How do I tell I've been firing hot rounds?

Are they factory loads? Or reloads. If they are reloads. Did you load them? When you see damage on the gun it's to late. Such as cracks on the cylinder or around the forcing cone. And the frame too. Also check primers for signs of an over pressured round.

gobsauce said:

I was warned about shooting hot loads in my S&W 10-5, and I was wondering if there's a way to tell the loads I've been firing are too hot. As in, are there any tell tale signs of damage? Warping? Anything?

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Unless I'm misunderstanding, some posters cautioned you against firing the .38 Spl. "Treasury load" in your Model 10-5. I doubt it would cause any problems in sparing amounts, but there's nothing wrong with erring on the side of caution. Any other retail .38 Spl. ammo from the major manufacturers is not going to hurt your gun.

So, you shot the ammo in your gun that you asked everyone about now you want to know what to look for on your gun in case there are indications of damage?

As long as you stick to quality factory ammo (not remanufactured) and carefully loaded handloads using published data I don't think you have anything to worry about.

If you are not sure of the ammo you are loading in your gun...don't! The results of improper ammo can be disasterous.
Smith & Wesson


Ruger


Colt

ArkieVol said:

If you are not sure of the ammo you are loading in your gun...don't! The results of improper ammo can be disasterous.
Smith & Wesson
View attachment 986250

Ruger
View attachment 986251

Colt
View attachment 986252

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Ouch!
Ouch!
Ouch!

A moment of silence is requested for those poor revolvers.

Stay safe.

Probably severely over charged handloads. Very easily done in 38 Spl or 45 Colt for example due to very large case volume but small powder charges. You could very easily double charge one of those two and many others.
So basically the above revolvers were loaded loaded with enough powder to create a grenade.

gobsauce said:

Hate to be that guy, but can anyone explain why the cases ruptured that way? Is it simply because it was easier for the gases to leave through the cylinder rather than behind the projectile?

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That's exactly why. The bullet had no where to go, the top of the cylinder came off, and the brass blew the only direction it could. Must have been a sympathetic detonation.

Judging by the look of that screw on that Colt in the pic above, the gun must have committed suicide to get away from its owner.

ontarget said:

Probably severely over charged handloads. Very easily done in 38 Spl or 45 Colt for example due to very large case volume but small powder charges. You could very easily double charge one of those two and many others.
So basically the above revolvers were loaded loaded with enough powder to create a grenade.

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Exactly why I look in every case before i put that projectile into position.
Yea, it takes a 1/2 second longer per round when loading, but it sure beats a face full of shrapnel......

If the gun hasnt blown up, stiff extraction and mashed back primers are often a sign.

Not always the sign, but something to pay attention to.

I load in 50 count trays these days, and like bigpower, I scan all the cases and compare them side by side just before I randomly weigh 3 of them as a QC check.

I prefer loads that will fill or overfill a case with a double load, but with the taller cases, and some powders, that's not always possible.

Except in one or two cases, my "blasting" ammo isn't usually loaded near max either. Usually just over middle of the road. The breathing room is good.

And for Todd's sake and suicide prevention, get some proper screwdrivers!

Even properly loaded hand loads may have an unseen defect in the case that can cause a case failure.

Luckily 2.8 gr Bullseye under a 148 gr DEWC is a lower pressure load, if this case was loaded up at max things may have not worked out so well for me or my revolver.



This was a Magtech case, loaded 2-3x tops, there was no sign of weakness when I loaded it. Even with the case failure round, the old Smith Model 14 threw 18 straight bullets into the blue, two-hand SA at 25 yards .



Load safe and stay safe.

bigpower491 said:

Exactly why I look in every case before i put that projectile into position.
Yea, it takes a 1/2 second longer per round when loading, but it sure beats a face full of shrapnel......

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Excellent! I use a turret press and reload in batches of 50 or less. I try to keep a supply of primed and belled cases on hand so when I do a batch I can start with dropping powder in the whole batch. The next step is to use the flashlight stored permanently under my bench to look into each individual case to verify there is powder in each case before proceeding to bullet seating. In .44 and .45 cases and using a fine powder a double charge may be difficult to see, unless you are using a fluffy powder like Trail Boss, but at least it guarantees no squibs.

I have one of those pictures pasted on the wall over my bench. Been there for ten years

AK103K said:

Judging by the look of that screw on that Colt in the pic above, the gun must have committed suicide to get away from its owner.

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Guess I wasn't "paying attention"...that's an Italian clone, not a Colt.

gobsauce said:

Hate to be that guy, but can anyone explain why the cases ruptured that way? Is it simply because it was easier for the gases to leave through the cylinder rather than behind the projectile?

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The cylinder has to first contain the chamber pressure in order for the bullet to go anywhere. In an overpressure situation, where the cylinder cannot physically contain the chamber pressure, they almost universally blow at the weakest point, the bolt notches. So the "top" of the cylinder blows off and takes the top strap with it.

bigpower491 said:

Exactly why I look in every case before i put that projectile into position.

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AK103K said:

I scan all the cases and compare them side by side just before I randomly weigh 3 of them as a QC check.

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Although i look at every round I load while they are in the 50 round loading block, I am just not confident I could/would recognize a double charge looking straight down the case. I have resorted using wooden dowel after my visual inspection. I mark the dowel and they most often get tossed when im done. It does come wih a time penalty but worh it in my mind.

A double load or a light load would stand out, especially if youre comparing them side by side.

Ive pulled cases off the block that "looked" off to me, and it turns out they were a couple of "tenths" off when weighed, but would have still been fine if maybe they had settled differently when thrown. My allowable error with thrown charges is usually a couple of tenths in either direction. Nothing that is out of line load-wise, or affects practical accuracy.

Im pretty anal when it comes to loading, but I try to not get "to anal".


As for splits in the cases, that's pretty common when the brass starts to fail over time. I load all my pistol brass to failure, and most of it literally lasts for years, especially the revolver cases. The rims on the auto cases and start to get chewed up from constant extractions, but that has a plus side to it too, from a malfunction practice standpoint.

Occasionally you will get cases that split after a few reloads, but that's not the norm, and just what it is. Nothing is perfect, you probably just got a bad case. Load enough and you'll see all sorts of weird stuff.

Now, if ALL your cases look like that..... you might want to look into things a little further.

AK103K said:

If the gun hasnt blown up, stiff extraction and mashed back primers are often a sign.

Not always the sign, but something to pay attention to.

I load in 50 count trays these days, and like bigpower, I scan all the cases and compare them side by side just before I randomly weigh 3 of them as a QC check.

I prefer loads that will fill or overfill a case with a double load, but with the taller cases, and some powders, that's not always possible.

Except in one or two cases, my "blasting" ammo isn't usually loaded near max either. Usually just over middle of the road. The breathing room is good.

And for Todd's sake and suicide prevention, get some proper screwdrivers!

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I used rifle powders in my 357Max. even though there were load data for faster powders, I also prefer the full case method to rule out double charges, factory spec on the Max's are already operating at higher pressures than any standard magnum so there's not much leeway for exceeding the standard load pressures. I've also used my slower powders in 38 spec and 9mm and found them to be very accurate, maybe a little slower than factory, but also rather clean burning.

Maybe someday I'll get more into reloading. I only use the lee handloader kits because i don't have the space for a press, but I've never had a bad experience with them.

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That's exactly how I started back in 1975 or so.
In the meantime, there's no reason not to pick up a reloading manual - such as Hornady and/or Lyman.
There's a wealth of information in them that goes way beyond just load data.