38 Special casings split

[deadeye72]

I went this past Sunday and shot my wifes Rossi 357 Mag. I was shooting 38's through it. They are CCI Blazer 158 Gr. LRN. I shot 6 rounds through it and when I went to reload, I noticed that 4 of the casings had split at the end. The worst one split back about a 1/4 of an inch. The casings are aluminum and this is just practice ammo. Is this something I should be concerned about or is it just the weak aluminum. The last thing I want is for her to need to use this gun and have it blow up in her face. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[forestranger]

Had the same experience recently w/Blazer 45acp 230fmj. Don't think it's any danger w/standard loads. Shot a lot of Blazer 45 before and never noticed it except w/last few boxes?

[deadeye72]

I am hoping it is nothing to worry about, I am not ready to turn over my new HK P2000 to her quite yet. Oh how I am dreading that day.

[forestranger]

The Blazers all fed and ejected ok. Not like with Wolf where split case stuck in chamber. That was a mess. WWB cheaper than Blazer around here now so switched to it since I might have to start back reloading if ammo keeps doing like gas.

[dukalmighty]

If you are having cases split in new factory ammo I would notify manufacturer,sounds like weak or cheap cases,they might want to check their manufacturing process

[MR D]

I wouldn't get too excited unless there was difficulty extracting the rounds as that could be a sign of chamber failure (not good) (I had that happen in the mid 80s with a S&W)

if you are concerned you should be able to measure the chamber dimensions with a micrometer to verify that they are still in spec...

then again - you might try (cautiously) similar rounds with brass cases and see how they come out after firing

I am not a metallurgist, or a gunsmith YMMV

[Reborn]

It could be that you Rossi lets the bullet expand a little more and therefore the cases crack. I am sure that Blazer ammo has some pretty loose tolerances on their cases. If they were running on the bottom of the tolerance; you will get a cracked case. I know when I use to reload for my revolvers that I would keep reloading the same cases until they crack. It in no way hurts the gun.

[bmcgilvray]

Since it occurred with Blazers it is a non-issue. That's pretty common.

[deadeye72]

Thanks guys. I figured being aluminum casings, that that would probably be common, but just wanted to be sure before loading it back up for my wife to carry.

[nn]

More than a case manufacturing issue, I had blazer alu do it once and blazer blamed it on a bunch of possible things none or their doing. I had .32 S&W long rem brass do it and they stepped up to the plate and admitted fault and made
repayment for the ammo.

[nn]

More than a case manufacturing issue, I had blazer alu do it once and blazer blamed it on a bunch of possible things none or their doing. I had .32 S&W long rem brass do it and they stepped up to the plate and admitted fault and made
repayment for the ammo.

Had a split .32 H&R mag yesterday, had to pry it out.

[nn]

Had a split .32 H&R mag yesterday, had to pry it out.

[deadeye72]

That one is pretty bad. Hope your gun is o.k. None Of mine were that bad, but I decided to just not use the rest of the box. Too big a risk for me.

[wht06rado]

I've had a few cases split when I was using Remington UMC stuff at the range. From what I understand it's just a weak case issue. I shot the rest of the box that day and I haven't had any issues, or noticed any damage.

Wht

[nn]

deadeye72 :
Seems to be ok.