First failure

[Atavar]

For the first time ever I had a reloaded round fail. It locked my 1911 up tight, but no structural damage I could find.
I was able to shoot another 50 rounds after this one with no change in performance or accuracy.

 

[CQB45ACP]

Double charge or greatly over charged is my guess. What's yours?

 

[SingleActionAndrew]

Did your magazine disassemble itself? Grips cracked? Did the bullet stick? The only time I had one of those the bullet set back into the case flush with the case mouth, didn't leave the cartridge, and a new chip Mccormick gave up its guts all over the bench. Typically happens from a double charge as noted

 

[FROGO207]

Yep! Time for a review of your loading procedure to dummy proof things. You need to figure out what actually happened. Might be a bad brass or might be a double charge or even a high primer. I bet double charge though.

I use a loading block and charge 50 at a time then look at all of them under a strong light to see any diffetences in level. It helps to tilt the block some and tap it on the bench. You can better see if all the charges are the same level. Also using a bulky propellant will show an overcharge faster due to the total volume.
I know some propellants only use a couple grains and are economical but are they worth the possible problems. Thats Why I have 2 unopened bottles of Titegroup here.

 

[Atavar]

I suspect it was bullet setback. I had another one feed bad and set back after that. I will have to recrimp the ones I shot.
The mag didn’t quite dissemble itself but the mag spring isn’t a spring any more.
I am very conscious about double charge. I load in blocks of 50 and check charge with a flashlight before seating.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I suspect it was bullet setback. I had another one feed bad and set back after that. I will have to recrimp the ones I shot.
The mag didn’t quite dissemble itself but the mag spring isn’t a spring any more.

Might want to read this before you rely on a taper crimp to prevent setback.

Taper Crimp: Everything you need to know

Taper Crimp: Everything you need to know

czfirearms.us

 

[3sport]

My guess would be overcharge or possibly bullet setback. I have to go back in time, but around 1998 ish, I was progressive loading with an RCBS Rock Chucker PIGGYBACK progressive attachment. One of about 200 357 Magnum loads got an overcharge. I did not catch this on spot visual or weight inspection (back then I checked 1 out of about 50 loads), and had no clue until the firing pin hit the primer. It fused the brass inside the chamber and just about kicked the gun out of my hand with severe recoil. This was with a Ruger Police Special Six and the gun held together. Scared the bejeepers out of me.

That ended my progressive reloading high-volume stint without visually inspecting every 50 cartridges in the reloading block. Since then I mostly load single stage. I enjoy that more anyway.

You ended up OK, and so did your pistol, so things worked out as well as they could have for you.

 

[SingleActionAndrew]

I will have to recrimp the ones I shot.

Might want to read this before you rely on a taper crimp to prevent setback.

Taper Crimp: Everything you need to know

Taper Crimp: Everything you need to know

czfirearms.us

Agreed - particularly if your bullets are jacketed, more taper crimp shouldn't help reduce set back. Is it possible you missed sizing them, or sizing die is set too high? I'd do the bench test on all the rounds from that batch

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I suspect it was bullet setback. I had another one feed bad and set back after that. I will have to recrimp the ones I shot.
The mag didn’t quite dissemble itself but the mag spring isn’t a spring any more.
I am very conscious about double charge. I load in blocks of 50 and check charge with a flashlight before seating.

That makes sense. Hard to catch, too. I’ve noticed some brands of brass tend to develop a set and resizing spring back happens slowly over time. I have sized, gauged, stored and then gauged again after several months in storage and a few - one or two - will no longer drop in a ECG case gauge. Blazer is the worst for needing to be sized more carefully and possibly undersized.

 

[Atavar]

I do seat and crimp on a single stage press in separate operations so I guess it is possible I had my head up and locked that day and skipped the crimp step.

 

[243winxb]

Measure outside diameter of sized brass, before & after seating a bullet. The OD needs to get larger by a minimum of .002" after seating.
Maybe try a Lee Undersized Carbide sizing die?

Neck tensions, mixed brass- Test with dummy rounds, no primer or powder.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I do seat and crimp on a single stage press in separate operations so I guess it is possible I had my head up and locked that day and skipped the crimp step.

Taper crimping won't prevent set back. Ergo, not taper crimping won't cause it.

 

[Jim Watson]

Similar case on 1911forum but it blew his grips off.

My fault, story to follow....

www.1911forum.com

 

[Atavar]

The seating bulge is very noticeable. The load was 5gr of 231 so I don’t suspect a double charge. That would have overflowed the case.
The rest seem to have retained the 1.22” coal. And plunk cleanly.
It looks like I crimped these with a factory crimp die but the crimp might be enough on the ogive to be ineffective.

 

[Atavar]

Similar case on 1911forum but it blew his grips off.

My fault, story to follow....

www.1911forum.com

I am sure glad it didn’t hurt my Crimson Trace grips. I guess that’s why they have that armor sheet under the grips. Lol
Also very glad I had my safety glasses on!!!

 

[SingleActionAndrew]

Push them against the bench. Press test.

 

[CQB45ACP]

1. This is exactly 10gr of W231. No where near overflowing the case.

2. And it's still not a crimp issue.

 

[ballman6711]

The load was 5gr of 231 so I don’t suspect a double charge.

I load 5.4gr W231 under a 185gr bullet, and I intentionally put a double charge in the case to see what it looked like. It didn't overflow, but I doubt I would have been able to seat a bullet. The powder was pretty close to the top.

I'm thinking set back as well. Overcrimping might cause a loss of neck tension.

chris

 

[CQB45ACP]

I load 5.4gr W231 under a 185gr bullet, and I intentionally put a double charge in the case to see what it looked like. It didn't overflow, but I doubt I would have been able to seat a bullet. The powder was pretty close to the top.

I'm thinking set back as well. Overcrimping might cause a loss of neck tension.

chris

My picture of 10gr shows plenty of room to seat a bullet.

 

[AJC1]

Only takes one oh crap to become a brass sorter. Agilla and Blazer both recycled. It would be easier to list the ones I use, and recycle the rest.... win, ww, rp, federal... done...

 

[hdwhit]

Yep! Time for a review of your loading procedure to dummy proof things. You need to figure out what actually happened. Might be a bad brass or might be a double charge or even a high primer. I bet double charge though.

I use a loading block and charge 50 at a time then look at all of them under a strong light to see any diffetences in level. It helps to tilt the block some and tap it on the bench. You can better see if all the charges are the same level. Also using a bulky propellant will show an overcharge faster due to the total volume.
I know some propellants only use a couple grains and are economical but are they worth the possible problems. Thats Why I have 2 unopened bottles of Titegroup here.

I'm gratified to see someone else uses the light and shadow test to visually verify that each round has a (nearly) proper charge. I had thought I was the only one doing this.

 

[Atavar]

Ok, I had to go back and check, 10gr doesn’t come close to filling the case but is a very noticeable double charge.

 

[CQB45ACP]

Only takes one oh crap to become a brass sorter. Agilla and Blazer both recycled. It would be easier to list the ones I use, and recycle the rest.... win, ww, rp, federal... done...

i don't follow you on this...please splain.

 

[mm93]

That type of failure is due to the ramp on the barrel and no support underneath the case. Do you have any bulging on other fired cases to indicate the same thing, but haven't blown out?
I've seen this when someone does work on the feed ramp to help get reliable cycling. But also seen it on numerous Glocks, and a few others that bulge out often.

 

[CQB45ACP]

View attachment 1208263Ok, I had to go back and check, 10gr doesn’t come close to filling the case but is a very noticeable double charge.

Yes it is noticeable if one notices it. And therein lies the rub. All mistakes are noticeable in one way or another yet we still make them day in and day out.