Bad ammo day at the range today.

[Maj Dad]

Shooting Bullseye competition in late 60's & 70's, in custon 38 spl revolvers and Jim Clark 45's, the signal to discard a case was longitudinal splits. After repeated resizings and firings, the brass is work-hardened and eventually splits. You may have a combination of brittle (work-hardened or whatever term you want to use) brass and an oversize chamber, but my money's on brittle brass.

The brass discussion sort of went over the river and through the woods.

Indeed. Starting to look like lawyers' discourse...

 

[JohnKSa]

What specific Double Tap loading were you shooting?

 

[stompah]

Its the ammo.

I shot my Glock till I got bored of it and recovered 95% of my spent casings.

I shot various ammo plus some I loaded. No keyholes and no Glock smilies or splits. Even the commercially reloaded ammo that runs on the hotter side had zero issues.

 

[Ky Larry]

This is a very easy problem to solve.

1. Try shooting the same ammo thru a different gun.

2. Try shooting different ammo thru the same gun.

This should tell you where the problem is. My money is on an ammo problem. Good luck.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

It happens. Sometimes brass lots are brittle and split. This lot was replaced by Remington for free a few years back. They said they had a bad lot and yes every piece has split like this eventually. Sometimes on the first firing, sometimes on the fifth, but it has happened.

 

[gamestalker]

The OP makes a very good point, in fact, this is the primary reason why I started reloading in the first place. Since I started reloading I have gad exactly zero failures, well actually 30+ yrs. later I finally had one incident the other day, in which I had new brass that must have had a bad primer pocket. I was shooting a load I have been using for a number of years, .270 win, new Win. brass, and 78 rounds later, one blew the primer seal, no pierced primer or high pressure signs, just a leaking pocket.

As for handgun, I've never had anything fail. You might want to consider taking up reloading if your getting disgusted with factory ammo..

GS

 

[bigfinger76]

That's why I reload, gamestalker!
I find it disturbing that there is so much variation in commercial loadings. I feel much safer shooting my own, especially .40.

 

[stompah]

Peter, I was discussing this with a reloading friend. And he mentioned having splits with .357. The difference is that the revolver will contain that split nearly 100% in the cylinder. The 10mm is a semi auto so I worry is something were to happen while the gun was cycling. Plus I have way more confidence in my steel Ruger than my plastic Glock in keeping my fingers intact.

Factory ammo really has gone to crap. I had some 9mm Remington that had a variance in recoil. I have had a few winchester white box 9mm that went pfft instead of boom leaving lots of powder in the barrel and mag well. I've had a lot of Winchester 9mm jhp that had a bunch of corrosion on it. I am at the point that I'd rather buy cheap reloads than name brand ammo.

 

[ljnowell]

Peter, I was discussing this with a reloading friend. And he mentioned having splits with .357. The difference is that the revolver will contain that split nearly 100% in the cylinder. The 10mm is a semi auto so I worry is something were to happen while the gun was cycling. Plus I have way more confidence in my steel Ruger than my plastic Glock in keeping my fingers intact.



Factory ammo really has gone to crap. I had some 9mm Remington that had a variance in recoil. I have had a few winchester white box 9mm that went pfft instead of boom leaving lots of powder in the barrel and mag well. I've had a lot of Winchester 9mm jhp that had a bunch of corrosion on it. I am at the point that I'd rather buy cheap reloads than name brand ammo.

You don't have to worry about cracks like that venting pressure and damaging things. As has been said by multiple people, that's a normal failure.