A-MERC near miss

[Win1892]

Narrowly averted tragedy today. Had a competitive shooter who is quitting give me a couple thousand .45ACP cases. Mostly Starline, Win, RP, and LC. Prior to dumping them into my barrel of sterile cases, meaning no bad headstamps, I dumped a handful into my Dillon 650 and went to work.

Checking my finished rounds, a hundred or so, revealed 4 A-MERCs. None of them would clear my gauge. Going back through the whole stash I found about 40 of the little nasties.

Dumping that bucket into the general population would have really hurt my feelings.

I let my guard down assuming that a shooter would not have A-MERCs in his possession. Gonna have to ask him about that.

 

[Der Stro]

For the uninitiated, why are A-MERC cases to be avoided when reloading?

 

[JohnKSa]

A-Merc, also sold under the brand name of American, ADE or American Delayed Expansion, I think), was easily the worst quality factory ammunition I've ever encountered.

It is NOT the same thing as American Eagle which is decent stuff.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=404476
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=131522
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=66732


http://www.acbsystems.com/boards/data/R9-ammo-data.htm
(scroll down to the bottom of the link and check out the velocity on the A-Merc)

 

[Waldog]

A-Merc and S&B cases have really tight primer pockets and are a PITA.

 

[Josh45]

The S&B do have some tight primer pockets. I have reloaded about 50 .38 Specials and they were all the same.

Federal was a bit easier. If I run into A-Merc, Its going into the scrap pile

 

[Seedtick]

http://www.acbsystems.com/boards/data/R9-ammo-data.htm
(scroll down to the bottom of the link and check out the velocity on the A-Merc)

Well at least they were consistent.......

Seedtick

 

[billyjoe]

I've got some mixed in with my .40 brass and they give me no problems. I've got some that have being loaded 3-4 times now.

 

[jcwit]

Flash holes are generally off center but other than that I never encountered a problem. I reload them right along with other cases.

 

[evan price]

Back when I started I used a lot of .45 acp A-MERC because it was there and I didn't have anything better and people gave it to me. Since then I have learned! All the A-MERC semi-auto brass I find goes in scrap now. The revolver brass seems OK to me, I have some and so far it has been no better or worse than anything else so them I keep.

I did reload 50 A-MERC 45's last week- with dead primers, no powder and a basic ball projo- as inert dummies for training- finally a good use for A-MERC 45's!

A-MERC case problems:

Brass is poor quality metal- thin? Weak? Dunno... but it isn't as stout as other cases. Resizes funny and not all the way before it springs back. Won't hold tension on the bullet.

Flash holes off center, poorly punched, the core of the hole still attached

Weak brass causes case heads to expand and primer pockets to get loose after one or two reloadings.. the primers fall out with even light loads.

Rims and edges poorly and inconsistently cut. Some case rims are round, some square, some angled and some off center.

A-MERC had a lot of Kabooms of guns due to their poor quality control back in the day. It's good they are out of business!

 

[seed]

They are out of business?! GOOD. As I can fully agree with what was said earlier, A-Merc is (or was) easily the worst factory ammo I ever had the misfortune to experience...same can be said for all others I know who have "shot" it. It was so bad, that it should not have been legal, and I mean that literally.

 

[cfullgraf]

Most AMERC 45 ACP cases that I have run across would not fit my shell holder or shell plate. Too much of a PIA so I trash them as I run across them. Then I learned that I was not alone in disposing of AMERC cases.

I do not pick up much range brass, by choice and circumstance, so it is a minor problem for me.

 

[USSR]

Like most of you, I toss out the Amerc .45ACP cases. However, I've got a few of their .45LC cases, and was wondering if anybody has experience with them?

Don

 

[Steve Koski]

In .40 they USUALLY won't cause problems, but they will occasionally break a decapping pin with their off center flash holes.

I toss 'em.

 

[Walkalong]

A-Merc and S&B cases have really tight primer pockets and are a PITA

A-Merc and S&B are not in the same league.

S&B is good brass. For some folks the PP's are a bit tight to suit them, but it is very good bras otherwise.


A-Merc is crap. (Although some folks load it)

 

[Slamfire]

Factory Amerc blew up this Glock:










I picked up AMERC before I found out what terrible brass it was. All in 45 ACP. I now cull the stuff if I see it. A good number of times I have pulled the trigger, nothing happened, and upon ejecting the round found the case to be AMERC, minus the primer. My AMERC cases are so weak or the pockets were always so big, that the primer falls out during feed.