Range Report & a Split Case

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

moxie

Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
3,069
Location
Erath Co., TX
Since it was reasonably cool this morning, my wife and I went to Tac Pro Shooting Center in Mingus and fired a bunch of rounds through her Security Six and my M&P9c.

For the M&P we had Missouri Bullets 125RNL ("Smallball", lately changed to 124 grs.) over 4.3 Bullseye with an OAL of 1.116". Mixed brass. CCI 500 primers. Gun was 100%. Ammo was 100%. Shoots nice and straight. Knocks down the big steel plates with ease. The 9c is a very nice gun.

For the Security Six (SS, 4") we had Missouri Bullets 148 DEWC over 2.9 Bullseye. Nice mild and accurate load.

And we had a nice semi-stout .357 load of Rem. 125 SJHP over 9.2 Unique with an OAL of 1.574 which is driven by the cannelure. CCI 500 primers. Another great accurate load. Destroys the plates!

I did encounter my very first .357 case rupture in 25 years of reloading and 57 years of shooting. It was a R.P nickel case. Two little splits. The larger starts about 1/16" up from the rim undercut and is about 3/16" long. The smaller starts at the undercut itself and is about 1/16" long. The two are about 1/8" apart. Sorry no picture.

All six rounds from that cylinder full felt and sounded the same. No excessive pressure signs on any other cases. I noticed the splits when I ejected the rounds. The chambers look perfect. There being no other contrary information I'm putting it down to case fatigue. It could have been reloaded as many as 30 or more times. Don't know.

Anyway, fun day. Everything worked as we expected with the exception of that one anomaly.
 
Split cases aren't an anomaly at all. It's standard when they wear out from reloading, and nickel cases will split sooner than plain brass cases. I've got a bucket full of split cases to take to the recycler...

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I was kind of relieved the first time I encountered/created a split case. Made me feel more comfortable that brass simply getting old probably wouldn't fail in a catastrophic way, just quietly get a crack and be done.
 
I've split revolver cases straight out of the factory box, federal american eagle. I used lots of this factory ammo at the time and reloaded the brass because I had none (new caliber to me and hard to find brass then)

Out of a box of 50 reloaded rounds I usually get 1 to 4 more splits out of the 50. I was afraid a cylinder was oversized, out of round etc but not the problem. Just junky brass.
 
Like said above, if you reload cases long enough you will get split cases eventually. I have yet to see a split .38 special case but I have gotten several .357 Magnum case splits. Also like said above, nickel cases will usually fail before yellow brass cases. No big deal, toss them in the scrap bucket... lol
 
I'm surprised that you haven't had split cases in the past. I have had cases split with one reload on a rare occasion. I throw them away after 5-6 reloads. I don't like to push it.
 
If I was experiencing case ruptures with new brass at a rate of 1-4 every time I load with it, I would be looking closely at what I'm doing at the bench. I'm not trying to imply that you are doing anything wrong, but that just seems very unusual with brass that has never been loaded before. I run full tilt H110 / 296 loads in my magnum stuff, and the only time I split a case has been after countless reloadings, and it's always around the mouth. Same with any of my standard cartridges like 38 spcl. +P, only after it has work hardened, does it fail.

As for failures like the OP is experiencing, that is expected at some point in time. I'm probably getting 20-30 cycles from my wheel gun brass before it kicks the bucket too, nothing to be concerned about.

GS
 
I agree with what you're saying gamestalker. This that I am referring to wasn't just new brass, but factory LOADED rounds. The same said brass is what's splitting after subsequent reloads. Caliber 327 fed mag, the fed american eagle is known in this caliber to be junk. I have starline in the same caliber shot out of the same revolvers that have had no problems.

Probably a unique situation...
 
The larger starts about 1/16" up from the rim undercut and is about 3/16" long. The smaller starts at the undercut itself and is about 1/16" long.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Every pic of split pistol brass I have seen starts at the case mouth.
I have seen bottleneck rifle brass split closer to the case head...but that is due to loss of brass/"stretching" aggravated by firing and subsequent re-sizing of the case...which does not happen (in my understanding) with straight-wall pistol brass.

Am I missing something?
 
Potatohead,

Yes, thats a French word for "many or more". Kinda like beaucoup dinky day { dow }, plenty crazy in the head. Can't get my spell right on the computer to let it stay spelled with a "U" after the da. Ha
 
That sounds like it might be a brass problem indeed. And your sure that the brass, is actually brass, not aluminum or some other non reload-able material? I know that not all brass is created equal, so it may in fact be a brass problem. But I have used a good deal of that American Eagle brass with normal function in other chamberings, especially .357 mag, I wonder if the .327 stuff is substandard? Actually, now that I think about it, I thought I saw a recall on .327 ammo recently, I'll have to check that out.

Oh well, I guess I done enough hi jacking of this thread, sorry ya all.

GS
 
Note that I said in my original post this was a .357 R.P nickel case. Plated of course. Brass. Splits as described.

788ham & potatohead,
From your response to "beaucoup" I guess you guys were over there too. Di di mau!
 
Apologize moxie, I posted my experience just for the point that split cases happen and most of the time are nothing to worry about.
 
I've had some 357s split at the case mouth over the years as an H110/P296/SR4756 loader, but the cases were reloaded several times. I have had most splits in 25-06 rounds using 30-06 cases necked down splitting in the neck. Just splits, no bad experiences. Been loading 40+ years.
 
My 38 spl load is VERY mild & I've had cases that split on the first reload.
(S&W Model 38 - aluminum framed airweight)

As the French say, "Poop occurs". ;)
 
Brass gives up due to metal fatigue or becoming brittle. If it's worked long enough, it's going to crack or split. Nothing lasts forever, and if you shoot enough revolver ammunition, you're going to encounter brass splits, whether at the neck, the sides or just above the base.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

A
  • Locked
Split Case
Replies
11
Views
697
joem1945
J
Bull Nutria
  • Locked
35 Whelen case necks splitting??
Replies
18
Views
855
Vern Humphrey
V
M
  • Locked
splits above case rim.
Replies
19
Views
2K
YankeeFlyr
Y
A
  • Locked
45acp case damage, new reloader, help
2
Replies
38
Views
2K
Snobal
S
G
  • Locked
Entire run has split cases.....
Replies
20
Views
1K
Seismic Sam
S
Back
Top