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Split Cases?

1K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  wht06rado 
#1 ·
So I was shooting my S&W 642 today. I had fired probably 30 rounds or so, and when I went to dump the empty cases out of it, only 3 fell out. The othe two were stuck. I pried them out with my fingers and took a look at them. Both of them were split down the side, one being split more than the other. Is this a normal occurance? Is it something I should be concerned with or was it just a bad batch of ammunition. I was shooting Remington UMC 130 grn RN.

On a better note, I took the wife to shoot the handguns today. She fired about 10 rounds through the .38(before the split rounds) and she was done with that one. Which I completely understand, as my hand takes a beating everytime I shoot it. Then I had her shoot my SW1911. She LOVED it! And she shot very well with it. I guess I better be carefull, or I'll end up buying one for her!

Over all it was a good time at the range, and I'm heading back tomorrow for some more! :image035: :hand10:
 
#2 ·
I'd say bad ammo batch - usually it is only cases after many reloads that tend to split. Did these rounds seem extra ''hot'' - wondering re pressures but then too we have the brass characteristics.

If that batch of brass was not sufficiently annealed then over-hard brass can split - it always expands a tad to fill the chamber. Usually if ''elastic'' enough they shrink back sufficient to come out easily - but yours may have been too hard and so stayed enlarged - without ''relaxing''.

Try some other ammo - maybe some WWB .38's.
 
#3 ·
Thanks P95Carry! I figured it was just bad brass, I just wanted to make sure I didn't have a problem on my hands. That was the first time I'd seen it happen. Thanks again.
 
#6 ·
I had a box of Federal .357 mag once that just about every other shot resulted in a splt case. It was nickle plated.

I used to buy nickle plated brass to reload because it was easier to find in the grass as the shooting range. Over a period of time, I noticed that it didnt last near as long because the nickel plating is more brittle and resulted in a lot more case splits...so I pretty much quit using it.

Although I've had cases split with .45's and 9mm's ...it does seem like its worse with .38 and .357 mag for some reason.
 
#7 ·
I was shooting Remington UMC brass. It's the only kind that have ever split for me.
 
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