What happened to this case?

[Kevin]

Back at the range today, all the brass on the ground, just begging to get picked up. I came across this 45 case. What happened to it? Was it an out of battery discharge? That happened to me a couple weeks ago with a 22. I don't know if someone got hurt with this case, or if they even noticed?

Could it have been from the extractor?

 

[nvbirdman]

The primer doesn't look like an overcharge, so I would say out of battery.

 

[Kevin]

Is an out of battery charge common? They aren't good, but are they ever disastrous or just a mild annoyance?

 

[WAYNO]

Unsupported chamber. Some chambers do not have 360-degrees of support at the web area of a case. And when they blow, this is how they blow.

Not everybody agrees that full support is needed, but when you've had a case blow up in your face or burn your hand when it blows the magazine out of the bottom of the pistol, it tends to make a feller a believer.




Left – Glock OEM 1997 .40SW barrel – Worst-case marginal support
Middle – Glock OEM 2012 .40SW barrel – Much improved support
Right – Glock OEM 2012 .357SIG barrel – Best-case full support

The differences in exposed case area are obvious from the photo.

I remember when Heliman Dave had this case failure. He shook his hand in disbelief and was completely speechless. :shock:

 

[Kevin]

Wayno, Hey, thanks for the explanation and pictures. I have no idea what type of gun was used, I mostly see other people using black poly framed guns at the range. I would guess a Glock.

 

[Clovishound]

Well, not all poly framed guns are Glocks by any measure. I have two, one a Ruger and one a Springfield.

Glock is not the only manufacturer to sport unsupported chambers, although they are the most notorious for it. The older .40s were the worst, I believe some of the .45 and 10mm Glocks were known for issues with the unsupported chamber.

It is a common enough issue that Lee made a die to iron out the bulge caused by these chambers. Any brass I pick up that has the "Glock bulge" gets tossed.

 

[Get Wood]

Early Colt Delta Elite 10mm Was Known For This.

 

[tunnug]

I have a Kahr K40 that it happened to, checking the barrel found that it's unsupported, this is an all steel gun, my other .40 is also steel and is fully supported so I finished my ammo in the second one, ammo were handloads nearing the high side, which on a .40 doesn't take much.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

The firing pin indent does not indicate it was fired in a Glock. I believe Glock firing pins are rectangle shaped at the tip. Yes/ no ?

 

[protoolman]

Just what I was thinking. Round firing pin detent was not a Glock.