Splitting Tok cases

[doc_auto]

Does anyone know why cases would split at the neck/shoulder?
The ammo in question is surplus 7.62x25 Tokarev, 70 rounds to a brown box, and has Cyrillic writing on it.

The firearm: CZ-52.
Headstamp:

Has a star at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock
"14" at 12 o'clock
"55" at 6 o'clock

The bullets are staked in place, rather than crimped, with what looks like a punch with a center punch around the neck, 3 times, once every 120 degrees. The splits occur near the punches, but not through them. They can involve the neck, shoulder, and have had a few split 1/3 of the way down the cartridge.

The primers do not show signs of excessive pressure.

Also, does this pose a danger?

Thanks.

[sricciardelli]

Other than it has been sitting in a warehouse for 50 years, the condition of which is unknown....are they steel or brass cases?

[doc_auto]

Brass, berdan primed.

[zot]

could be your chamber is worn,could be the ammo was out of spec?its a hot round, also maybe the slide to barrel fit is too far apart?I have 2 Ballisters that the chambers where worn large,
cases would come out huge or split, just put new colt barrels in,
Federal Arms Corp makes new barrels for your pistol, plus a 9mm
version.

[doc_auto]

The pistol itself appears to be brand new, made '54.
Shiny bore, all matching serial numbers.
No splits with the Winchester ammo.

[Halo]

This doesn't refer to the same headstamp as your ammo, but sounds like it might be the same problem:

http://w3.one.net/~melchar/tokarev/tokspol.html

[ernest2]

My bet is that your cz 52 is just fine and you have a batch of bad ammo.

They may have somewhat overcharged those cases for a hot load .

I just inspected my 7.62 x 25 ammo and it too has the 3 -
120 degree pin prick marks but I have not had any case ripping.

My cases come out in excellent condition ; however, I am shooting Chineese ammo in steel cases , beridan primed with steel jacketed bullet heads or so my handy pocket magnet tells me.

Before suspecting your cz 52 of being faulty, try buying and shooting a different brand or a different batch of ammo and see
if the problem still occurs.

That beridan primed ammo is really not easily reloadable and
usually not worth the trouble of reloading due to beridan primers
so I am guessing that your real concern here is preserving your firearm.......so try some different brand ammo first.


"The pistol itself appears to be brand new, made '54.
Shiny bore, all matching serial numbers.
No splits with the Winchester ammo"

Question answered "NO SPLITS WITH WIN AMMO".

bad ammo.

[labgrade]

After a "just quick skim" of this thread - sounds like an annealing problem = cases way too brittle right off the bat.

No reason why "new" rounds would experience this unless 1) inferior brass or 2) over-sized chamber. Even a headspace problem, must be way off to cause same.

Sorry for any lose of continuity - got wrapped in a long distance call ....

[doc_auto]

I, too, have come to the conclusion that it is the brass, and I had thought that it had something to do with brittle brass.
I thank you all for your help.
I know that splitting brass is not what one would consider a good quality to look for in ammo, but do any of you see a potential danger to continue to shoot up the rest (130 rds) of this ammo, either to myself or to the pistol?

[C.R.Sam]

I wouldn't shoot it. Sounds like a combination of priming, case alloy and age......all workin against you.

Sam