I have a bucket of 45acp cases of different usage stats, some have been only shot once others? How can I tell the integrity of a case so I don't have to worry about case failure?
thanks

As you sort them and prep them look at the case mouth for the beginning of a split. Handgun ammo almost always splits before anything else. Being 45 acp it may have been fired in a semi auto with a large leaving a lot of case base unsupported allowing the case to bulge there. Usually don't blow out but may not work well even after resized.

Unless making some kind of target or hunting ammo I don't sort handgun ammo. I do a bunch of once fired stuff separated for hunting or actual carry loading. Range ammo pretty much just goes in containers, gets cleaned and loaded with a look see as I load it. When I used to shoot competitions I would inspect all the rounds I might use and check them to make positive the chambered smoothly.

I have 45 acp cases that i have been reloading for years....no idea how many loadings. Once in a blue moon i'll discover a case mouth starting to split but they are few and far between

Good question, with no simple answer that I know of. The good thing is that .45 Auto operates on much lower chamber pressure than 9mm and .40SW, and it seems to be less prone to bullet setback trouble, so there is not as much to be concerned about.

As has been said, I have .45 brass I have been loading for years and years with no problems. If you check it for cracks as you load it, you're probably doing about all you can do. You can check for serious bulging at the base by dropping your cartridges in a gauge that is made to inspect "maximum ammunition" dimensions. Other than those two things, and normal cleaning before loading, that's about it.

.45acp brass is low pressure and probably the least likely to split. If you had a bucket of .357 mag brass and you were doing some hot reloads then you would have something to worry about.

Shoot them until they split.

I once found about a half dozen split .45 cases in a batch of range brass I had collected over several outings. The split cases were all CBC headstamps. I've never found another bad case with any other headstamp.

I've no idea how many times I've reloaded my 45 brass.

Ten-20+ times in all likelihood.

Never had a case failure.

I pick up and sort a lot of range trash brass. To add to the above, look at the head stamp and general appearance of the case head. If the head stamp is almost unreadable from repeated impacts or the head shape is bulged or otherwise distorted, I put it in the brass recycle box. I also discard all AMERC brass, which I have found to often have thin spots.

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Science plus Art

My own assortment of 45 acp brass is largely range recovery in the first place; some of the unsorted lot I've been reloading for decades.

I've had veryVeryVERY little trouble with 45 acp brass.

If you keep a 'junk brass' container, after a year of tossing your rejects in the can, take a little survey & see what percentage is '45 acp' vs 'something else'.

My largest percentage of 'fail-reject' brass is 9/40.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

I have 45 acp brass that are older than I am ,, and have no idea how many times they have been reloaded. The head stamp on some are even hard to read.. Of all the calibers I reload I think the 45 acp is the easiest and most forgiving..

I use to joke and tell people , when the case cracks, you can only get one more reload out of it, before you have to throw it away..

If a piece of brass sizes or flares with little to no effort on the press I take a look at it to see if it split. That's about the best indicator I've found.

Don't worry - you will lose them in the tall grass before you have case failure.

Don

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NRA Cert. Reloading Instructor

One reason why I started this thread is because I witnessed a shooter that had a 45 ACP case failure in his 1911 pistol. It blew out the grips on each side and broke them and blew out his magazine that bounced off the floor and went all the way to the back wall of the range song 25 feet away. Fortunately he was more stunned than hurt, maybe his hands were a bit bruised from the grips blowing out sideways but nothing serious. Under the wrong circumstances I suppose it could get serious if something flew back and hit you in the face or any other vulnerable spot. To my understanding, a 1911 pistol has always been a little suspect about fully supporting a case. His blowout was right on the rimmed end on the thicker part of the brass believe it or not., but that is where the case is not totally supported. None the less you rarely see any case failures in a 1911, but I sure witnessed this one firsthand. It's not something I would look forward to have happening to me ever.

Was it a custom gun that someone has messed with? It is possible to fit a 1911 slide on a frame that the hammer will fall a little before it locks up and goes into battery. It is not supposed to happen but it can. I am still using the same 45 brass I bought used in the 70s but all I shoot is target loads like 4.3 to 4.5 of fast burning powders. I have several thousand 45acp cases for back up but never used them. If you take a hand full of brass you can shake them and if you get a ringing sound you can find out which one it is split in the dark.

That sounds like a "double load". Many guns have been ruined over the years by a simple lack of attention when reloading. One missed step or using a coarse powder that may "bridge" in the drop tube and not drop, but then drop both loads the next round.




The top case is the double charge and the 2nd case is the one directly below it that got cooked off with the heat.

In this case it blew the magazine out the bottom, cracked the grips, and blew a piece of brass into the shooters cheek.

The gun was a Ruger 1911 which was sent back to them for inspection, and they replaced the grips, and the magazine and returned the gun needing no repair.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

What you describe is a probable over charged round. On my 1911's the case is fully supported.

Having said that I am still loading and shooting 45acp that I bought in the 70's. Some of it has been loaded enough times the head stamps are almost flat and the usual way I cull the brass is when the extractor groove is worn to the point the rims fail.

Most likely not a case issue.

45 acp is a rather low pressure round. The cases will crack at the case mouth but not catastrophically blow out unless overloaded.
I usually lose them before they actually wear out. Normal loads with cast bullets they last for at least 50 reloadings. The low pressure lets them last much longer than 40 S&W . Just don't double charge them.
Gary

That type of failure" is not a case letting go IMO. More likely, as noted, a double charge of Bullseye or TG. It is easy to miss a double of either in a 45 case if one gets distracted.
I have reloaded 45acp cases until you can't read the headstamp, 20x maybe? At worst they will split at the case mouth. Now there are some cases I won't reload like Amerc, cheap thin cases.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

It is a fairly simple matter to check your 1911 for disconnector wear but since it is rarely a problem almost no one does it. Ditto for thumb safety (correctly, "safety lock", I guess) and grip safety. It only takes a few seconds. In my years of fiddling around with 1911s I have encountered problems with all three - not many, but a few.

But I'd agree with others... most likely the problem you witnessed was not a case failure but more likely an over-charge, or an out-of-battery ignition.

I searched for pictures on the internet to try to find a picture that somewhat matched case failure, and this is pretty close in the link I attached below. I don't think anybody was sure why it happened when it did happen, but I think the consensus was that the case was old and needed to be discarded. Although, nobody knows for sure if it was a double load or it wasn't. Now the shooter that had the case failure reloads frequently but didn't seem to be overly experienced in my opinion based on the conversations that went on after the incident. I think he had a Kimber but not sure, and it could have been modified as well? The case looks similar to the one attached in the link but the blown out part was a bit smaller and just above the extractor groove, on the angle.

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...sHSesns8N3UY55

I also wonder about the case length of his round, do you ever trim your 45 ACP brass or is anywhere between .888 and .898 inches sufficient?

OP: I once had a 9mm case look exactly like this in your link, resulting from loading range-run 'probably-Glock/similar' unsupported case head design. My special 'factory die' set up from a famous maker, has ironed out that bulge in multiple thousands of rounds without similar incident. In my case, no injury/a little soot/new shorts and toss the case IN the salvage brass can. Rangemasters (2 of them on duty at the time) inspected and advised their considered opinion. That I was shooting Glock at the time increased likelihood of the alignment of weak brass/unsupported barrel. Not to confuse, but most of the Glock-bulge is in 40 cal from what I've read.

Yet I've never had similar case fail of this photo link in 45 acp.
I have no further helpful suggestion, other than general agreement with posts listed above.

re: your inquiry of case trim for 45 acp: I've never needed it, nor found it to be noticeable.

Good luck, be aware of what you do, and don't let the .001" variations drive you too crazed. I think we all go thru that period, at least I did myself.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

Thomasino:

One thing not mentioned by others is that nickled cases WILL suffer from case mouth splits much more quickly than brass-brass. I use nickle 45acp 'cause it's easier to find on the ground amongst pebbles & grass & always roll them by touch to find those that split.

Hank M.

I guess I will jump on the "shoot them until they split" bandwagon. I've only had a couple split, I was shooting them in a 625. There were no negative consequences when they let go.

My experience is nickle cases fail much earlier than brass.

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Common sense isn't so common.

x2............

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S&W Accumulator

In this case, it was a brass case. I have used zinc or nickel cases for 38sp and they seem to split more often but I don't worry about that because we're a case usually split it's fully supported. I have even had a double load in my Smith & Wesson 686 shooting specials and while that is quite a shock. No apparent damage to anything and my 686 probably enjoyed the little bit of rock and roll. I could see a 45 having a big problem with a double load.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

I have been reloading and shooting a 1911 in .45acp since 1980 and I've NEVER seen a gun damaged EVEN if the case winds up splitting after it is fired. More than likely a gun damaged by a reload had an overcharged load in it.

Each time I reload .45 acp's I weed out a few cases that have hairline cracks. I could not tell you how many times they have been reloaded because I have stopped counting. .45 acp is very durable and will last many reloadings if not loaded to maximum velocities and pressures. PS: Nickel cases are NOT as durable as they are more brittle than standard Brass. Nickel will crack earlier and will not last nearly as long.

NOTE: I reload 230 grain RNL bullets over 4.5 grains of W231 which yields about 720 fps - a very mild target load which I find extremely accurate and easy on the gun, components and me. My Colt Gold Cup is probably my #1 shot pistol . I see no sense in loading target loads up to standard velocities just for paper punching. I have other 1911's that are more defensive guns and those get shot with Hardball loads at 890 fps. when practicing defensive shooting.

Weakened brass and excess powder charge are two very different problems.

I loaded many pieces of slightly to significantly cracked 45 ACP brass without a single problem. Light target loads left smoke residue on the outside of the case. Heavier loads split the case further and ejected without a problem. I did 8 rounds as a test; 4 light and 4 heavier powder charges; fired in 2 different 1911's.

A double or 150% powder charge is unsafe. Something will break: grip panels, bottom of magazine blown out, or extreme recoil.

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S&WHF 366

The "Major Power Factor" required by IPSC back in the 80's caused a lot of hand-loaders to maximize their loads. There were even a few attempting Major with a 9mm. There was a not too uncommon occurrence at match's back then caller "Superface" The splotches of powder etc. splattered all over a shooter from a 38 Super "major" load coming apart. Common sense prevailed after a few years and the Major Power Factor was lowered to a level that could be safely reached.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I have some 45Auto cases that I think the Romans used. Some of my cases have been fired and cleaned so much I can barely make out the stampings on the back. I shoot them till they split of get lost, or I need them for bushings/bearings.

I have some of those Old Roman cases too. They're head stamped XLV AUTO.

I've never trimmed a .45ACP case. Can't recall as I've ever measured one for length either. There simply is no reason to.

Like others, I have cases on which I can hardly make out the headstamp. Except for Amerc & some Israeli stuff if I can get it into my sizing die, it gets loaded.

When I first started shooting steel plate matches and using a 1943 Ithaca 1911A1 one of my buddies took pity on me and gifted me with about 500 used 45acp cases. Between that and a bunch of range pickup's my supply totaled about 1200 cases. I have actually lost track of how many times they have been reloaded. No barn burner loads just make major with 230 grain hard cast bullets. Over the years have not seen any cases in this lot with a split neck. I loose a bunch over the years. A-merc,MFS and CBC cases go in my scrap pail. Those are junk. I've loaded all of the commercial makers brass, military brass,military match brass never a problem. Frank

I guess I'm a little more picky than most of the reloaders that responded to this thread. In my little neck of the woods 45acp cases are fairly easy to come by so I do some sortings.

Any loose or weak primer pockets get tossed.
If the outside of the case looks like the puppy played with it for a week (abrasions/a lot of scratches/stretch rings) they get tossed.
Cheap brands of brass like ppu/amer or magtech junk get tossed.
I don't bother with al or steel cases or cases with bulges in them.

I actually do the same thing with 9mm brass. My safety/firearms are worth more than a piece of brass. The other thing that comes with using good quality brass is consistent neck tension on the bullets. Consistency ='s accuracy.

Just another opinion