10mm Case Failure Today - not quite a KB.

[waffentomas]

Had something happen today I thought I'd share with you.

I was shooting an IDPA match today and one of the rounds kind of sounded strange. When I was picking up my brass I discovered a ruptured case head and the pictures are attached.

This brass (Federal) has probably been reloaded around 10x, but I've never had any of them do this - this has never happened to me, period. Sometimes, as most of us have seen, I'll get cracks in the brass lengthwise. Not quite a full blown Kaboom, but too close for me.

Load was a 175gr SWC over 8.2gr of Power Pistol - 3/4 crimp, 1.255 OAL.

Gun was a Wilson CQB 10mm. I'm thinking the fully supported chamber/feed ramp area may have saved me some "complications" that a Glock 20/29 would not have. I can't recall much else from this, other than, as I was running behind a "mini van" after the shot - thinking it sounded kind of weird - and then carrying on with the stage.

Thought you all would find this interesting.

Tom

 

[Dave P]

Mine have only split lengthwise so far. I have a witness match, so I don't worry about the unsupported chamber either.

Nice lookin pistol!

Dave

 

[The Bushmaster]

That is an unusual place to rupture. Don't believe I have seen that kind of case failure either...

 

[Fox]

At first i thought, partial case head seperation, you shot it 10 times, what do you expect. Then I saw the pictures. I have never even seen pictures of something like that. I would send pictures of it to someone. Who I'm not sure.

 

[Steve H]

That seems plain strange to me.......I want to think that the brass is bad but if has been reloaded~10 times....The horizontal carck right about the rim is real strange.

 

[Walkalong]

Sweet looking pistol. It hurt me to see it laying on that metal mesh!!

My article on why 10mm beats .45

That case is scary. 10MM full house loads warrants watching brass pretty carefully, there is no dought. One reason why .45 beats 10MM.

 

[Taurus 617 CCW]

I would send Federal a little email with the pictures of the ruptured case. They are always interested in those types of samples to better improve their product. When I emailed them about a round that failed to discharge, they mailed me a free box of ammo.

 

[nitesite]

How bizarre, that it would let go where the web is so thick.

I've seen some great examples of full length splits in some 10mm F C brass I bought in bulk, but so far no failures for me personally (thank goodness).

I'm glad both you and your sidearm survived unscathed.

 

[ReloaderFred]

I've seen this type of case failure in 30-06. In fact, I think I still have the case in my "samples" drawer.

Due to the way brass is drawn when making cartridge cases, if there is any imperfection at all in the metal, it will eventually fail. After ten loadings, this one failed, which is pretty good service for a 10mm case. I usually don't load mine that many times, but I've got some that are close. In the 10mm, the FC brass is pretty good, but some of the "once fired" 10mm brass that was being sold a few years ago was fired through the H&K 10mm submachine guns by the FBI. The H&K has a "generous" chamber to facilitate loading, just as the Glocks do. This caused excessive stretching of the cases and led to early case failure, usually elongated cracks at the rim. This isn't the case with your type of failure, which I suspect was some small particle of foreign material in the brass when it was formed.

This failure is unusual, but not unheard of, and after ten loadings, I'd say you've gotten your use out of that particular piece of brass. Give it a good send off, since it's served you well.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[HSMITH]

Never EVER reload another FC headstamped brass in 40 or 10mm!!!!! They are VERY thin in the web where this one blew out and it can be a LOT worse. Federal bought a bunch of guns with this brass when guns blew up shooting Federal FACTORY ammo.

FC is normally good brass, but not in 40 or 10MM. Throw it out!!! Keep the Federal headstamped brass though, it was made after they changed to a case with much thicker web and much greater strength.

 

[Idano]

Gentlemen:

I have experienced this exact same failure with a Winchester casing in 9mm:

I used to load all my brass until it split then toss it. However, recently I was having a feed issue with a SIG in 40 S&W so I began gaging all my brass after I resized it. Soon discovered that in time some of the brass was developing the traditional Glock belly. So now I toss anything that won't gage after being resized because I believe that when the brass starts to belly potential exists for a blow out at the web.

 

[EddieCoyle]

FC is normally good brass, but not in 40 or 10MM. Throw it out!!! Keep the Federal headstamped brass though, it was made after they changed to a case with much thicker web and much greater strength.

Is this true of all FC stamped brass (even the recent stuff)? I bought some American Eagle brand 10mm last week with the FC headstamp. My local guy had to order it from his distributor, who had to order it from someplace else (it took three weeks for it to come in).

I'm assuming that this stuff was of recent manufacture. I might have to cut open one of the cases and compare it to one with a Federal headstamp.

 

[Walkalong]

VERY valuable info. Thanks HSMITH. And I don't even have a 10MM, but I do have two fourties.

 

[HSMITH]

Eddie, I don't know for sure if a recent change back to FC stamped brass has been made. If I were you I would contact Federal and ask, tell them you know about the early brass with the FC stamp and you want to know if the ammo you just bought is the new case or the old. Lot numbers might help them find out.

If it is old stock I would throw it out or send it back. I personally know of one 1911 type that was hurt and one G20 that was absolutely destroyed with it.

 

[SIRVEYR666]

Holy Crap! Wilson Combat's are dangerous! A near KB!

"I'll never carry a Wilson! I read about a guy on the internet that nearly had one blow up."

The Glock owners are rejoicing! Whoo-Hoo!

 

[DWARREN123]

I do not know anything about the 10mm but I am glad you were not hurt. Nice looking handgun.

 

[tlish]

Soon discovered that in time some of the brass was developing the traditional Glock belly.

what's this??? something else new to worry about....

 

[Slamfire]

I saw two .223 cases that had similar case head blowouts. They were part of a lot of used brass that was purchased from Scharch. A shooter who had also "once" fired .223 from Scharch informed me he had a number of similar case head ruptures. This gentleman was at the rifle match when this incident occurred on the firing line.

Showing one case to a technical specialist, is it probable that the .223 brass was weakened by exposure to a cleaner containing ammonia. Some people add cleaners that contain ammonia in their tumblers and they are weakening the brass.

This is just one potential cause, it is also possible that your case had a brass flaw. Brass and the brass making process are not perfect, and this is something that cannot be inspected out.

 

[Idano]

tlish

Soon discovered that in time some of the brass was developing the traditional Glock belly.

what's this??? something else new to worry about....

Assuming you are not shooting a Glock or the entrance to your chamber isn't enlarged allowing your brass to belly below the point where your resizer die can reach normally then I would recommend using this as a gage for determining when to toss the brass.

 

[corey006]

Why use Federal brass.

Get yourself some Starline!!

 

[the pistolero]

Never EVER reload another FC headstamped brass in 40 or 10mm!!!!! They are VERY thin in the web where this one blew out and it can be a LOT worse. Federal bought a bunch of guns with this brass when guns blew up shooting Federal FACTORY ammo.

FC is normally good brass, but not in 40 or 10MM. Throw it out!!! Keep the Federal headstamped brass though, it was made after they changed to a case with much thicker web and much greater strength.

I went to Google to see if I could find more info on this problem, and I came across this link to a page maintained by Dean Speir, who I believe is a member here, no? It has lot numbers for the new and old .40S&W ammunition. I am not sure about the 10mm, but I have the lot numbers and am going to contact Federal to make sure everything's ok with it before I start loading.

 

[Slamfire]

Seen that in .223 rifle cases. Basically a case head rupture. Cases were purchased from Scharch. Suspect that an ammonium compound was using in cleaning the cases.

 

[nitesite]

Originally posted by HSMITH-
Eddie, I don't know for sure if a recent change back to FC stamped brass has been made. If I were you I would contact Federal and ask, tell them you know about the early brass with the FC stamp and you want to know if the ammo you just bought is the new case or the old. Lot numbers might help them find out.

If it is old stock I would throw it out or send it back. I personally know of one 1911 type that was hurt and one G20 that was absolutely destroyed with it.

Well, I sent ATK an email this week because of a problem with once-fired 10mm FC brass having lengthwise cracks in some of them. I didn't tell them I knew about "the problem", I merely asked if there was a difference in case strangth between FC and FEDERAL headstamps because I was experiencing some splitting.

All I got back in reply to a very nicely-worded inquiry was this from ATK.COM

"Send me some of the split ones."

Attn: Ron Ives

Not one more word in that email. Just a very cold seven-word terse sentence.