jrguar Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 (edited) I had a fat case cause my gun to not get fully into battery.....in the middle of a field course I was in the process of burning down..... 1). Was unable to rack slide... 2). Dump mag...... 3). Grab the forward cocking serations & pulled.... nothing... 4). Held the slide by forward serations.. slammed other hand into grips while pulling on the slide...gun goes bang....oops... primer pierced by ejector.... 5). Dumb look to RO and asked his assistance in holstering my now unloaded & shown clear firearm... 6). Clean up mess .. put gun away.... 7). Go visit my physician who says the wound looks like it was cleaned up very well and should heal nicely... 8). 30 Days later have the 3/8" x 1/2" piece of brass removed from my index finger...shoot with a golf glove the rest of the year.... 9). Shoot 45 for the next 6 years.... Be careful out there kids... Edited June 21, 2006 by jrguar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmon Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 with the new g24, ive gotten back into shooting 40s alot. ramshot zip, titegroup, 231, universal clays, N330...ive still yet to have a case head seperate in my guns. I shoot mainly FEDERAL and WINCHESTER marked brass, with a few remington and CCI mixed in there with them. I dont know how many times some of my brass has been fired, but some is at least 5x A good inspection any youll be OK...assuming your load isnt 9.3 grains titegroup and a 200 grain bullet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
target4fun Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 I am well aware that this is a problem in the glock .40 which is why I use the KKM barrel, I have seen several peices of brass blow up in glock 40's that we used as a class room tool as an nra instructor... always wear eye protection!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockymtnflash Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 I just had my Glock 35 explode in a kaboom today. I had a stock barrel and had put about 1000 factory rounds through it this summer...so I decided to read up and start reloading. I loaded once fired Winchester brass, Titegroup 4.4g, 180 grain jacketed Speer bullets, OAL 1.125", as many have suggested here. The first ten rounds were great. I was happy with the grouping. Then KABOOM!!! It blew the mag out, broke the mag catch, which exploded into my right hand, and knocked the gun out of my hands. My hands were really stinging, but all my digits were thankfully still attached and undamaged. The case had a hole at the case head (where it is unsupported in the chamber?) and split the chamber. Luckily, I had just received a KKM match barrel and had not used it yet. My first thought was that there may have been a double charge. So I went to weigh the remaining rounds I loaded. Most were within a grain total weight of each other. A couple were a couple grains less, and a few were over 4 grains heavier than the lightest loaded round. So I weighed the empty deprimed cases waiting to be loaded. I found the same weight variances in the empty cases. I pulled the bullets in the heavier bullets and weighed the powder. They were all 4.3-4.4g. I deprimed the cases and found that the empty cases were heavier than others. SO...I can't measure the loaded rounds to see if there is a double charge because if there is a lighter case with a double charge, it will weigh the same as a single charge in a heavy case, which makes me nervous of the heavier cases. OR...was it the Glock and the new KKM barrel will fix this? Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpeltier Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 (edited) Had my second case head failure with the same lot of brass yesterday. Gun is a Para P-16 Limited with Dawson magwell and base pads. Load is Federal (supposedly) once fired nickel Brass that the seller had roll sized.Loaded with a 180 gr FMJ over 5.3 gr Bullseye. The first seperation was uneventful, the gun simply went bang with a slightly different sound so I stopped shooting to rack the slide and the remains of the case were stuck in the chamber sans case head. Released slide and retracted again and the rest of case ejected (gotta love that Para PXT) and the gun was fine. Yesterdays was more dramatic, the gun made a differet sounding bang and proceded to blow the Dawson base pad, spring, follower and the remaining 17 rounds out of the gun. and my left index finger and thumb were stinging. The case was bulged and shredded at the bottom with a piece peeled down and laying flat on the barrel ramp. the case head was located on the ground in the neet little pile of bullets and mag parts at my feet. it looked to be in perfect shape and showed no signs of overpressure around the primer, it was simply cleanly sheered around the inside portion of the extractor groove. My hand was fine just a little rattled. After inspecting the gun and magazine everything looked good. I put it all back together and switched to factory ammo and shot the next stage using it. Needless to say I am not using that brass any longer. Edited August 28, 2006 by mpeltier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wide45 Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 (edited) Was the headstamp F C ? It is known to be weak. Roll sizing is the kiss of death. Edited August 28, 2006 by wide45 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpeltier Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Yes it is marked FC on the most recent blow up. The other one is unknown as the head was not found. About 4 out of 100 cases in this lot are marked FC the rest are marked Federal. I also cut one case of each for a cross section of the construction of the head and primer pocket. The case head thickness of the FC was .166 and the Federal was .174. I also measured a winchester case and it measured .178. A little les scientific is the FC case seemed to cut very easily. I had to apply more force and took more effort to cut thru the Federal and Winchester cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidnal Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 I've had only 2 problems with case-head separation...about 8 months apart. In each case the brass was nickel plated FC (not FEDERAL). A friend of mine (paper killer on this forum) had been preaching to me for months about how I should sort brass by manuf. I didn't pay attention after the first separation, but the second got my attention. In each case there was no injury, just some powder blast (With proper eye protection). Now I only load with Win, RP, Speer, Federal and Speer. All of the PMC, *-*, FC and other crappy brass gets recycled. I have been shooing with a Para through a stock barrel. My new STI will be ready soon, but I don't plan to change my brass. Other friends have shot everything through their .40 with no problems. My experience encourages me to sort brass and be careful wiht .40 major loads. Landis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipscbob Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Yup. The cases marked FC are known to be weak. I believe that federal posted either a warning about them or recalled them. Anytime I run across one, it goes in the trash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shipster Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 I have about 30,000 rounds through my Para and most of my brass is range brass and I have had no head seperations at all. I'm sure it depends a lot on the pressures you are runing which equates to the powder and bullet combination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Suber Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 (edited) One thing to remember - it is very easy to throw a "heavy" load of Titegroup or a double charge if you are not paying attention. My IPSC load barely fills 1/2 of a .40 case. So, I am extra careful when I load. Titegroup ios a fast powder so if were loaded to major and short (for a Glock) a slight increase in powder could become very interesting in a Glock. On another note, I have a tons (at least 90K) of once fired Federal Hydra-shock brass that I get from a certain law enforcement training facility. I beleive the brass is shot through Berettas, Sigs, and perhaps some sort of SMG (no Glocks). I am finding that the majority of the brass is severely buldged and almost all of them show signs of primer flow. Significant primer flow. I can't figure out why they would be like this. Are Hydra-shocks that hot? If I don't roll-sized them and just resize them with my U-Die, they end up with a rim that looks like a belted magnum rifle case. I roll-size them and they are OK. I have been shooting this brass for about 2 years and never had a separation but given the way they start out, I scrutinize every batch before I load them. Has anyone ever seen Hydra-shocks that do this? Edited September 18, 2006 by Jack Suber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusher Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 ...and a few were over 4 grains heavier than the lightest loaded round. If my math is right that could be a 6.0+ gr charge of TG in a 1.125 OAL. That will do the BOOM thing. What press?. It can't be a dillon my charge weights vary less than .05 gr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Suber Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 Crusher, You are right. I think that load at any length in a .40 would be rather explosive. I am using 4.8 grns with a 180 MG CMJ @ 1.200 and getting 945 fps in an STI. 6.0 grns at 1.125 sounds scary. Jack ...and a few were over 4 grains heavier than the lightest loaded round. If my math is right that could be a 6.0+ gr charge of TG in a 1.125 OAL. That will do the BOOM thing. What press?. It can't be a dillon my charge weights vary less than .05 gr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmon Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 put two charges of any powder in a case, and it will fail. how many cases fail with just a regular load? what brand? Ive still not had a case failure...some loads were even above 190 pf..in my six inch gun. be careful and bad things wont happen... Harmon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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