The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Handloading, Reloading, and Bullet Casting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old May 8, 2005, 05:01 PM   #1
Kayser
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 29, 2002
Location: Illinois :(
Posts: 550
Once again, my new reloaders eyes spotted something unusual.

Before I got to my reloads today, I was finishing up around 200 rounds of WWB of 45 ACP. Now that I'm a brass hound, I was of course scrounging around every 50-75 rounds or so to claim my brass (got stuck indoors today because the skeet shooters were out in force). One of the rounds I picked up had a big ol' split right down the side. Not quite up to the rim or down to the head, but big and ugly otherwise.

I suppose this could've been mine, as I didn't see any other WWB lying around and I had swept up before starting, but I'm unsure. I didn't notice any oddness while shooting. How common is this kind of thing on factory brass?
Kayser is offline  
Old May 8, 2005, 06:01 PM   #2
CaptainRazor
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 16, 2005
Location: Charleston, WV
Posts: 302
Kayser,
I have found that's it's not that "common". However, I have had brand new name brand brass split on the first firing before.
I have a theory that sometimes, some "weak" or "bad" material slips through the process and the end result is split cases.

Keep in mind, when they (ammo companies) make the stuff, all they care about it that it makes it through the first firing without killing injuring or killing someone, or causing damage to someone's firearm.

WWB is "cheap" or "value line", if you found a case that's split out of a hundred, I wouldn't worry to much about it, it happens and most of the time, you won't even know it happened until after you pick it up.
CaptainRazor is offline  
Old May 8, 2005, 07:55 PM   #3
impact
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 8, 2005
Location: the great state of Texas
Posts: 854
I got my hands on some old winchester ammo. 150rds of 38 special semi wadcutters. These were lite loads. about every 5th case cracked after being shot. I was going to reload them but after about the 4th cracked case I pitched them. I like winchester brass! I guess this was some bad stuff.
impact is offline  
Old May 9, 2005, 01:40 PM   #4
G56
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 10, 2004
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 302
That's pretty unusual on the first firing, but not unknown, just keep an eye on those cases. If 45acp is loaded with a mid range load the brass lasts a long time, I've got some that have probably been reloaded 20 or more times.
__________________
John
G56 is offline  
Old May 9, 2005, 02:06 PM   #5
Sturm
Junior member
 
Join Date: March 2, 2005
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 584
Kayser, if you still have the split case, examine the primer indention and compare it to cases you know that were fired in your pistol. My thinking is that it was not fired from your pistol.

Some pistols do not have relieved ejection ports and that causes the casemouth to hit the sharp angle of it when it's extracted. This is fairly common to Glock pistols, evidenced by a triangular scar on the casemouth reducing the useful life of the case. That triangular scar makes a beginning for a casemouth split. I'll give you a scenario. Say a Glock shooter left his brass on the range, a handloading shooter picks it up, takes it home and reloads it fairly hot without regard to the scar on the casemouth. Casemouth tears and case splits.

A scenario from personal experience: My shooting partner formerly owned several Glock 9mm's, and while I should have inspected the cases better, I let a few slip in to my general brass population, loaded them fairly hot and the result has been a few splits. When I am picking up my brass at the range, I only pick cases fired from my pistols unless I know it is once fired brass. The only sure way I know to tell you how to go about this, is to look for a brass colored primer. That's what Winchester uses, as well as S&B. So, I'll keep it and reload it. If it's not from my pistol, or it doesn't have a brass colored primer, or if it has a Glock striker indention, it stays at the range.
Sturm is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:02 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.04835 seconds with 10 queries