Has anyone seen this type of malfunction?

[stick]

I took my 13 year old daughter today to shoot her first match (Steel Challenge)

We both shot PCC.  After the 5th stage, her gun just wouldn't load or shoot a round.  I let her shoot my PCC the rest of the match.  I immediately thought she had broken her firing pin since she runs a Hiperfire trigger.  Nope!  firing pin was fine.  Well....When we finished the match, I took 4 rounds and tried to fire the gun.  It didn't fire.  I tried loading one round into the chamber, It didn't fire.  It wouldn't even load the round.  As I looked closer, I thought she had something in the chamber.  When I got home, I pulled the gun apart and pulled out this little piece of brass from the chamber.  I have never seen this before.  I have never had anything like this happen before.  We both shot my reloads and I have loaded ten's of thousands of rounds. 

 

Her gun is a PSA Billet lower with Hiperfire 24C trigger.  She has a PSA slickside upper with the new PCC barrel and hybrid bolt with a BCM gunfighter charging handle. 

9mm case for size comparison

 

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by stick

[open17]

Stepped brass.     

 

Several threads on it---bottom line is don't use it.

[stick]

5 minutes ago, open17 said:

Stepped brass.     

 

Several threads on it---bottom line is don't use it.

Yep! The split case on stepped brass looks just like mine.

It looks like I need to start sorting my brass again.

[MikieM]

What head stamp does it usually come with?

[Steve RA]

There are several brands - it's best to look in each case.  I use a couple of 40 cal plastic holders from factory ammo boxes, just fill one - cases up and down - and then flip into other holder.  Doesn't take long to look into the cases and you can also find other problems, like splits, etc, at the same time.

[RJH]

I have had that happen a few times, but it was with a 30-30

[stick]

1 hour ago, Steve RA said:

There are several brands - it's best to look in each case.  I use a couple of 40 cal plastic holders from factory ammo boxes, just fill one - cases up and down - and then flip into other holder.  Doesn't take long to look into the cases and you can also find other problems, like splits, etc, at the same time.

great idea

[Chillywig]

I use the lee under sized die and I can feel when one of the stepped cases gets thru. It takes twice the force to size the stepped brass. I pull them before priming and pitch in the garbage.

[OPENB]

Avoid FM (Freedom Munitions). They used stepped brass cases. Now I hear they use brass plated steel cases.

[wyliearms]

Yep. Stepped brass. It sucks....

[stick]

3 hours ago, OPENB said:

Avoid FM (Freedom Munitions). They used stepped brass cases. Now I hear they use brass plated steel cases.

 

1 hour ago, wyliearms said:

Yep. Stepped brass. It sucks....

Thanks for the replies.

Time for me to get the kids to start sorting brass by headstamp again.

[Steve RA]

If you have enough brass to do so, only use one brand.  Makes life easier.  Not a bad idea to also have a second that loads the same (close to same case dimensions) to use at lost brass matches.

 

You can usually trade with other shooters for your chosen brand by trading what you don't use.

[stick]

2 minutes ago, Steve RA said:

If you have enough brass to do so, only use one brand.  Makes life easier.  Not a bad idea to also have a second that loads the same (close to same case dimensions) to use at lost brass matches.

 

You can usually trade with other shooters for your chosen brand by trading what you don't use.

I wish I could load all one brand.  I will probably stick with the major brands when sorting.  

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: The easiest way to sort out the stepped brass is to put them on a table face up and look for the step using a flashlight. Much quicker than looking at headstamps. Thanks, Eric

[mahamoti]

Stepped brass headstamps: FM, IMT, AMMOLOAD.

 

All made by Freedom Munitions.  Be sure to thank them.

[stick]

Checked my loaded ammo and found one loaded.  I went through a few hundred prepped cases and found about five more.  I'll use them for my dummy rounds.

[Shorty4087]

This has happened to me recently as well and the brass had similar stamps. However, this has only happened in my PCC which appears to have a tighter chamber after conducting plunk tests for reloads and shot many rounds with the same stamps and have many more left to shoot. They just won’t be through my PCC is all...

[rowdyb]

On the clock this can be very frustrating as "something in the chamber" is pretty far down the list as you're rapidly trying to solve an issue.

 

Another reason to never buy Freedom stuff.

[sandrooney]

Happened to me yesterday. I started sorting brass after I got home. I took Eric's advice and looked inside the cases. I put them face up in a hundred round ammo box and looked inside with a flashlight. Pretty painless. Did 300 in no time.

[rowdyb]

I catch them at the press at size and deprime on my 1050. I have to admit to looking around at the ammo boxes laying around during matches to see if anyone is shooting this stuff.

[sandrooney]

I will start marking my brass and toss anything that does not have my mark.