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SwissyJim
27 February 2016, 11:21
... but let me clarify that. COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE reloads. I wonder how well they inspect components before they load? I know when I do my reloads, I am anal beyond belief on inspecting brass and such before I put it in my press.

But... I was cleaning out some spaces and found a bunch of reloaded ammo I had bought, before I started reloading my own. So I figured a good reason to hit the range and get rid of it. I usually take a broom with me and sweep the area around where I shoot, so I know the brass on the ground around me is mine.

I found this:
714

No weird noise was noticed, no strange feel... nothing to indicate this happened. I looks like there may be a defect in the wall... see the 'spot weld' looking bulge along the split?

But it was from my gun, of that I am sure. Makes me cringe wondering what could have happened. Sad part is I had 4 different 'brands' of reloaded stuff I was shooting so I can't say whose it was. Good part is I inspected my P229 and all is well.

Stay safe!

DeviantLogic
27 February 2016, 11:49
That's totally not cool. Glad you made it out of there safe and sound. What caliber is that? I know .40 is a little more risky than most other calibers.

SwissyJim
27 February 2016, 15:40
Plain ol' boring 9mm. Was not a hot load either... a 147gr FMJ that was listed as a subsonic round. Thankfully I was not using my can as no telling how stable to bullet was. Now that I'm reloading 357Sig, this will make me even MORE anal on how much time I spend on my brass prep.

alamo5000
27 February 2016, 16:11
I had a split case today too... the more you shoot em the more you reload em and the walls get thinner and thinner. Then add to that sometimes people collect brass from outdoor ranges... that brass might have sat in the weather for days or weeks... it can lead to the weakening of the metal in the cases.

If you have good cases you can reload them a bunch of times... but combine cheap cases that were thin to start with with the other two things I mentioned above... and that can be the result.

Joelski
27 February 2016, 17:51
This legitimizes my laziness. I will not be worried about reloading, or shooting reloads any time soon!

Sak007
27 February 2016, 18:38
I reloaded about 300 rounds of 300blk last night off of some brass I converted from old 5.56 i had and about 35-40% of the brass I ran on the Dillon did this in the powder station .
717
It reminds me I need to go play the lotto so I can afford the Giraud annealer .

SwissyJim
27 February 2016, 18:43
I reloaded about 300 rounds of 300blk last night off of some brass I converted from old 5.56 i had and about 35-40% of the brass I ran on the Dillon did this in the powder station .

It reminds me I need to go play the lotto so I can afford the Giraud annealer .

I found this when I was looking around at making an annealing machine - I just don't have any place to put it
Annealeze (http://annealeez.ddns.net/)
About half the cost of the Giraud...

Sak007
27 February 2016, 18:44
I misread your reply and thought it said annaleaze , now it's in my head and the brand name is weird to me [bash]

SwissyJim
27 February 2016, 20:28
I misread your reply and thought it said annaleaze , now it's in my head and the brand name is weird to me [bash]
LOL yeah, been a few good jokes on a few sites about the name... but, guys that have them say they work good.

Sak007
27 February 2016, 21:13
LOL yeah, been a few good jokes on a few sites about the name... but, guys that have them say they work good.At $300 it's getting sorta close to the Giraud but with way less capacity and well is $170 less justifiable next to the capacity & quality of the Giraud ?If I did go for the Ann.....I can't even type it , I would have to fabricate a bigger feed system like on the Giraud .
718719

SwissyJim
27 February 2016, 21:29
not only that, but with the Giraud I don't believe you have to swap parts to do different calibers. Notice the options on the butt one for 'large calibers' and '300blk'.

I just wish I had a place to put one and use it, other than pulling my torch and drill out and sitting at at the dinner table

Sak007
28 February 2016, 00:13
I have too much room and keep using it to justifying buying expensive reloading goodies I can't afford[BD]. I just had a new safe put in my basement and need to build benches around it so I'm in reload design mode .

SwissyJim
28 February 2016, 08:50
well, I just did about 400 cases last night by hand - socket/drill and a torch standing on the table. My shoulders ache this morning... if I were in your position with all the room, I'd have ordered a machine to do it for me! Guess I need to build that garage this summer...

Sak007
28 February 2016, 11:44
well, I just did about 400 cases last night by hand - socket/drill and a torch standing on the table. My shoulders ache this morning... if I were in your position with all the room, I'd have ordered a machine to do it for me! Guess I need to build that garage this summer...My Dillon has paid for itself a million times over , I feel like I have early onset arthritis when I have to cut , trim , chamfer & deburr my 300blk out brass by hand .

Former11B
28 February 2016, 15:33
This legitimizes my laziness. I will not be worried about reloading, or shooting reloads any time soon!

Your own reloading quality control should be worry free, since you are controlling what brass you reload, how many times, etc, and are hopefully not picking up old and weathered brass off a range...ALAMO.

OTShooter
6 March 2016, 09:21
Jim, that's a classic brass failure. Usually it happens in the first firing, and I f memory serves, it's due to the brass being work hardened, rather than a bad load - thus no odd feel or sound. If the case survived the first firing, on subsequent resizing that work hardened part would be even harder, and more likely to fail the next time. It's not a "scary" failure, but it's sure not something you should feel happy about!

Commercial loaders have boucoup insurance because they can't vet every piece of brass they get. The big ones have strict QC at every step of the process to avoid spending time and effort on loading brass that isn't up to par. Smaller outfits often do fine, but skip some of the pre-loading QC that you and I would do as a matter of course.

So I would have no problem buying "remanufactured" rounds from Black Hills, but I'd be cautious about "Bob's Bigtime Bullets" rounds. It's not the size of the operation, it's the fact that there's a minimum "critical size" that allows the remanufacturer to do all the QC I want done and still make money.

Battle Cock
3 April 2016, 18:37
Jim, that's a classic brass failure. Usually it happens in the first firing, and I f memory serves, it's due to the brass being work hardened, rather than a bad load -

I was out burning powder with a couple buddies this afternoon and a .44 mag Desert Eagle had a malfunction (surprise surprise) that highlighted this exact type of failure.

The ammo was brand new Federal Fusion .44 Rem. Mag. 240 Grain and the last round of the magazine flipped a 180 and stuck in the action with a case failure prominently displayed. I checked the other expended casings and this was the only one showing a failure.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160404/f63e16373c8ec91e113d08ed540d417e.jpg

Aberration79
3 April 2016, 18:59
This is why its important to have a chamber that fulling supports the casing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The FNG
28 April 2016, 16:30
I reloaded about 300 rounds of 300blk last night off of some brass I converted from old 5.56 i had and about 35-40% of the brass I ran on the Dillon did this in the powder station .
717
It reminds me I need to go play the lotto so I can afford the Giraud annealer .

I've had this on my Dillon too. Is annealing really the solution?

Jerry R
28 April 2016, 17:12
You might check to see how snug the Dillon shell plate is. If there is enough slack for the cases to "wobble" as they enter the powder die, the powder funnel can catch on the case lip just like that. Ask me how I know [BD]

Not saying that is THE problem, but it is something to check.

The shell plate should turn freely, but it should hold the case firmly with very little slack. They will wobble some, but should enter each die perfectly straight. No offense meant, but I will also assume you are using the correct die and funnel for the caliber conversion kit. I worked a help desk a long time ago and asked silly-assed questions then too. "Is it plugged in?" [:D]

The FNG
28 April 2016, 20:03
You might check to see how snug the Dillon shell plate is. If there is enough slack for the cases to "wobble" as they enter the powder die, the powder funnel can catch on the case lip just like that. Ask me how I know [BD]

Not saying that is THE problem, but it is something to check.

The shell plate should turn freely, but it should hold the case firmly with very little slack. They will wobble some, but should enter each die perfectly straight. No offense meant, but I will also assume you are using the correct die and funnel for the caliber conversion kit. I worked a help desk a long time ago and asked silly-assed questions then too. "Is it plugged in?" [:D]

Your question is not out of line. I'm using the .223 shell plate. There is a decent amount of wobble, so I guess I'll try to tighten the plate a little to see if that helps.