Unsafe to shoot? - 40 cracked brass

Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
352
Likes
66
Location
Malden, MA
Feedback: 57 / 0 / 0
So I found this in a box of bulk commercial reloads. I was putting the loose rounds in a empty rack to take to the range and felt it with my finger. I don't intend to see what happens, but I am looking for confirmation from much more knowledgeable folk that this one should go straight to the dud box. 40S&W, 165gr. I hit it up with polish to highlight the crack.

Even though I don't want to see what would happen, would this round have made for a bad day? Or would the chamber wall have supported it enough?

View attachment 125982View attachment 125983
 
If something that obvious made it past their Q/A, what other surprises are in store?
 
bulk commercial reloads?

From where?

I have shot a handfull of my 45 reloads with cracked cases. They are on the light side at about 730-740fps 230g. They chambered, fired and extracted all fine, felt no different.
 
bulk commercial reloads?

From where?

I have shot a handfull of my 45 reloads with cracked cases. They are on the light side at about 730-740fps 230g. They chambered, fired and extracted all fine, felt no different.

I can't say where they are from (Marsha and all..)

I guess I was making a bigger deal out of a cracked case then was necessary.
 
I can't say where they are from (Marsha and all..)

54706498.jpg
 
Nope. Nope. Nope.

You wouldn't find me shooting that round. It will not create a proper gas seal at the case mouth. 30,000 PSI with a clear path to the outside world is asking for trouble.


I have shot rifle rounds with small cracks at the case mouth, but a bottleneck rifle cartridge will seal with the shoulder anyway. Never on a straight wall case like this.
 
40S&W, 165gr.

Even though I don't want to see what would happen, would this round have made for a bad day? Or would the chamber wall have supported it enough?

View attachment 125982View attachment 125983

40 cal, split case, a question about case support, and no Glock comments? What is NES coming to? [devil]

But seriously, I would throw a case with a split like that in the trash, but I am honestly not sure what would happen if you fired it, other than the split would get bigger.
If you go through more ammo and find others, send it back for a refund.
 
I would not take a chance by firing the cartridge with the crack. Pull the bullet, dump the powder and pop the primer.
The cracked case might allow the bullet to set back when it hits the feed ramp.
The setback could raise pressures well above safe levels.
Please don't risk injury to yourself or damage to your firearm to "save" a twenty five cent cartridge.

Jack
 
To be fair, it was hidden under tarnish. I don't have any complaints about the rest of the batch.

That's damning with faint praise if I ever heard it. They didn't even bother to clean the brass before they reloaded it?
 
Had some Winchester 357 factory loads that I had several split when firing - could tell the difference in the recoil and it felt like I got sand thrown at my face when a case split. After the third or fourth, I pulled the heads and trashed the rest of the box (was old ammo so reporting wouldn't have helped)

Phone post: intelligence not included
 
If I miss a split case while loading I usually just shoot that round first (top of mag or first chamber) - don't want it feeding as lack of case tension = trouble.
 
I would not take a chance by firing the cartridge with the crack. Pull the bullet, dump the powder and pop the primer.
The cracked case might allow the bullet to set back when it hits the feed ramp.
The setback could raise pressures well above safe levels.
Please don't risk injury to yourself or damage to your firearm to "save" a twenty five cent cartridge.

Jack

This, why would you take a chance
 
I will chuck it.

I made this thread because I honestly didn't know enough about the firing process and wanted to tap into the hive mind of NES.
 
20+ years ago I reloaded a bunch of .223 that didn't sell. Fast forward to 2011- probably 40% had stress cracks in the neck after firing. On close inspection, ~20% were cracked prior to firing. This was all put up on LC once-fired military brass but not annealed. Hell, back then most people didn't know anything about that, much less an easy way of doing so. Anyway, I chronographed a bunch of the cracked ones, a bunch of the non-cracked ones and found no appreciable difference.
 
To be fair, it was hidden under tarnish. I don't have any complaints about the rest of the batch.

That's damning with faint praise if I ever heard it. They didn't even bother to clean the brass before they reloaded it?

That must have been a lot of tarnish. Cracks in cases don't Hide under tarnish, and I'm with Jason. Bad quality control might mean a bad load and I certainly wouldn't want to find it.
 
Back
Top Bottom