KBintheSLC
Member
It has been bitter cold around here for the past few days, and yesterday was no exception at about 18f for the high and about 2f for the low. I decided to toss my guns in the trunk an go fire off a few at the nearby range on my lunch break. After sitting in the trunk for most of the morning, they were cold... very cold. So I figured I would first shoot my S&W 637 j-frame since it was IWB and warm while I waited for the others to thaw out.
Well, even though the gun was warm, the ammo was not. I removed my regular carry loads from the cylinder and placed a single 125g +P Golden Saber in followed by a pair of CCI shotshells that were in the car. Well, the GS fired alright but on ejection I noticed that the case cracked/split from the neck down to about half way to the rim. The CCI shotshells did not crack, perhaps due to the aluminum cases warming up faster than the nickel-plated brass of the GS.
I have never seen a cracked case in a revolver using new factory ammo, so I figured it must have been the fact that the ammo was too cold when I fired it. After 3-4 hours in the single digit temps that morning, is it possible that this could have made the metal case too rigid to properly expand to the cylinder walls?
Well, even though the gun was warm, the ammo was not. I removed my regular carry loads from the cylinder and placed a single 125g +P Golden Saber in followed by a pair of CCI shotshells that were in the car. Well, the GS fired alright but on ejection I noticed that the case cracked/split from the neck down to about half way to the rim. The CCI shotshells did not crack, perhaps due to the aluminum cases warming up faster than the nickel-plated brass of the GS.
I have never seen a cracked case in a revolver using new factory ammo, so I figured it must have been the fact that the ammo was too cold when I fired it. After 3-4 hours in the single digit temps that morning, is it possible that this could have made the metal case too rigid to properly expand to the cylinder walls?