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Old September 7, 2002, 07:00 PM   #1
nyetter
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just how dangerous is bulged .40 brass?

The thing that's really keeping me from owning a gun in .40 is the condition of once-fired brass for sale on eBay. It's plenty cheap, but the few .40's I've pulled out of my big boxes of 9mm brass are bulged (which I'm guessing is due to coming from an unsupported chamber).

Just how dangerous is it to use this brass (repeatedly), in a gun that does have a supported chamber?
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Old September 7, 2002, 09:51 PM   #2
ViLLain
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At some point the bulge will happen in the same spot and will either rupture or crease during resizing. Definitely rupture at the crease point next time fired. Usually takes four or five firings for this to occur. Solution is just to get a fully supported chamber.
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Old September 7, 2002, 11:57 PM   #3
TBAUS
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You can find .40 brass cheap places other than ebay and some of the cheap places have brass that is not fired in unsupported chambers. I bought a thousand rounds of Speer once fired brass for something like $20. I really like the Speer brass in .40. Having said that, I was given some .40 brass , once fired from an unsupported chamber. I noticed the buldge. It wasn't too large a bulge. It came out with my sizing die. I have fired it once or twice now in my supported chamber without problems, thus far. I would not knowing buy brass that was fired in an unsupported chamber though. Hope this helps.
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Old September 8, 2002, 01:10 AM   #4
Shoney
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I've loaded lots of once fired glock bulged brass for my supported 40 chanbers. I do not load them to max loads, but keep them at mid range.

I have loaded some once glocked stuff up to 20 times now with no problems. The worst problem I have had with them is that some crack at the lip after 15 or so loadings

I load some very accurate and very hot personal defense loads. I use a max load of Longshot, which produces mid range 10MM ballistics with 180 grain bullets. However, I use factory Winchesters once fired in my weapons, and only load them 5 times hot before they go into the midrange practice loads.

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Old September 8, 2002, 09:21 AM   #5
Bullshooter
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Bulged 40SW

I had a case separation a year or so from reloading .40 bulged brass to medium hot loads. Wasn't pleasant. Be careful if you decide to use the brass.
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Old September 8, 2002, 03:22 PM   #6
MADISON
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Just how dangerous is bulged .40 brass?

A police officer who reloads .40 S&W told me that if you shot HOT LOADS you would weaken the cases. He said to load MID-RANGE or low to get many loads oout of your brass.
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Last edited by MADISON; September 10, 2002 at 09:14 AM.
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Old September 10, 2002, 01:27 PM   #7
john kilgore
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The above postings are good. I've had some cases let go in Glocks before. All were .40 or 10mm. Heed the warning in the Hodgdon manual about unsupported cases- they mean Glocks and the like !!!. The problem is not so much the case but the load in them. One of my co-workers had a Glock he was firing while attending the training academy disintegrate in his hand. Glock claimed it was the ammo's fault, MasterCartridge claimed it was the Glocks fault. They were both right !!! The ammo was loaded to 1050 fps with a 180 FMJ. It also was a starline case that had been loaded before and shot in a Glock before- (Starline's are thickest brass on market.- good, but also thick and soft, MasterCart. uses Starline in all their new ammo).
Hot reload, gun with unsupported feed ramp = hand grenade !!
Shooter got cut by flying pieces of grip frame and slide stop. Magazine was blown out on ground. Slide had to be beat off of frame w/ 16 oz. ballpeen hammer. Barrel and slide were bulged to point that barrel could not be removed from slide.
Evidently the case was bulged to point that it did not chamber completely and gun fired out of battery. I don't recommend that you do this with your Glock at home !!! (If you do, have EMS on stand-by).
We don't shoot reloaded ammo in Glocks any more. Glock dosen't warranty the guns if you use reloads in it even once !!!
We get the Remington UMC yellow box or the Federal American Eagle for qualification/practice. They only cost a little more than reloaded/remanufactured ammo on L.E. contracts and don't have the problems associated with bulged cases, ect. That is why you practically can't give away .40 S&W brass. If you need once fired brass for a .40 S&W , contact your largest local PD or State agency. They may just give you a thousand or so. It costs more to box, label, and ship the stuff than the scrap value on it. Hence the $20/M price. (primers are more than that ! and can't be reused !)
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Old September 10, 2002, 05:31 PM   #8
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I load .40 to duplicate factory ballistics. I will not use brass fired in a Glock barrel. Buy a supply of Winchester white box or Remington UMC factoery ammo and reload your own brass. You won't have any problems. Better yet, buy a case of it.

There is no need whatsoever to load light target loads if your gun has a supported chamber and your brass has only beern fired in your gun.
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Old September 10, 2002, 05:45 PM   #9
nyetter
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Well, whether using my own pick-ups is feasible depends on where my gun chucks its empties. My 9mm's send most of their brass behind me, but my .45 sends about half of it over the firing line, never to be seen again (which is a huge bummer, with .45 brass at ~$60/k). Being able to use cheap eBay brass means I don't have to be super anal about picking up my own brass.

Anyone familiar with the ejection pattern of a Walther P99? (which is the .40 that has me thinking...)
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Old September 10, 2002, 06:24 PM   #10
TBAUS
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nyetter, go to Cheyennebrass.com. You will find .45acp Speer once fired brass for $48 pre 1000, military $41.50 per 1000. Oncefiredbrass.com has .45acp commercial brass for 42.50 per 1000. I like the quality of Speer brass. Cheyennebrass.com has once fired .40 brass for $17.50 per 1000. I bought both .45 and .40 brass from them. The brass I bought was fired from a supported chamber. Call them or email them( address and phone number posted at their site) and ask about their brass. At $17.50 per thousand, you don't have to be so worried about losing the brass.
John Kilgore, I didn't know you could fire a Glock out of battery. My Tanfoglio witness has an inertial firing pin safety that won't allow the gun to fire if out of battery. Do they know the gun went off out of battery, or are they speculating that is what happened?
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Old September 10, 2002, 06:44 PM   #11
nyetter
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My $60/k figure includes shipping. If Cheyenne can ship 1000pcs of .45 brass for $12 I'd be impressed to say the least
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