Firing split brass? What would happen?

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Shadow9mm

New member
So I have never had brass split while firing, only while sizing or loading.

Had this piece of 38spl split on me today while flaring. What would happen if I loaded and shot it? I'm guessing it would split most of the way down the case, and it not seal properly and vent gas back out the cylinder around the base?

Not planning to find out, just curious.


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Unclenick

Staff
The split won't hang onto the bullet firmly, so start pressure will be reduced which means slower pressure build and more chance the round will fail to reach enough pressure to get a good seal between the brass and the chamber. This means some portion of the gas and soot blowing back and perhaps escaping around the head. More important to the shooter, though, would be longer barrel time and lower velocity, which affect accuracy. Also, you wouldn't want to rely on that round in wet weather.
 
S

Sevens

New member
I've always been blessed with what must be irrationally sensitive hearing. I hear everything, so if the room is noisy, I hear nothing but if the room is quiet, there is almost nothing I cannot hear.

When I sort brass, I can easily hear that piece if it's in a bucket where all other pieces are .38 Special. I don't even need to look for it, I can just sift through piles of it and it lets itself be known. The difference in sound when a piece has a crack is WILDLY different.

That's how I find them and cull them.
So I have never had brass split while firing
Click to expand...
In my time at the bench, I have had many many dozens of pieces of split brass. In my experience, the split almost always happens upon firing. I can certainly see how it could happen during sizing or flaring, but it nearly always happens when firing for me.
 
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lugerstew

New member
I'm not sure if you were planning on crimping those, but, I feel if you would have loaded and shot that, the bullet tension would be very little, it might even fall out, if you were working on a single stage press, you would really feel the difference in that brass when seating the bullet, as in no tension.
Worst possibly of all, the bullet my stick in a longer barrel and give you a squib, that you may or may not notice.
I would never shoot it.
 
S

Shadow9mm

New member
lugerstew said:
I'm not sure if you were planning on crimping those, but, I feel if you would have loaded and shot that, the bullet tension would be very little, it might even fall out, if you were working on a single stage press, you would really feel the difference in that brass when seating the bullet, as in no tension.
Worst possibly of all, the bullet my stick in a longer barrel and give you a squib, that you may or may not notice.
I would never shoot it.
Click to expand...
Yes, firm roll crimp
 
S

ShootMeStraight

New member
All my brass splits while resizing or flaring. If it happens while resizing I toss it, if it happens while flaring, I already have a primer and powder in there so I just seat the bullet and toss it after it's fired.
 
9

9MMand223only

New member
If this is revolver, it will shoot it. But main factor will be if you can seat the bullet deep enough to have sufficient tension to hold the bullet in place. If it can do that, no issue.

I would toss the brass. no reason to shoot it. I think worst case is what unclenick said.
 
4

44 AMP

Staff
When a case splits like that, it needs to be tossed into the scrap brass bin, NOT loaded!

You could "salvage" the case by cutting off the spit part and then trimming it back a bit more, and that would work in a revolver, or single shot, however, besides being "a dollar's work to save a penny", the case would be too short to be reloaded (and crimped) in standard dies, so its really a lose/lose thing.

When on rare occasions when I find a case split during loading, it gets tossed. Now, that being said, there is a difference between split, and cracked.

I have, over the years, had several cases CRACK at the mouth (not split) during crimping, discovering the crack when the loaded round comes out of the die.

Those rounds, I shoot (as practice ammo) THEN toss the case. Never had any issues doing that, and never noticed any of them shooting any different than normal.

Toss that split one, move on.

If its already primed, with today's shortages, I would carefully de-prime it and reuse the primer, but the case is history.
 
L

LE-28

New member
When I sort brass, I can easily hear that piece if it's in a bucket where all other pieces are .38 Special. I don't even need to look for it, I can just sift through piles of it and it lets itself be known. The difference in sound when a piece has a crack is WILDLY different.
Click to expand...

I can hear a split case coming down out of my case feeder, especially when it hits bottom, and also when sorting brass. They make a tinging sound. Very distinct.

Cracked cases I find like everyone else, usually after it's loaded because it's already on the shell plate in the press when it happens.

I smash them with channel locks so I don't get ahold of them by accident if I'm fishing around in my scrap bucket for something.
 
G

gwpercle

New member
With a neck crack like that ...not much .
The crimp isn't as firm as normal so , depending on powder used , you might get a little soot on the case and a few fps less velocity .
But that's about it ... the heavier the load the more soot ...light load with Bullseye just a smudge .
I load a lot of Target ammo with 2.7 grs. Bullseye and have shot quite a few after seeing the neck crack upon final inspection ... I just shoot it and discard that case ... actually I keep some to cut down and make powder scoops or to make dummy rounds .
Gary
 
K

kilotanker22

New member
I have had many crack while sizing and expanding. With my 10mm, I get some that crack after firing. I am using Sig nickel plated cases I bought as new brass. I also have some Sig Elite Performance with the same cases. The factory ammo also splits about 2% of the time. I trash them at the first sign of trouble.
 
J

JKP

New member
I find cracked cases when inspecting after wet tumbling. If I miss them then I can usually feel the difference when sizing or case mouth expanding.
 
B

Butzbach

New member
Funny you should entice it . . .

I had my first .38 Special case split from firing a couple of weeks ago. 2nd reloading, nothing hot just some wadcutter.
 
B

Butzbach

New member
Sevens said:
I've always been blessed with what must be irrationally sensitive hearing. I hear everything, so if the room is noisy, I hear nothing but if the room is quiet, there is almost nothing I cannot hear.

When I sort brass, I can easily hear that piece if it's in a bucket where all other pieces are .38 Special. I don't even need to look for it, I can just sift through piles of it and it lets itself be known. The difference in sound when a piece has a crack is WILDLY different.

That's how I find them and cull them.

In my time at the bench, I have had many many dozens of pieces of split brass. In my experience, the split almost always happens upon firing. I can certainly see how it could happen during sizing or flaring, but it nearly always happens when firing for me.
Click to expand...
I used to cull my .44 Mag brass that way 40 years ago. My brother showed me how to do it. I had a .38 Special split from firing a couple of weeks ago. I tried to “jingle” cull it and could no longer tell the difference from a sound (non split) case. :-(
 
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J

jetinteriorguy

New member
Personally I don’t care what stage of loading I’m in, if I see a split case it gets tossed. If I have to pull the bullet and pop the primer out that’s what I do. I can’t think of a single good reason to shoot something like this, regardless of what the outcome may be.
 
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