In sorting through about 5,000 9mm cases, I came across quite a few newer Speer headstamped brass that looks like it could be prone to separation. A pic of the headstamp is attached.

There is a slight "step" inside the case at about the point the back of the bullet would be in a loaded round. It is similar to the step seen in "FM" or "AMMOLAND" brass, but not as prominent.

The outside of some of the cases shows a line, like it wants to crack there.

So my question is, has anyone had one of these come apart? Should I just toss them?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

Attached Images

Speer HS.jpg (15.2 KB, 11 views)

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NRA Certified Pistol Inst.

I've never had any such problem in the manymany rounds of 9mm of all/any brass.

Some brass does have a small circumferential 'ring' about there, but never has been an issue for my loading pleasures.

I've seen it more often in 45 acp brass, and heard several explanations, none of which seemed verifiable.

I would think if it were an issue, the used brass would tend to show more breaks around the body of the shell.

The few cracks I get with 9/45/38 are about 98% the length from mouth to near the rim varying distances. Rarely there is an addition component of crack running around just a bit.

But that's just my own observations. YMMV

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I have seen new ammo that look like this.
You get a few bad cases now and then.

I've never seen a Speer case with an internal step, now I'll look for that too. Since I load 9 Major, the step is reason to throw it in the scrap barrel.

I have not seen those but the FM will separate at that line. 9mm brass is cheap or free, i toss them.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

The external ring you are talking about is a cannelure, not the same thing. The internal step is a weal point in the brass & can & will separate. Maybe not the first reload or second, but it will imo.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I guess it is "AMMOLOAD" brass that has the step. I mistakenly said it was "AMMOLAND." I think my brain is going.

I only have a couple of hundred of these. I think I will just toss them to be safe. Some of them look like they are already starting to crack across that line.

Mike

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NRA Certified Pistol Inst.

I have never noticed that to be an issue, but then again I do not push my 9mm to major. I see no point in doing so, at least for me.

I don't push to major either. My reloads are for 3-gun, so they don't care about the power factor. My 9mm reloads are slightly cooler (slower) than factory hardball stuff. They just need to be consistent, accurate, and cycle the action,... oh, and make the steel clang.

Mike

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NRA Certified Pistol Inst.

...I've been seeing more of what I call 'one shot' brass. It's very thin and cracks easily. How dare people leave range brass that's not worth reloading?

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

re: "I will just toss them to be safe." if you save your junk brass AND junk used primers till you have several pounds of each, the local scrappers will pay enough to buy a surprising amount of new components to load. "Yellow brass" is a valuable resource that pays well enough to become familiar with the market value. My surprise the first time I 'recycled my junker reloads' netted over $100!!!

I always was uneasy about just tossing out all that stuff, & just kept collecting it in coffee cans. It paid off very well for minimal effort.

re: photo of fred's case #5 above: thanks for the visual. I've never spotted that in any of my own to-be-reloaded brass.

Question for OP: is that photo representative of what you are reporting?

The line I mentioned is neither the internal ridge nor an external cannelure (which I see more often on the spent 45 acp brass in my travels), but a less distinct line around the base of a reloaded boolit, and can be on nearly any pistol caliber I load. They were worrisome yet never seem to result in any misfire issue that I've noticed.

They uniformly continue to fit properly within a case gauge and do not represent dimensional distortion enough to affect normal chambering, at least of the phenomena I'm reporting.

If you can identify them please elaborate. I'm mystified.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

As a note to separation of a case............

I shot factory ammo 45 years and never had a separation from
Remington, Winchester, PMC, Federal or Norma.

The only separation came on a Winchester 357 case that was on its third or forth loading.
It split almost in the center and the top half finally came out with some shaking.
I have it with all my "Odds & ends" that have happened over the years of shooting.

No damaged guns or trips to the gunsmith yet.

The same sort of scallywags who leave .45 GAP & 9mm MAK laying around...

And Berdan primed brass.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

We don't need no stinking cannelured brass.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I always got at least several reloadings out of brass, usually a lot more. But these days CHEAPER is the operative word. They'll thin the walls of the brass to a minimum because you are supposed to buy their ammo rather than reload.

Have you looked at TP rolls lately? I thought they looked a little strange and realized that they were cutting the width of the rolls. Eventually I suppose we will have TR, or Toilet Ribbons.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Ammoload, IMT, FM all go into the trash now. I try not to even pick these up, but I have a few friends who pick up brass and give it to me, and they're not as discriminating. Any of these are likely to have the internal step/separator. FM now makes their American Steel abomination that's steel cased ammo with a very thin brass plating. It looks just like normal brass, but left in the dirt long enough, it'll start rusting through the plating.

Given the relationship between FM and X-Treme, I'm kind of surprised I've started finding X-Treme stamped 9mm, and it appears to be brass and lacks the internal step. Still not sure I trust it.

Yes, I ran across one of these. I tumbled it and it had a slightly "off" look to it. I noticed it was an FM headstamp but lacked the internal step. It wasn't until I tried to size it that I could tell it was steel. A magnet confirmed it.

Mike

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NRA Certified Pistol Inst.

Ed, I'd probably toss that one.

Can you please send those MAK cases back to me. I'm running short.