32 H&R split cases?

[Heliman]

Went out the range last night with WAYNO from the forum. We shot my brand new Ruger Single Six chambered in 32 H&R Magnum. I fired 24 rounds of factory Federal 85 grain jacketed hollow point ammo. 12 rounds were hard to eject and the cases were split. First time shooting the 32 Mag caliber in any platform. The recoil seemed fairly stout in the single six platform. I also fired about 30 rounds of 32 S&W Long Aguila factory ammo to no ill effects. The revolver seemed none the worse for the experience.

Opinions on why the cases would split? I am sure these are factory and not hot reloads.

Dave

 

[dougader]

Only a couple things to look for here... serious over-charges or bad chambers. At least that's all I can think of.

I have fired some pretty hot loads in my single six with no split cases or difficulty in ejection of the fired cases.

Can you mic the chambers to see if they are oversize?

Some of my loads are definitely hotter than any factory loads from Federal. I have used loads from Brian Pearce's article in Handloader, ie, 100 grain xtp over 11.8 grains of WW296. Again, no split cases, etc.

I had a split case in 45 Colt once and it looked like the case was defective from the beginning. This doesn't look to be the case with your single six since you had 12 cases that split.

An ex- father-in-law bought a Rossi 357 mag once, and the chambers were so rough and over sized that anything hotter than 38 special factory target hollow-base wadcutters required the use of a rubber mallet to get the stuck cases out.

 

[Heliman]

pics added.......

 

[Bucks Owin]

Brittle cases IMO...

 

[dougader]

I agree, those cases look bad to begin with. You might call Federal to see if there was a recall on those lots of ammo and tell them your experience.

I've seen split cases from oversize chambers and this is not it. Those look more like the bad Winchester case I got a few years back, but mine was only one in a box of 50 that was bad.

I know Federal had recalls for some lots of 45 auto American Eagle ammo awhile back... maybe this was bad too.

 

[Heliman]

I agree, those cases look bad to begin with. You might call Federal to see if there was a recall on those lots of ammo and tell them your experience.

I've seen split cases from oversize chambers and this is not it. Those look more like the bad Winchester case I got a few years back, but mine was only one in a box of 50 that was bad.

I know Federal had recalls for some lots of 45 auto American Eagle ammo awhile back... maybe this was bad too.

I sent them an email with all the particulars. I will wait for their response and go from there.....

Thanks for the input.......

Dave

 

[WAYNO]

Actually, as a participant of splitting these cases, I thought that the chambers were actually pretty tight. It took a little delicacy to get the cartridges lined up perfectly enough to get them in the chambers.

And, from seeing this ammo in the box, and the condition of the ammo, I didn't even consider that these were anything other than factory-new cartridges.

It will be interesting to see if a different lot, or different brand of ammo would perform the same in this gun.

BTW...This is a neat little gun! 8)

WAYNO.

P.S....Never thought much about it til now, but I destroyed most of these cases with a Leatherman tool, and it seems to me they all broke, instead of softly crushing.

 

[Heliman]

I cleaned the revolver and with the cylinder removed, loaded the chambers. The rounds dropped right in and fell out easily. I measured the chambers with a calibrated dial caliper and am pretty confident the chambers measure approx. .339"-.340". Loaded case diameter at the bullet seating area measured consistently .335". Fired case dimension was consistently .338". Fired cracked case were .340"ish.

I don't think the chambers are an issue, JMHO.

Dave

 

[Rainman]

Dave:
At .340 you should be in spec. John Gallagher measured my SP101 today and the tightest chamber came in at .342. It's going back to Ruger for cylinder replacement but even being that large, it has never split a case. Smoked a lot of them but never split one.

I think the comments above about bad cases may be correct. The 327 Federal is a high pressure round.

Dan

 

[Ruger Packer]

Dave, When the Ruger Single-Sixes in .32 H&R mag first came out, I bought one along with 2 boxes of Federal ammo in the 85 grain HP.

Shot up both boxes the same day. Total there were, IIRC, 14 split cases. I contacted Federal about this and told them I had wanted to reload the cases and I was disappointed in the quality.

They asked me to send the 2 boxes of empties back. I did and they sent me 2 boxes (50 count) of brand new brass and also, 2 boxes (50 ct) of factory ammo. That gave me 200 pieces of brass to reload.

I've never had a problem with Federal brass splitting since.

 

[WIL TERRY]

IT IS THE BRASS NOT THE GUN !!!!
IF you take a close look at the rest of the cartridges you;ll find a short to medium long line, a flaw, in the brass along which that brass ALWAYS splits. Some of the FED 32S&WLONG cartridges of the same era also have the same flaw.
NOTE though that the charge hole specs in the SR&COM INC 32MAG revolvers do not help the situation one bit.
I recognise that lot number form a LONG time ago !!!
And so it goes...

 

[Heliman]

Thanks guys! I suspected as much. When did they finally address this? I have 2 more boxes, one identical to the defective, with a different lot number and some semi-wadcutters. There was even a sales receipt in one box whic dated to 1989.......Like I said, I am glad it is not the gun!

So, can I safely shoot the remainder??

Dave

 

[Ruger Packer]

IT IS THE BRASS NOT THE GUN !!!!
IF you take a close look at the rest of the cartridges you;ll find a short to medium long line, a flaw, in the brass along which that brass ALWAYS splits. Some of the FED 32S&WLONG cartridges of the same era also have the same flaw.
NOTE though that the charge hole specs in the SR&COM INC 32MAG revolvers do not help the situation one bit.
I recognise that lot number form a LONG time ago !!!
And so it goes...

I thought that lot # looked familiar too!

Also the packaging graphics is from the 80's as well.

 

[G2]

I have had the same problem w/ federal brass, in ammo and unprimed brass. It also expands more than Starline and sticks.

I have only got 3-4 re-loads and it's toast.

It's now only Starline for me. I have some that is going on 12 re-loads.

 

[WIL TERRY]

IT will not hurt a darned thing to shoot it all up.

 

[WAYNO]

IT will not hurt a darned thing to shoot it all up.

Just wear long sleeves. :lol: This stuff peppered me a little bit, before we knew it was splitting the brass.

WAYNO.

 

[32magfan]

I had the same problem with Federal from that time frame. I sent the empties back (10-12 split from two new boxes of ammo) and they sent me 2 new boxes of loaded ammo with a very reassuring letter explaining that they had corrected some problems with their annealing process. They thanked me for the business, blah, blah, blah... The two new boxes both had cases split when I fired them 1st time(5 in one, 7 in the other). :shock:

I buy only Starline now except for 327's where ATK is the only game in town - so far. Lesson learned. :wink:

Thanks,

32Magfan

 

[edlmann]

This was a big problem in 1984 when the first ammo was released. Your ammo looks, well, not new. Any idea when it was made?

 

[Heliman]

This was a big problem in 1984 when the first ammo was released. Your ammo looks, well, not new. Any idea when it was made?

1989.......

 

[Olevern]

I too, had this problem when the cartridge was first introduced. I still have some of that old ammo around here that produces a large percentage of splits. I just shoot it for plinking. I probably should have sent it back to Fed. as I bought a case of the stuff when I bought my first Single Six in 32 mag. It's almost gone now (took awhile as I relegated it to plinking and I don't do much plinking.) After I shoot it, I throw the brass away, whether it splits or not.
It was junk (the brass) but the only game in town at the time. Now I use only Starline for the 32 mag, but I understand that Fed. fixed the problem long ago....it was a manner of insufficient annealing.

 

[edlmann]

This was a big problem in 1984 when the first ammo was released. Your ammo looks, well, not new. Any idea when it was made?

1989.......

If you bought it in 1989, it may have been loitering around since a few years earlier.

 

[19112TAP]

I had the same problem with some factory federal cases in the past and with reloading the cases that didn't split the first time some split the second time they were shot. I only use Starline cases.

 

[Heliman]

Well, I got an email from Federal today. They said the ammo was produced in 1986 and was safe to shoot. Just do not reload the brass........ No offers to replace the unfired rounds. Guess I will just shoot it up and be on my merry way! :roll:

Dave

 

[dougader]

That sucks. Tell them you wanted to reload the brass and would have paid less for blazer aluminum cased ammo...

 

[Heliman]

That sucks. Tell them you wanted to reload the brass and would have paid less for blazer aluminum cased ammo...

Actually, I bought 3 boxes, 2 of these 85 gr JHP's and one box of Semi-wadcutters. Paid $45 for the 3, so I guess they may as well be throw away cases. I knew the date they were purchased, because there was a sales slip in one of the boxes.

Even with the split cases, they do shoot pretty good........, so I guess I will shoot them up and just toss the cases. Luckily, I have more recently produced Federal stuff in the cupboard. :wink:

PS, opened the other box of HP's and 4 were pre split....nice of them

Dave

 

[callshot]

I have never had that happen with the 32 H & R. I was given a big box of old 41 Mag ammo and cases. Some of the loaded ones that I have shot have split. I wondered about it being older if there was a reaction between the powder and the brass sitting over the years. I Don't know, so I shoot them and discard the split ones. I would use more modern brass to hunt with because they would be loaded up hotter. Interesting questions to what happens in the chambers while we shoot.

 

[protoolman]

Yes, I remember that Federal brass had problems splitting back in the day. Totally the fault of brittle ammo, not the gun. Federal .32 splits pretty bad on reloads too. Some say annealing will fix this but few reloaders bother to anneal pistol cases. Get you a bunch of Starline brass and you can reload it over and over.

 

[slowrider]

I'm not sure I'd want to shoot this stuff in any of my guns. Some of those cracks go 3/4 way down the brass. So is this stuff really safe to shoot?

 

[Heliman]

I'm not sure I'd want to shoot this stuff in any of my guns. Some of those cracks go 3/4 way down the brass. So is this stuff really safe to shoot?

According to the Federal rep who emailed me, it is.

 

[slowrider]

Safe or not I wouldn't shoot it myself. I'm very surprised a rep of Federal would say it's safe given how conservative the gun and ammo industry is with liability issues. I'd think they'd be falling all over themselves to get that ammo back. Just seems strange to me they would say it's alright to shoot that ammo whether it is or not.