John Z Sr Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Been reloading for over 20 years with 1,000,000 + rounds to my credit (had a small business years ago) and just had a first. While loading .40 S&W on my 550 with Dillon dies, the press felt funny and I saw that the head ripped of the brass and the body of the case was stuck in the die (unscrewed the decapper/expander and punched it out with a .45 cal jag). Never had this happen. 2 years ago my son had a case, .40 S&W also) separate in the gun and he could not finnish the last stage at Florida Open. I look my brass over real well, but I guess every once in a while one gets by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torogi Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 lucky you, reloading for just over a year and i got a case (9mm) stuck on the first station (XL650) and its a pain taking it out. luckily i was able to pull it out before the head got ripped off from the body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 (edited) Funny you mention that. A couple of weeks ago I was running a bucket of once-fired .40 through a U-die and ripped the rim and part of the head off one of the cases...very odd. Luckily, it felt odd going up, so I stopped before it was too far into the die. When I tried to raise the lever, that's when it pulled apart. It came out pretty easily, but I was worried there for a few minutes...really strange. R, Edit to add: this was factory Winchester Ranger, 180gr FMJ, once-fired through one of my Glocks. Edited December 9, 2010 by G-ManBart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Someone firing Clays no doubt.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Z Sr Posted December 9, 2010 Author Share Posted December 9, 2010 Someone firing Clays no doubt.... That's what I'm thinking. This was a small batch of range pickup brass that I was using for some practice ammo. I always buy (and sell) my brass from an indoor range that does not sell reloads. I know better than to use pickup brass, but this just goes to confirm it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 yikes. That's WAY too close for comfort. Better in the press than in the gun! Seth (I made a 357/40 yesterday... damn sigs...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaredr Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Been reloading for over 20 years with 1,000,000 + rounds to my credit (had a small business years ago) and just had a first. While loading .40 S&W on my 550 with Dillon dies, the press felt funny and I saw that the head ripped of the brass and the body of the case was stuck in the die (unscrewed the decapper/expander and punched it out with a .45 cal jag). Never had this happen. 2 years ago my son had a case, .40 S&W also) separate in the gun and he could not finnish the last stage at Florida Open. I look my brass over real well, but I guess every once in a while one gets by. curious - was the a case lube problem or do you believe this was a cartridge that would have produce a case-head separation when fired (i.e. the brass above the rim had been weakened)? I;ve never seen that happen with straight wall pistol cartridges, tho i've seen it with bottleneck rifle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Been reloading for over 20 years with 1,000,000 + rounds to my credit (had a small business years ago) and just had a first. While loading .40 S&W on my 550 with Dillon dies, the press felt funny and I saw that the head ripped of the brass and the body of the case was stuck in the die (unscrewed the decapper/expander and punched it out with a .45 cal jag). Never had this happen. 2 years ago my son had a case, .40 S&W also) separate in the gun and he could not finnish the last stage at Florida Open. I look my brass over real well, but I guess every once in a while one gets by. curious - was the a case lube problem or do you believe this was a cartridge that would have produce a case-head separation when fired (i.e. the brass above the rim had been weakened)? I was wondering the same thing. Lube? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Loaded a few pistol loads over the years and never used lube and never had a case head separation.... yet. I have torn a few pieces of rifle brass when I did not get them lubed properly....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wide45 Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 (edited) Someone firing Clays no doubt.... Roll sized to death. Edited December 10, 2010 by wide45 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Z Sr Posted December 10, 2010 Author Share Posted December 10, 2010 No lube, carbide Dillon die. Guess the brass was super weak right at the head. The upstroke on the handle must have been enough to break it free. Glad it was on the press and not in the gun. The brass had no visible signs of being stretched or being weak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Z Sr Posted December 10, 2010 Author Share Posted December 10, 2010 Been reloading for over 20 years with 1,000,000 + rounds to my credit (had a small business years ago) and just had a first. While loading .40 S&W on my 550 with Dillon dies, the press felt funny and I saw that the head ripped of the brass and the body of the case was stuck in the die (unscrewed the decapper/expander and punched it out with a .45 cal jag). Never had this happen. 2 years ago my son had a case, .40 S&W also) separate in the gun and he could not finnish the last stage at Florida Open. I look my brass over real well, but I guess every once in a while one gets by. curious - was the a case lube problem or do you believe this was a cartridge that would have produce a case-head separation when fired (i.e. the brass above the rim had been weakened)? I was wondering the same thing. Lube? I feel it would have been a case head separation if fired, no doubt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shooter_rob Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 Been reloading for over 20 years with 1,000,000 + rounds to my credit (had a small business years ago) and just had a first. While loading .40 S&W on my 550 with Dillon dies, the press felt funny and I saw that the head ripped of the brass and the body of the case was stuck in the die (unscrewed the decapper/expander and punched it out with a .45 cal jag). Never had this happen. 2 years ago my son had a case, .40 S&W also) separate in the gun and he could not finnish the last stage at Florida Open. I look my brass over real well, but I guess every once in a while one gets by. curious - was the a case lube problem or do you believe this was a cartridge that would have produce a case-head separation when fired (i.e. the brass above the rim had been weakened)? I was wondering the same thing. Lube? I feel it would have been a case head separation if fired, no doubt You are right John, I have had 2 case head seperation over the years, on in .40 and one in 9MM. The .40 was GFL brass and the 9mm was Win. Both were in practice ammo, but both scared the crap out of me! Glad you caught it when you did! Hope to see you at Caswell in a couple of weeks. By the way, I am working in your neighborhood now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob DuBois Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 Use the U die in 9mm, 38 super, 40S@W and 45acp. Never had this problem but always use lube. It's easier on the dies, machine and the operator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwight Stearns Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 (edited) A few years ago I had a problem with breaking the bolt that holds the shellplate on a Dillon square deal. I called Dillon and they asked if I lubed the cases and i thought how stupid, that's why I have carbide. But, I took their advice and started lightly lubing the cases and haven't broken a single bolt since. As a bonus, the press is a whole lot easier to run. And of course they replaced my part for free. Dwight Edited December 10, 2010 by Dwight Stearns Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Z Sr Posted December 10, 2010 Author Share Posted December 10, 2010 Been reloading for over 20 years with 1,000,000 + rounds to my credit (had a small business years ago) and just had a first. While loading .40 S&W on my 550 with Dillon dies, the press felt funny and I saw that the head ripped of the brass and the body of the case was stuck in the die (unscrewed the decapper/expander and punched it out with a .45 cal jag). Never had this happen. 2 years ago my son had a case, .40 S&W also) separate in the gun and he could not finnish the last stage at Florida Open. I look my brass over real well, but I guess every once in a while one gets by. curious - was the a case lube problem or do you believe this was a cartridge that would have produce a case-head separation when fired (i.e. the brass above the rim had been weakened)? I was wondering the same thing. Lube? I feel it would have been a case head separation if fired, no doubt You are right John, I have had 2 case head seperation over the years, on in .40 and one in 9MM. The .40 was GFL brass and the 9mm was Win. Both were in practice ammo, but both scared the crap out of me! Glad you caught it when you did! Hope to see you at Caswell in a couple of weeks. By the way, I am working in your neighborhood now. Hey Rob, will be at Caswell, try to make day/night match at The Range tomorrow, I'm going Single Stack for awhile now, so watch your back, if I can only figure out how to get the moonclips in that skinny hole in the bottom of the gun, I just might beat you!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dillon Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 Wide45 has probably nailed it- Almost all reports we receive of case separations in handgun are in 40 S&W;further, most were roll-resized, or else using 200 grain or heavier bullets. With the heavier bullets I suspect a timing issue where the slide may be unlocking before the bullet has left the barrel. Roll-resizing tends to work-harden the case just above the extractor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Z Sr Posted December 10, 2010 Author Share Posted December 10, 2010 Thanks for info dillon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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