacement barrels for ugly chambers.

F. Guffey
 
That is one heck of a divergence from the norm !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I had a Lapua case ring around the base (not cracked) it extracted hard (close to but not over max load). I just marked it and set it aside.

But I do ask myself the questions.

1. Overcharge? Maybe, could have slipped another grain in.

2. Primers? Ok, possible, I don't usually use magnums but one cold have got mixed in (it would be nice if they used different colors for the interiors of the same mfg!!!!)

So you always pay attention, don't drop it completely, keep open for more clues but don't get too side tracked on a one off either.

Just because we threw the Maiden into the Volcano does not mean that is not why the volcano quit spewing.
 
Looks like a case that's been reloaded one time too many. I've had a certain brand of factory ammo in .38 Spl. target loading that did that about every tenth round when firing up a box of that ammo. Five bad cases out of fifty ain't good. Trashed all fifty cases.
Paul B.
 
Never seen a WIN do that - I've seen plenty of Blazer's do something less profound which is why I don't reuse any Blazers.

Can't say I've seen a case wall fail quite that profoundly though - that's a bad one.

I'd be asking the same thing Gary did - was it your case for sure?

If it was your case for sure - next question - do you use stainless pin media in a tumbler? - Might be a pin remained and, upon firing, scored the inside of the case and weakened it leading to this failure. Might have happened previously and then this came out in a reload.

Was the brass off an outdoor range? Might be something partly corroded the inside of the case and you never noticed during processing. The case does seem weathered by the tone of the metal under the head.
 
IMHO, that case came from somebody that does not tumble or wet clean clean their cases, ever, at all. I believe that the "black" recessed dia for clearance for the extractor to get a hold of the case is am indication that the case has never been cleaned, or at least in the decade or so. I know somebody at the range where I shoot that simply does not believe in cleaning his cases, ever, and his cases look identical to that one excepting for the major abyss caused by many firings & deterioration from the inside of the case.
And the reason that the recessed dia is black is that the fingers do not get down into the recessed dia when handling the case.
 
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Brass can be clean, but still appear tarnished.
This wasn't a 'maintenance' failure, in my opinion. It was a mechanical failure - a bad piece of brass.

Either way, the dark extractor groove could have been a result of the event, itself. When gas escapes where it isn't intended to, it tends to leave a residue on anything along the escape path.
 
This thread generated a lot of attention. Very satisfying, and the comments and suggestions are most encouraging. This case was media cleaned, as were all of my early cleanings. I do all wet w/sis pins, now. This was in an indoor range that is policed real time by the range officer. Brass doesn’t sit more than 5 minutes, if that. I grab my rounds as I shoot them to ensure they don’t get pushed down range by the RO.
When testing loads, I restore all fired brass to the same Berry’s ammo box that I put my new loads in. As I was decapping my brass I found this one. So I’m 99.5% sure it’s my brass. The other 0.5% leaving open the chance that it flew over from 3 booths to my right, landing in my ammo box as I bent to pick up more fired cases. I do grab range brass when I can, but I throw that into a pocket in my range bag...no mixing of my loads, my factory rounds, and pickup brass if I can help it.
The brass was not this color when I reloaded it or when I placed it in a magazine. It is flame broiled. It is possible that this case had internal corrosion that I didn’t detect. My brass was poorly stored for over 20 years before I began reloading. Some of the cases were pretty rough with verdigris as some of it got wet. Nearly all of my brass cleaned up pretty well with media tumbling, but I was unhappy with the amount of time and effort needed to clear media from the Primer holes.
I’m just glad that others have had similar case failures, and that failure in this section of the case should not produce injury to myself or my firearm. It has my attention, and I’m going to start tossing any case that gives me any concern. Brass is too cheap to willingly subject myself or my firearms to events as this.

Thanks again for the support.
 
yeah when I hit a case I don't trust, I don't leave anything to chance - I typically immediately crush the case in a way that'd ever prevent it's accidental reuse.

If I had to guess - the case likely had contamination in it during "storage" that ate into the inner case wall and weakened it to the point that the powder charge burst through the flaw - giving you the scorch marks.

After I clear dead primers and tumble the shells, I allow them to fully dry, then they get put in tuppers with a silica packet until use or trade.
 
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