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cracked cases

Will on kauaiWill on kauai Member Posts: 37 ✭✭
edited October 2010 in Ask the Experts
I recieved from a friend a large coffee can full of 9mm rounds all fmj lc markings on bottom. dump them out to count and sort and noticed that several maybe a good 2 dozen or more have cracks in them,and mostly from the bottom of can.could the weight from all those bullets cause those cracks? and should they be stored in boxes like how they are shipped? thank you for any and all responses.

Comments

  • Will on kauaiWill on kauai Member Posts: 37 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hi....I recently purchased a box of "new old stock" 41 mag Winchester Silvertip ammo. Four of the twenty cartridges have cracked cases at the case mouth. These are original factory loads, not reloaded ammo. Does fireing them create any accuracy or safety problems? Thanks....BT
  • RCrosbyRCrosby Member Posts: 3,808 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Other than the cracks, how does the brass look? Any signs of corrosion? Weight from the top of the can shouldn't have any effect. Age, overworking from repeated resizing with annealing and manufacturing defects are the only causes I can think of at the moment. With that many cracked, and if they otherwise appear to be in about the same condition, same headstamps, etc. I be a bit leary about the rest. Proceed with caution.
  • CDMeadCDMead Member Posts: 2,141 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    As a rule of thumb, most will suggest you not take any ammunition that isn't factory made or loaded yourself.

    If that batch exhibits cracked cases, I would be really, really leary about shooting any of it.

    Your life is not worth a 20 cent pistol round.
  • RCrosbyRCrosby Member Posts: 3,808 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Missed the fact that these may be loaded rounds? Possibly reloads?
    If reloads, DEFINITELY pull the bullets and toss the powder and brass.
    If factory, with that many split cases, I'd still be reluctant to shoot them in any gun of mine. Where are the splits? Neck? Full Length?
    Maybe you can use the can to store old wing nuts??[:D][:D]
  • 45er45er Member Posts: 245 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Howdy Will,
    To answer specific your questions-- no, the weight of such is not the cause of the split cases. Best scenario is, yes, to be stored as shipped from manufacture, but not critical at all. Temperature and humidity not extreme is what really counts. I store massses of reloads in five quart plastic ice cream buckets. (My excuse for eating so much ice cream, hah).

    All other advice given previously is spot on. Bad policy to fire off split cases.

    EDIT Will, you say ammo is non-reload, and the case spits run from rim to mouth? This gets interesting. All splits I've seen run opposite that-- starting from mouth down. (And, as indicated from Coledigger, can even happen with factory-fresh ammo for various reasons). Rim seperations work their way around circumferance wise, not longitonal splits as described, I ever seen.
    Back to your LC 9mm-- more info would like have to ascertain how was determined it is indeed "as-is" from factory and not reloaded stuff? Photos availabe? Are all the primers, good & bad rounds, visually the same, and being military may have a lacquer seal? And that would still not discount someone took apart the unfired rounds and micky-moused in reloading the still unfired cases with other bullets, whatever.
    Only other than reload scenario I can guess at is a bad batch from the get go from Lake City, but should have never been shipped out.
    And I guess I'm getting * about the whole deal-- just curious is all. Give them to a reloader for bullet componet, and have them toss the cases, if have no use as you say, is what I'd do.
    45er
  • Will on kauaiWill on kauai Member Posts: 37 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hello thanks for the replys.The ammo is loaded and are not reloads,My friend told me they found alot of empty nato ammo boxes along with the can and it seems that someone dumped them in the can. The cracks or splits run down from the rim about 1/3 the way.The overall look of the ammo is great no corrosion no blemishes I for one dont own a 9mm it's 45s for me so i will find someone that can use them as components[:)]
  • coledigger4coledigger4 Member Posts: 826 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Back in the 70's I knew a guy that had a Hawes .357 revolver. Even with brand new brass, bought loaded from a store, there was one space in the cylinder that would crack the brass every shot. He marked that hole and continued shooting it. I moved from that country so have no idea if there was any bad things happen or not.
  • 511pe511pe Member Posts: 258 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    What the heck? Don't use 'em call your county recycling or waste disposal department and ask on how to dispose of old possibly defective ammo. No, the weight didn't crack them. Ammo should be stored dry in stable temperature inside their storage containers or boxes. You should not see reddish brown by the case mouths or green cases. If you do properly dispose of them in accordance with law. I understand annealing prevents riffle case mouths from becoming too brittle but a hand gun round? If they didn't cost to obtain, please dispose of them properly.
  • gunnut505gunnut505 Member Posts: 10,290
    edited November -1
    Do any of the cases have "amerc" on the bottom around the primer? Were the boxes the rounds were in white or cardboard? Your friend found a barrel of these rounds, near a barrel, and by some ammo boxes from the "factory", right? The LC on the bottom should stand for Lake City; the ammo plant that produced the brass-we still don't know who produced the ammo. Look carefully at the primer hole in the middle of the base of the case; does it have a small, thin, raised ring around the outside of the primer hole? Maybe there are 2-3 dimples along the outer edge on that ring....if so, that could be a primer crimp, and could be military. Problem with them being authentic, never-fired new military rounds is so many splits/cracks overall.
    I'd bet $10 that they are reloads that somebody was making a load, spaced a detail, and dumped 'em in a rather flagrant way. The splits indicate (to me anyway) that they have been reloaded so many times that the brass has thinned out or got dented/ripped being extracted, and I'll bet there are scratches running full length on all of them.

    My advice-Give 'em to a reloader who can break them down and maybe use the bullets; the cases are shot (no pun intended)
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