A Cautionary Tale

[sailorb]

I have been reloading for over 25 years. Always cautious and only had a few squib loads in all those years. Recently I had problems finding primers and wound up with a box of Winchester small pistol magnums. I decided to load some .40 S&W with them. I usually don't do top end loads and thought I would be ok with them. Went to an indoor range and when I picked up the brass I found a number of bulged and ruptured cases. I've loaded about a thousand rounds of .40 before and never seen this. I know the .40 carries some cautions on reloading for this reason but had never experienced that. Guess it goes to show you are never too old to learn and never to smart to follow the rules. Neither me or my gun was damaged and I pulled all the ammo I made with those primers.

 

[recumbent]

You got lucky, glad you're ok.

 

[contender]

By chance,, were you using a Glock to shoot this ammo? Bulged cases at the base are often found after ammo being fired in a Glock.
Did you back off the powder charge any to try this?
Did you happen to change the seating depth any?
And lastly,, by chance,, are you SURE the brass you picked up came from your gun?

As a long time reloader & such,, these are a few questions I came up with.

But,, you are correct,, changing stuff around in a reloading recipe can cause problems sometimes,, and caution is always necessary.

 

[Mobuck]

"By chance,, were you using a Glock to shoot this ammo? Bulged cases at the base are often found after ammo being fired in a Glock.
Did you back off the powder charge any to try this?
Did you happen to change the seating depth any?"

Ditto on all of the above.

 

[TX Nimrod]

So the OP has no idea what actually caused his issue, the deeper seating depth or the primer change, or both.



.

 

[mikld]

Used to be "Reloading 101" said; with any component change, drop the powder charge and do another load work up (often said to go back to min/starting loads). Not many pay much attention to that today...

 

[Ale-8(1)]

We don't know if he changed anything but the primers, nor do we know how "hot" the loads were.

That said, yes, when changing any single component or procedure it's a good idea to back off on the powder charge .

 

[57springer]

I would never do a substitution , really asking for problems .

 

[RSIno1]

We don't know if he changed anything but the primers, nor do we know how "hot" the loads were.

"I usually don't do top end loads and thought I would be ok with them."

So not his usual load. Has he used this load in the past with acceptable results?

 

[mikld]

Different folks reading the same words getting a different meaning. I read, interpreted differently. I read the OP, who doesn't use "top end" loads substituted magnum for standard primers and thought his loads were OK with the substitution. Nothing said about a new or heavier load, or any different from his "normal" load. Results showed magnum primers pushed his "non-top end" loads to over pressure, bulging/blowing cases...

 

[powder smoke]

Buddy of mine ask me to go to an indoor range I agreed and didn't ask any questions.
We were firing away and I started picking up my brass. Almost immediately a guy came over
and ordered me to stop! A bit baffled I ask why he told me as soon as that brass hits the floor
they own it. I stopped put my stuff in my range bag and left! I reload screw them I'll never go back. ps

 

[mikld]

Buddy of mine ask me to go to an indoor range I agreed and didn't ask any questions.
We were firing away and I started picking up my brass. Almost immediately a guy came over
and ordered me to stop! A bit baffled I ask why he told me as soon as that brass hits the floor
they own it. I stopped put my stuff in my range bag and left! I reload screw them I'll never go back. ps

I feel exactly the same. I only encountered one such range, in Los Angeles several years ago. I entered a range and as I was signing in the clerk started telling me the "rules". I was supposed to buy ammo from them, not bring my own and I could not pick up any brass. I never unpacked my guns, just walked away...

I often think of snarky replies to things like this and I would have probably just picked up my brass, thanked the "RO" and left.

 

[sailorb]

Been busy and hadn't read the responses to my post. To clarify a few things. The gun was a Smith and Wesson M&P Shield. The brass was mine, a mixed head stamp lot from other places. The loads were ones I have used before, all mid range in the loading manuals. Both used Berry plated bullets with data for that bullet. As far as I know they were the correct COL. The only difference I could think of was the primers. Not all cases did this but probably 10 or so out of a batch of 75. As I say, some of the brass was range stuff I've picked up, other was given to me. At any rate I threw all the cases from that batch away and will not use magnum primers in that caliber again.

 

[NikA]

Wasn't there a warning about minimal case support in .40 S&W Shields? That would exacerbate any pressure signs from a load change.

 

[Pal Val]

Buddy of mine ask me to go to an indoor range I agreed and didn't ask any questions.
We were firing away and I started picking up my brass. Almost immediately a guy came over
and ordered me to stop! A bit baffled I ask why he told me as soon as that brass hits the floor
they own it. I stopped put my stuff in my range bag and left! I reload screw them I'll never go back. ps

I ran into the same thing a few weeks ago. The guy in the front desk told me the fired brass belonged to them. I told him I was shooting revolvers, so he offered me a small cardboard box for the brass. I turned around and never looked back.

I'm sure these people are profiting from the present scarcity of brass. I have seen notices in the bulletin board of my club selling "once-fired handgun brass". No price quoted, but I'm sure it's no giveaway.

 

[jn 41]

Magnum primers will boost pressures. And the 40 is finicky to start with.

 

[Luckyducker]

Well, I guess I am the black sheep in this conversation. I accidentally loaded my standard 40 S&W load with Win small pistol magnum primers some years ago and had finished loading before I realized what I had done, but I shot them anyway. Other than a slight bit more recoil I couldn't tell the difference. I shot them from a Springfield XD Tactical.