My First Case Failure..

[RN]

It's got to happen to us all at one time or another and today was my introduction to case failures..Was shooting .40 through a g29 .40 conversion barrel(fully supported) and when I got home to deprime found this cases...the crack has a small divot at the bottom where it starts..Strange..

These cases have been fired 3 times as of today. Out of 200 others no defects were found. Of course, this was all "once" fired brass when I got it so who really knows.. Anyway, I did not even notice the failure at all and all shooting was on target and fun as can be. I guess this is just part of relaoding huh?

Case is now in the tumbler so I will post a pic when it comes out. I don't see any signs of pending failure besides the crack so I'm at a loss as to how to prevent it..

 

[rcmodel]

No big thang!
It happens.

These are once fired & once reloaded Federal 9mm.



rc

 

[gamestalker]

What are the specifics of the load? Bullet, powder, oal, ect..

What head stamp?

It could be a high pressure situation, maybe set back induced?

Or, it might just be a tired piece of brass, or a defect?

I've had a few pieces of 9mm let go before, no .40 so far. But I also load at the upper end of the spectrum with full tilt Lognshot loads, jacketed stuff, and presumably always induced by brass that had been loaded beyond it's life span. It' happens though, so don't let it effect your confidence in your load unless it becomes a regular event, at which point you'll need to take a closer look at what your doing.

GS

 

[RN]

Wow..Those look just like the RP that failed in mine today. If the ones in your photo did that after only one loading than I am doing ok.. The rest of my brass looks good and will be getting loaded up for a 4th time today using a EGW U die. If they make it through that then I will be satisfied with brass life using EGW die. I have a feeling not only will they make it through load #4, they will be ready to go again.

 

[RN]

@gamestalker Load info below: Not a setback issue as I am using an EGW U die and no matter what brass I use its in there tight..Just the way I want it..It's all good..I'm not sweating it..Just think it's interesting..Who knows how may times it's really been fired as once fired range brass is mystery to be honest..

RP Case, VV340 5.4gr, 180gr Berrys FP, WSP, OAL 1.125

 

[CZ9shooter]

Splits like that seem to be a somewhat common occurance. I pick up cases like this from time to time. To the best of my knowledge, none have been from my guns though. I would consider it either a poor quality case, or one that has been loaded one too many times.

 

[rcmodel]

Regardless of the load.
It's not a high-pressure issue.

When a case fails due to high pressure, the case head fails.

The case can only stretch so far in the chamber.
And it stretches that far with low pressure as well as high pressure loads.

That doesn't cause good elastic brass to split & crack like that.

rc

 

[RN]

It's my guess that it was just some tired cheap RP brass..5.4gr of VV340 is not a max load so doubt that's the issue..

 

[Jim Watson]

I am not worried about an occasional side split pistol case. Trash it and move on.
If you get a LOT of them, trash the batch.

I tried to shoot salvaged 9mm Blazer after The Incident including house fire. Most of them would fire but I had a lot of split cases. After one particularly bad one, I looked at the chamber and saw an eroded patch. I polished the chamber and pulled the rest of the ammo down for the bullets.

I have a brass .45 with a split clear back into the primer pocket. The Army would reject an entire lot of ammo that did that.

 

[243winxb]

40 S&W http://www.vihtavuori.com/en/reloading-data/handgun-reloading/-40-s-w.html

Berry's- We recommend using hard cast load data or start with mid-range jacketed data.

180 gr. Lead data for Fiocchi LTC is start 4.6gr to 5.2 gr. Maximum of VV 340

 

[GLOOB]

No worries, RP. That kind of failure is relatively common and is completely benign. Heck, if the mouth is still intact after sizing and flaring, you could probably load and shoot it again, one more time.

When the case web shows signs of failure, then you can start to worry.

 

[RN]

Here a pic after its bath...Front and Back..I love the way brass looks after tumbling..Especially on its 4th go...You would not know it to look at the other side that failure was coming... No big deal...

 

[Walkalong]

Just a normal split case. Scrap it and move on.

Low pressure load in a low pressure caliber. Splits happen. The rest of this batch is still fine.

 

[RN]

@walkalong...Yep..I agree...

 

[RN]

40 S&W http://www.vihtavuori.com/en/reloading-data/handgun-reloading/-40-s-w.html 180 gr. Lead data for Fiocchi LTC is start 4.6gr to 5.2 gr. Maximum of VV 340

@243win...Here is some data... ..Trust me..5.4 is a light load when using 180gr plated FP..Any less and you might run into function issues..Plated is kinda hard to find spot on data so I purposely started low..Xtream's are basically the same and they suggest starting where maximum lead loads ends and ini between jacketed as well..

Lee..

180 Jacketed Bullet Vihtavuori VV-N340 5.5 1008
180 Jacketed Bullet Vihtavuori VV-N340 6.1 1109

 

[gamestalker]

I get the now and then small splits too, usually barely visible, and not as common as one might expect, considering I run full throttle 24/7. Never had an all out pressure induced failure, as described by RC.

But on another note, RP is often the first to fail, thin & soft.

Yep, just continue shootin, and maybe take a second glance at the supposed once fired brass before stuffing it, or right after. On that, I've caught a few after seating that had little bitty splits starting, no doubt already weak, and the bullet opened the weak spot up enough to become visible.

GS

 

[wlkjr]

I found two of those yesterday out of my G42. Good to hear it's no big deal.

 

[wlkjr]

RN, I have one of those conversion barrels for my G29 also but have not used it yet. How does it shoot and did you have to do anything other than just drop it in?

 

[BSA1]

Yep I ride with the others and have had it happen to me on occasion.

I did have a strange incident with two 9mm rounds a while back. Reloaded round went click. Semi was DA/SAA so I pulled the trigger again. Another click. Ejected dud and pulled trigger on next round. Another click. This is very unusual for my reloads to ftf. I picked up both dud rounds off the ground. One round was totally missing it's primer and the other round primer was barely seated.

Now I'll be the first to admit I reload my brass over and over and never keep track of the number of times I reload them. A couple of shooting buddies have observed that my nickel cases are now brass colored. So the point is eventually even for cheapskates like me my brass eventually wears out.

 

[Shimitup]

I shoot my .44 mags until they do that, usually 14 or so reloads. I had a bad batch of Winchester brass that split new from the neck tension sitting in the box, shot em and threw them away.

 

[RN]

@wlkjr...I have the newest Lonewolf and the only reason I know that is they moved that silly wolf off the top of the lockup..All you have to do is drop it in the 10mm g29 and it's good to go. Nothing else is needed to convert the g29 to a .40 for a day at the range. Same mags and all..

It is an absolute dream shooting the .40 out of the beefy g29 frame..The conversion is perfect and I have not had a single feed or function issue..I worried at first that the Gen 4 g29 spring(it's beefed up)would need to be accounted for when loading for .40 but I have had zero issues with about 400 rounds down range..Owning the g29 is a reloaders dream..It is like 3 guns in one..10mm, .40, .357 sig(next conversion barrel on my list)..Hope that helps!!

 

[ljnowell]

There is no sign of over pressure because of a crack like that. That's just a typical failure. Either crappy brass(most likely as it's only 3x) or it's old brass that's been sized to death and gave up. Usually the old brass gives up the ghost at the case mouth though where it hits the sizer first, them gets flared, then gets crimped.

 

[Catpop]

I thought it was normal to get a few every trip to the range!
LOL. Reload on brother, Catpop

 

[Galil5.56]

Totally normal, super common, and you will hear them sound different as you roll them around separating media... Now a blown case head failure, as the byproduct of 60k psi... Yikes.

 

[rfwobbly]

Walkalong: Split happens.

That would make a nice bumper sticker.