Remington ammunition with split cases

[jag312]

A friend showed me a new box of Remington .357 Magnum cartridges that he just got. They have nickel plated cases with 125 grain copper jacketed hollow point bullets. Out of the box of 50, there were 10 cases that had split. Has anyone ever seen anything like this? Is Remington taking quality short cuts to increase production?

 

[jag312]

A friend showed me a new box of Remington .357 Magnum cartridges that he just got. They have nickel plated cases with 125 grain copper jacketed hollow point bullets. Out of the box of 50, there were 10 cases that had split. Has anyone ever seen anything like this? Is Remington taking quality short cuts to increase production?

 

[OKFC05]

It's rare, but I've seen split cases with about every brand of ammo I've shot. Had a whole case of WIN that they replaced after I shot a couple of boxes.

 

[NFrameFred]

What kind of gun ? I had a customer one time that ordered a 657 and I wanted one myself so I ordered two. Serial numbers one unit in between (guess RSR didn't want to provide consecutive serial numbers without an extra charge

).

As was my habit, I simply logged in the lower of the serial numbers for myself and sold him the other.

He came back a week later complaining of the very thing you describe. I, on the other hand, had no trouble at all from the one I had. Upon using a caliper on the chambers of both guns, I discovered two of the chambers in his cylinder were bored "out of round" allowing too much case expansion and splitting new cases on the first firing. The remaining chambers were normal and all the chambers on my gun were.

S&W took it back and replaced the cylinder and he had no more issues.

Could be bad brass, but depending on the firearm there could be other causes.

 

[stiab]

What kind of gun ?

I don't think that matters in this instance, does it? The picture appears to be of an unfired round. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[BUFF]

In spite of not shooting a lot of Remington ammo, I have had more split cases upon firing than with W-W and FC combined. I don't like their brass.

 

[Andy Taylor]

NFrameFred-I believe the OP is refuring to UNFIRED rounds. Split cases after firing can indicate a problem with the gun, or the ammo. In this case it is strictly an ammo issue.

If it were me, I would contact Remington, and request replacement ammo.

 

[n4zov]

If it were me, I would contact Remington, and request replacement ammo.

+1 Clearly defective. Remington will probably replace it with no question.

 

[Texas Star]

I rejected a box of their .38 Plus P lead HP's because some bullets were wrongly seated, and it should have been evident that the bullets were leaning sideways, with crushed case mouths. What sort of QC must Remington have these days? I have NEVER seen such problems with other brands, and I've been shooting for over 40 years!

T-Star

 

[jag312]

My friend has a S&W 686, and there has never been a problem with split cases fired from that revolver. These are new unfired cartridges out of a new box. Ten of the fifty came already split. I don't know if it is worth the time and expense to send the box back to Remington. My suggestion was to return the box to the gun store and exchange it for another box, preferably a different brand. For 10 out of fifty to be split tells me that the cases were not annealed properly after forming, and if the store has any more boxes, they should inspect them for split cases also. I don't know what will happen if those cartridges are fired in a revolver, but I don't want to find out.

I have seen some weird stuff from Remington over the years, including a box labeled for .223 Remington but actually containing .17 Remington cartridges. After firing several cases of Winchester .223 cartridges, we found one cartridge with the bullet loaded backwards in the case, but one out of about 2000 is not bad. After firing many many boxes of Federal .357 Magnum cartridges, we found one with the primer loaded backwards. Again, one out of countless cartridges ain't bad.

 

[animalmother]

I've heard of this but have personally never experienced split cases.

 

[snw19_357]

Originally posted by Texas Star:
...bullets were leaning sideways, with crushed case mouths...

I have seen a lot of WWB like that.

We must get the good lots out here because I've never seen any Remington like that.

 

[Ed333]

I have stopped buying remington/UMC .38 special ammo, because i was getting about one cartridge per box which would not seat because the rim had not been turned down enough. I have had bad luck with their .22 ammo as well. I still use UMC 9mm and .45acp.

 

[ADash]

I don't know if this is related to another problem I read about: Nickel plating leading to brass splitting. It seems that people have reported that nickel-plated brass splits more easily than unplated brass, especially noticed by reloaders. It looks like the plating makes the brass more brittle. I think there was a write-up about this in HANDLOADER Magazine.

The conclusion was that nickel-plating was only useful for people who keep ammo for a long period of time, without worrying about the brass accumulating that green verdigris on it.
If you don't have the "green" problem, stay away from nickel plating.

 

[flop-shank]

I've heard the same thing too, but I've handloaded a lot of .357 magnum ammo in Remington nickle and plain brass. I've had excellent case life with both types and have, so far noticed no difference between the two as far as longevity is concerned.

 

[stiab]

I don't know if this is related to another problem I read about: Nickel plating leading to brass splitting.

I agree 100% with what you are saying about nickel being more prone to crack, but that would be for reloading only, and should not apply to OP's problem with unfired factory loaded ammo.