Any thoughts on what might cause a 22 case to fail like this? The chamber is not oversized. I have had lots of issues with 22 ammo over the years but never a case failure. Seems odd that it failed across from the firing pin strike.

This was fired out of a herters 22 revolver. The chambers on this revolver are tighter than my ruger 10-22 so it isn't the gun. It was older ammo. Probably 10 years old or so.

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Did you have only 1 failure like that, or more than one? If only one case split, then I would lay it off on a defective case.

22 brass is made with a fine balance between soft enough to fire reliably and tough enough so as not to rupture upon firing.
Sometimes a natch is a bit out of spec one way or the other.

Simply a bad case. It failed where the weak spot was. It is strictly coincidental that it is roughly diametrically opposed to the firing pin strike.

What brand is that case? Except for the large circle I would think Winchester, but I have never seen that sort of circle. Or is it an artifact of firing in that gun?

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It was coast to coast hardware brand ammo. Not sure who actually made it. It was just the 1 case out of 100 rounds. No harm to me or the pistol just an odd happenstance. Just a bad piece of brass with a flaw I am thinking. Interestingly, the report was not odd sounding and the projectile hit the steel same as the others.

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Oh and ALK the headstamp is a circle "H".

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Either the one case had a flaw or the brass was too brittle. Having the actual head crack, rather than head separation or a split on the side, makes me say don't mess with that ammo if it's not isolated to one case.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I shot .22 prone & 4 position for years and thousands of rounds and never a split that I knew about as who inspects .22 cases unless they are checking out a suspect gun? Like an old one or one with obviously apparent wear.
I say no worry unless the cases are distorted as with eroded chamber or loose action in some way. Significant pressures in a .22 at that.

I'd agree that it's not a gun problem but a case failure. What's a "Circle H" headstamp? And what's the name on the box?

Winchester used to stamp an "H" on .22 rimfire, memoralizing Henry, but it was a more stylized script as I recall.

The gap at the split is large like the case rim was able to grow a bit rather than just burst out at the fracture site. You said it was a Herter's revolver. Is this one of the old German made Erma guns, private labelled for all kinds of retailers? If so, many of these were of questionable quality. Had one as a youth that was dimestore quality, pot metal castings with metal liners for barrel and cylinder. Generally safe, but not Colt or S&W quality level. An excessive gap at the cylinder rear would encourage just this kind of mishap. Thank goodness it was not a big kaboom that shreded the countryside with shrapnel, but there was a lot of gas and bits spraying out that should have peppered shooting glasses, not eyeballs. Glad you're O.K. to recount the event so we can all learn.

It is a herters but not the cheap potmetal model. It's not a model made for a retailer it's a Herters. It doesn't have liners it's all solid. Been in the family for years, rarely shot, and well cared for. Certaintly not the quality of a Smith but I am completely confident and comfortable shooting it. The ammo brand was coast to coast (from back when we had real hardware stores around here that sold ammo) as I noted above and older. Probably 10 years ish. The ammo looked fine it was my gramps old ammo and I thought I would shoot it up before it got any older. It was just the one case. I would suspect it was super cheap ammo and perhaps wasn't stored properly.

The ammo was quite dirty firing. I was thinking that perhaps some unburnt powder caused the case to not seat all the way in the cylinder.

I've never been one to stock up on too much 22 ammo. I don't think it holds up as well as larger centerfire cartridges. I left a box of 50 in my pickup for a week in the winter and about every third one fizzled. I don't think the cheaper stuff is sealed against weather. CCI excepted of course.

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Actually, I find old .22 shoots OK as long as no wetness factor. I've seen any number of old break top or bolt .22's that would split a shell case from worn out/rusty breech. Try stocking up on .22 nowdays-none to buy thanks to hoarding!