Got me case head separation.

[iouri]

So I did a string of as fast as I can stay on target with my 610, ejected, tried to drop in my last moonclip - no go; hmm, pulled one round and tried each chamber and found one with leftovers of the case. Since I've only had 1 moonclip left decided to shoot it out of remaining chambers and when ejecting that broken off piece fell out as well. Now I don't have a full history of that case - I've picked up 50 cases at some point at the range in the last 5 years, wet tumbled and put in the bag (just in case) . Got 610 a month or so ago and it came handy. The only history I know it's been reloaded 4 times by me. Loaded with XTreme 165 gr with almost max charge of AA#5 and going about 1117 fps. Primer looks good to me and cases almost fall out.
head.
Good thing I have 500 brand new cases coming friday

both parts

 

[muddocktor]

I had that happen with a 38 Special case once. But in my case the brass was really old and had been reloaded dozens of times. I was able to simply push the body of the case out of the cylinder easily.

 

[rockquarry]

Defective or worn out brass.

 

[gwpercle]

They don't last forever and defective ones happen.
Careful Case inspection before starting to reload fired brass is critical to weeding out the worn/defective ones.
The guys who sweep the floor and dump them all into a progressive loading machine are just asking for trouble .

I've had old much reloaded 45 acp start to do that but I have always spotted the signs before it came apart. 10mm being higher pressure round tends to be hard on brass .
Gary

 

[iouri]

I clean up 357 Sig, 40S&W and 10mm together and do closer inspection when I sort them out after cleaning and usually check for "ringing". Well all in all it's been free to begin with an I've got 4 reloads out of it

 

[S&WIowegan]

I used to shoot a 40 S&W wide body semi-auto in USPSA Limited class. The cases are a bit slender on brass on the walls. I liked to shoot 220gr lead bullets with a wee bit of Hodgdon Clays powder. I had several rounds fire and eject only the case head....rest of brass was stuck in the chamber. Pretty much ruins the stage time since digging the brass out requires a trip to the safe table. When this happens it is usually with much used brass.

I'm surprised it happened to you since 10 mm is much stronger brass.

 

[iouri]

Yea, caught me by surprise as well also because it's first time it happened to me. When moon clip was no go I've started inspecting every round, thinking maybe I missed crimp somehow on one of them, but all were good. Didn't even think about head separation.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Had a .357 case do that in my 686 S&W ........
the case was cut about in half when it happened and I was not
ready to see a partial case in my hand, when ejected!!

It took a while for me to get the section out of the cylinder but
now I carry extra items to fix any problems that may come up.

That would really be a bummer in a auto pistol, in a time of need.............

 

[iouri]

That would really be a bummer in a auto pistol, in a time of need.............

My thoughts exactly when I've seen what left of the case

 

[growr]

You could probably silver solder it back together for just one more firing...........(being sarcastic here)

Randy

 

[shocker]

Interesting. Looks a fired cut shotgun shell the break is so clean.
Since my 10 is a semi-auto, case attrition is not finding the ejected brass or the rim gets too chewed up by the extractor. I figure lifetime is 6-8 reloads.

 

[iouri]

shocker, yes, the break is really clean, I was having a hard time trying to figure out where is the case mouth and where is the cut.

 

[iouri]

Fedex truck stopped by today. I think I'll be fine for a while

 

[colt_saa]

I'm surprised it happened to you since 10 mm is much stronger brass.

It is stronger at the base of the cartridge where it is unknown how much chamber support there is from firearm to firearm

The walls of a cartridge hardly differ from modern caliber to modern caliber

That would really be a bummer in a auto pistol, in a time of need.............

I had a 357SIG cartridge separate in about the same fashion, just forward of the web of the case head.

I was shooting a SIG X5 at the time and testing Cor-Bon ammunition for an upcoming article on 357SIG factory ammunition offerings. I used a 10MM Reamer to catch onto the case and pull it out

Cor-Bon was not included in the article

All remaining Cor-Bon ammunition was returned to the factory for replacement. I forget how many years ago this was, but I am still waiting for the new ammunition to be shipped . . . no I am not holding my breath

I stopped asking about it out at SHOT a year or so ago

 

[gwpercle]

The hotter you load them and the faster you fire them the sooner you will need another Fedex shipment .
The term to search is " Incipient Case Head Separation " once you know what to look for, it can be easily avoided .
Gary

 

[iouri]

Thanks, gwpercle, I've seen a nice article on accurateshooter, but it's mostly just tells one about inspection of the brass; to feel if there's a problem from inside the case. I get it, hotter load will wear out brass faster, just because it has to expand more and then sized back but "faster" firing - I don't get it. The cylinder might get warmer if one dumps few moonclips in a row but how could it possible affect the brass ?

 

[Warren Sear]

I have been handloading for nearly 40 years, and do not remember ever getting a separation in a straight-walled case. Splits, yes, but not a separation. What happened in the OP had nothing to do with high pressure.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

I agree. Doubt pressure was the cause. I mainly load Starline 10mm brass but I did pick up some mixed "fired" brass before I had enough S-L.

I load at 0.5gr below max using Power Pistol & my brass has been thru my 1006, 1076, 1013 & recently my 610-3. The only brass failure I've experienced with them was a split mid-case & it was a F-C case also.

Wonder if length might have had something to do with it?

PS: I attribute incipient case head separation to rifle cartridges when the shoulders get resized to short & the fired case stretches to fill the shoulder's gap, causing the break, but not in straight walled cases.

.

 

[fredj338]

Only pistol brass i have had separate was a FM 9mm case. These & a few others have a step in them. The case will separate at the step. I general though, you dont see many head seps in Handgun brass.

 

[Paul105]

I don't consider that case head separation -- just case failure. I had that happen to me about 30 yrs ago. Colt Delta Elite 10mm -- normal, mid manual hand load. Never did figure out why and have never had it happen again.

FWIW,

Paul