.357 Split Cases

[.950jdj]

I recently purchased a used Ruger Security Six and finally shot 12 rounds after an IDPA match just to see how she feels. I inspected the brass afterwards and found that 2 of the 12 has split cases, lengthwise in the middle, not at the mouth. I didn't check to see if they came from just one chamber or not as I was in a hurry. The ammo I was using was factory Remington 125 grain SJHP and the brass was nickle plated.

Any chance this could just be bad ammo and not an oversized chamber? If it does turn out to be an oversized chamber can I still get it fixed or will nobody fix a Ruger Security Six?

 

[witchhunter]

Measure the split cases, near the split, if they are bigger than the rest, I would look at your cylinder. If it is the cylinder, send it to Ruger, they will will fix it. It could easily be the cases though.

 

[BKDinTexas]

It's hard to say. Try some different ammo. Then shoot one shot at a time and check your just fired brass after every shot. This should tell you quickly if just one or more than one chamber in the cylinder is causing the splitting. A different brand of ammo may not split at all.


If it turns out to be a specific chamber - you have options. Mark that chamber and leave it empty and put the "empty" hole under the firing pin when you close the cylinder. Five for sure, if you will. This is not the best solution but will work in the interim to just shoot it. If it's a carry gun, you can still load six and fire them - as the empty brass should still eject. This of course is for emergency use only - until you can get it fixed.

Ruger is out of parts, but Jack First and Numrich Arms both have six series parts regularly. A new cylinder would be in order. Most will drop in with little or no fitting. If you are not up to it, give it to a local smith who does wheelgun work. Not a difficult or expensive job if you have the new cylinder in hand already.

I have also heard of Ruger offering to swap you a new gun at reduced cost for a six series sent to them that can't be repaired. Maybe another option if a cylinder just can't be found.

Good luck.

 

[Old Fuff]

The problem may be related to some brittle brass, but it could also be because of one or more chambers has been expanded by a previous owner who fired some way over limit reloads. If this is the case the cylinder is ruined and should be replaced. If you find a cylinder Ruger may, or may not install it; but in any case it won't be fixed under warrantee.

 

[rcmodel]

Try some different ammo before you get too worried.

Likely bad brass.

rc

 

[Valkman]

I would say it's ammo related as I had a bunch of split cases once when I shot Blazer aluminum-cased ammo in my .357. That stuff is horrible. I bought other ammo after that and never had another split case.

Back when I chrono'd some reloads and factory ammo Remington was the worst of the bunch (UMC) with speeds all over the place like the powder charge was very uneven. I'd try a different brand.

 

[X-Rap]

I suspected that you were shooting nickle plated brass before reading your full post.
Try some other brand and type before getting overly worried.
I have seen a lot of the nickle plated 357 and 38 brass that was split.

 

[DPris]

Nickel cases do tend to be more prone to splitting in the .357 caliber.

Going further, last week I sorted out a bunch of .357 once-fired brass I've had accumulating.
The majority of it in that coffee can was nickeled Remington, so I used that for reloading as part of load development for one of my GPs.

During the process, found three cases out of about 150 that had split when first fired some time ago.
No idea what gun, could have been a number of different .357 revolvers.

My money would be on the brass in your case.
Try other brands in your gun. If you still get splits, most likely the chambers.
If you don't, it's the Remington brass.
Denis

 

[BCRider]

Measure the split cases, near the split, if they are bigger than the rest, I would look at your cylinder. If it is the cylinder, send it to Ruger, they will will fix it. It could easily be the cases though.

Sorry Witchhunter but this is rather pointless. ANY brass that splits in the middle like that will be larger than where it's not split. If it wasn't wider you would not see the split. So your method of gauging the brass will automatically lead to sending back ANY gun even if it's fine and it's simply the brittle nature of the brass that lead to the split.

A better gauge is to get some regular brass cased ammo of another brand and shoot it. If any of the unsplit casings have any sort of drag coming out and if they are wider at some point along their length other than right by the head then I agree that some investigation might be worthwhile.

 

[witchhunter]

It will only be as large as the cylinder. If it is bad brass, it is because of a defect. If it is a bulge in the cylinder, it will be larger, as in the same size as the bulge. I am still betting it is bad brass.

 

[.950jdj]

Yeah I have been stressing about it because I can't get back to the range till Saturday but I have been reading that the nickel plating process can cause the brass to become brittle. I have also read its not uncommon for a bad batch to slide by Remington. So I will get to the bottom of this on Saturday. Fingers crossed... I saved up for a long time for this gun.

 

[gamestalker]

I don't know about the brass. I have been shooting just about every head stamp nickel .357 mag brass H110 / 296 full tilt loads without a single case split for many years. This is with brass that's been loaded full tilt many times too.

GS

 

[DPris]

Those three splits I had happened on the first firing.
My money's on the ammunition & that's not necessarily a dig at Remington.

Nickeled cases simply are more prone to brittleness over all in high-pressure loads than straight brass cases.

Doesn't mean it's all bad, or that Remington ammunition is bad.
Just that the chances of an "earlier than normal split" are greater with nickel than without.
Denis

 

[murf]

check the cylinders for a crud ring.

murf

 

[gamestalker]

It's not all that difficult to measure the cylinders either. If you have an over sized cylinder it should be pretty evident by comparing your measurement with the other cylinders.

It just strikes me as odd, and unusual to have a new factory nickel or yellow piece of brass split like that. Like I said above, I have been running full tilt 296 loads that are often above book for decades with both nickel and yellow brass, and I've never had a split, other than a small mouth split from being crimped so many times.

GS

 

[palmetto99]

For what it's worth, the only revolver cases that I have ever had split were nickel plated.

 

[Jim K]

Nickel plated cases tend to crack or split. I am not sure why or whether the combination of metals has anything to do with it.

Some pictures of the cases would help.

One thing that can cause side cracks in old ammo, especially military ammo, is the acid in improperly dried powder eating the inside of the case, but that seems unlikely in modern commercial ammo.

Jim

 

[Chisos]

Though I haven't shot any nickel plated Remington ammo in 30 years, I always thought it was a given that 2 or 3, out of the box, were gonna split. That was my experience with them.

 

[gamestalker]

I'm sorry, but I just don't buy the brass thing. And the fact that 3 right off the bat had case body splits, that just screams over sized cylinders to me. I don't shoot factory ammo, but the fact that I only load and shoot absolute full throttle reloads, and with brass that has been pushed to the limits, I would think I would have split a body after more than 30 years of this type of shooting/reloading?

How was extraction? Did any of them drag, or did they push out fairly easily.

Do you have a dial caliper? If so just take some quick measurements from the mouth on down to the case head, and see what kind of numbers you get. You should have very consistent numbers all the way down the case body with factory loaded once fired brass.

GS

 

[hemiram]

I've only had maybe a dozen split cases in over 35 years of shooting, all of them were nickel plated .357, and were probably all Remington, as that was the brand the two stores I bought from back then carried in .357. I shot a lot of it back in the late '70s and early '80s. I remember the first ones I had, and I thought my newly purchased used Dan Wesson 15-2 was defective, so I mentioned it to the gunsmith at the range I shot at, and he said, "Nickel cases split sometimes!". My just checked out by the factory S&W 28-2 (The hand broke) had a couple more a week or so later. After I moved, I bought Federal mostly and only saw one of those plain brass cases split, and that was due to the case being defective from the factory. I found about 10 more rounds in that box with cases "pre split" right at the very top. I stopped shooting it, and called them about it, and they sent me return box and a new box of ammo.

 

[BCRider]

Certainly there is the possibility that a chamber or two is stretched due to some misguided use in the guns previous history.

From my experience in metal working the best tool to check for mid chamber bulging would be an old style adjustable inside caliper. These are the ones that look like a compass for drawing circles but with the feelers turned outward at the ends. To use this for checking you set it so there's a light drag at the rear mouth of the chamber to start. Then push it slowly ahead while feeling for that drag to alter or to see if the caliper tips go loose in the chamber. If any of the chambers are bulged that is just what you'll feel.

A set of dial or digital calipers isn't the right tool for this because of the length of the short jaws of the inside portion. To use that style you'd want the specialty inside set that has the longer jaws with outside anvils. But those are rare and very specialized.

Another tool that would work well is the inside bore gauges. These being the ones that look like long stemmed "T". The arms of the "T" are collapsible to fit into the bore. To use them you fit the one that goes in the bore slightly cocked to the side, pinch tighten the stem locking knob and then pass the guage through the mid line. Then tighten the locking knob a little more and while holding the guage cocked pull it out and measure the inside diameter across the arms of the "T". To use as a test gauge you'd size them at the mouth then push it ahead looking for a loose spot where it rattles. Or you'd lock it at mid chamber and draw it back to the mouth and see if it tightens.

 

[reddrumtoo]

Take it from experience . Lay a 6" straight rule down the outside of the cylinder , if it rocks you have a bulged cylinder . Get hold of an appropriately
sized outside micrometer & measure the outside of the cyl. , it should be straight. If it shows to be bulged , the elastic limit of the steel in the cyl. has already been exceeded [ read as weakened ] & is therefore not as strong as it was originally . This gives it the potential to be a hand grenade , especially w/ hot or max loads . The above may not be true , as nickle plated brass does indeed have a reputation for splitting for no apparent visual reason. Just check it out or have it checked by someone who would know .
Good luck,
P.S.
Don't ask me how I know so much about this particular situation .

 

[Old Fuff]

Don't ask me how I know so much about this particular situation .

O.K. But really I don't have to....

I'll just say your observations sometimes have some truth to them.

 

[Jim K]

I have not seen many bulged chambers, but the ones I have seen show another problem, hard extraction. The case swells (though it might not split) into the oversized part of the chamber and then has to be sized back down to extract since the rear of the chamber usually is not stretched.

I did some checking and one theory on nickel plated cases is that there is an interaction between the brass and the nickel which causes the brass to become brittle. I am not a metallurgist, so I can't really comment but there is no doubt in my mind that nickel plated cases do show more cracks and splits than plain brass cases.

Jim

 

[MachIVshooter]

I did some checking and one theory on nickel plated cases is that there is an interaction between the brass and the nickel which causes the brass to become brittle. I am not a metallurgist, so I can't really comment but there is no doubt in my mind that nickel plated cases do show more cracks and splits than plain brass cases.

Kind of. They are two entirely different metals, with very different elasticity, hardness, yield strength, etc. It's also difficult to properly anneal plated cases without discoloring the nickel.

As the case stretches, the harder nickel will crack. Because the brass is bonded to the nickel, it is forced to stretch further where the nickel has cracked than where it hasn't, and that is sometimes beyond the limits of the brass.