I might’ve had a Kaboom today…

[Riomouse911]

…had this WWB 124 gr 9mm cartridge allowed the slide to go forward a tiny bit more!



I took a few autos to the range today, Kimber Micro 9, CZ 75 SP-01 & Glock 48 9mm’s and a Ruger SR1911 4.25” and CZ 97-B .45’s.



The star of the day was the 97-B. The gun just shot where I pointed it while the others were not as consistent for me. I even played “shoot 10 at 10” through the SP-01, 48 and 97B one right after the other, and kept them where it counts.



The issue popped up when I was shooting the SP-01 near the end of the session. About halfway through the mag I fired a shot and the guns trigger did not reset as it should. Not feeling right, I stopped and saw that the slide was out of battery, still hanging over the end of the frame by a little bit.

I dropped the mag, and the slide would not retract at all. I pulled on it a bit with no luck, then I kept it pointed down range and tapped it lightly against the range table. This broke it free, and I extracted the round.

I picked up the cartridge that fell out and immediately saw that the case mouth was “roll crimped”, which (of course) wasn’t right. I eyeball-measured it against another unfired round and saw that the offending case was too long. Clearly it jammed hard into the chamber and the case mouth was crimped inward by the barrel as it was forced past the end of the chamber.

I took that case home and it measured an unscientific .786 with my caliper. Other unfired Winchester rounds measured .746, .748 and .748, and Fiocchi rounds measured .748 and .749. (SAAMI is .754 +/- .010. The case in question is on the right.)



I am glad it didn’t fire, I can just imagine the excess pressure that would have been generated as the cartridge mouth was unable to expand enough to properly release the bullet.

Sometimes even when things go wrong there is a lesson to be gleaned from the event.

As always, if things don’t look, sound or feel right, STOP! If you are shooting on a range line or competitive event let others/range staff know there is an issue. Once folks are aware, unload, make the gun safe and check for what may be amiss.

Stay safe.

 

[InTheSwamp]

I am glad it didn’t fire

Glad it didn't. WWB COAL is all over the place, in my humble experience.

 

[dh1633pm]

You’re 100% right. If it doesn’t feel right, it ain’t right. Glad things turned out ok.

 

[Rodfac]

I am glad it didn’t fire, I can just imagine the excess pressure that would have been generated as the cartridge mouth was unable to expand enough to properly release the bullet......Sometimes even when things go wrong there is a lesson to be gleaned from the event......As always, if things don’t look, sound or feel right, STOP! If you are shooting on a range line or competitive event let others/range staff know there is an issue. Once folks are aware, unload, make the gun safe and check for what may be amiss.

Excellent advice....given enough rounds down range, we'll ALL suffer a potential blow-up or blow-out. Like riding motorcycles, it's not a question of "IF", rather a question of "WHEN". Hopefully, good range procedures, dedication to the four rules of gun handling safety, and a questioning if somewhat skeptical attitude will prevent a tragedy. Well done today, Rio....and kudos for posting this....

Best Regards, Rod

 

[WestKentucky]

Glad it didn't. WWB COAL is all over the place, in my humble experience.

Loose on spec, or running budget ammo with what’s out of spec for boutique ammo? Either way inconsistent is unacceptable. I only ever really fed wwb to cheap guns like hi-point and Keltec. My Keltec a both had tight chambers and choked on wwb often. Ram everything else like a champ.

 

[JohnB-40]

As always, if things don’t look, sound or feel right, STOP!

Good advise for firearms and just about everything else in life these days. Good to hear no harm done.

 

[InTheSwamp]

Loose on spec

+1

 

[Glockpride]

Look, you got a 9x20 round for the price of a 9x19. Why are you complaining?

 

[Glockpride]

…

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I had one in 45 ACP. Shooting one of my 1911's. It blew the spring and floor plate of the mag out. I also have a piece brass in my eye. It's in a risky spot to remove it. If i didn't have shooting glasses on. It could have been much worse. Glad you caught it.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I had one in 45 ACP. Shooting one of my 1911's. It blew the spring and floor plate of the mag out. I also have a piece brass in my eye. It's in a risky spot to remove it. If i didn't have shooting glasses on. It could have been much worse. Glad you caught it.
View attachment 1178739 View attachment 1178740

Yikes!

WWB.....'nuff said.

 

[JmacD]

Headstamp? Doesn’t happen to be a 9x21 does it? I’m just curious. Glad you didn’t have problems. Or perhaps bad to worse “frying pan into the fire” sort of problems.

 

[Conelrad]

I witnessed a 1918BAR in 30'06 turn a mag dump of 7.62 NATO into 444Marlin brass...

Didn't seem to bother the old girl at all...one tough old gun.

A lucky shooter as well.

 

[Riomouse911]

Headstamp? Doesn’t happen to be a 9x21 does it? I’m just curious. Glad I’d didn’t have problems. Or perhaps bad to word frying pan into the fire sort of problems.

No, it’s a WIN 9mm Luger headstamp, I thought the same thing at first. I checked that when I saw the case mouth.
.
Stay safe.

 

[Alllen Bundy]

I've seen a number of posts like this in various gun groups and as a result I measure the overall length of every cartridge and look for any anomalies before using the cartridges. Any cartridge that is substantially shorter or longer than the rest I weed out and I disassemble the cartridge. I haven't seen any shell cases that were excessively long yet.

I use the shell case with primer for any primer strike testing. After I've spent the primer, I remove the primer, drill holes through the side of the shell case and epoxy the bullet into the shell case. I glue some of the bullets into the shell case at the minimum OAL specification, some at the average OAL specification, and glue other bullets into the shell cases at the maximum OAL specification. Then I fill the primer hole with urethane glue and I have a dummy rounds for testing.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Wow, that sucks. Someone must have mixed in the 9x21 case in with the Luger cases when they were loading at the factory.
Glad it turned out the way it did and you didn't try to finish chambering it.

 

[5-SHOTS]

Good for one of my 9x21 IMI pistols
I bet a Beretta 92 would have fired that cartridge without any problems and you wouldn't have even noticed the difference in case length

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

Thankfully I haven't had anything this weird happen to me with a handgun.

A few years ago I was shooting some .300 Blackout handloads made using a new bottle of CFE Blackout powder. The first two shots had a noticeably different report and impact point from each other, and the third just went poof. When I opened the bolt (CZ527) the action was sticky with unburnt powder. I managed to get the bolt out and found that the last bullet had lodged about 4" ahead of the chamber. I tried to push it out with the cleaning rod I always take with me to the range but no-go. Later I drove the bullet out with a solid 1/4" aluminum rod and a mallet. It took me about an hour to get the action clean enough to function properly -- there was propellant everywhere.

The primer had fired with enough force to lodge the bullet, but clearly the propellant did not ignite. That batch of primers seemed fine with other propellants, so I suspect something was hinky with that particular bottle of CFE.

 

[Riomouse911]

Thankfully I haven't had anything this weird happen to me with a handgun.

A few years ago I was shooting some .300 Blackout handloads made using a new bottle of CFE Blackout powder. The first two shots had a noticeably different report and impact point from each other, and the third just went poof. When I opened the bolt (CZ527) the action was sticky with unburnt powder. I managed to get the bolt out and found that the last bullet had lodged about 4" ahead of the chamber. I tried to push it out with the cleaning rod I always take with me to the range but no-go. Later I drove the bullet out with a solid 1/4" aluminum rod and a mallet. It took me about an hour to get the action clean enough to function properly -- there was propellant everywhere.

The primer had fired with enough force to lodge the bullet, but clearly the propellant did not ignite. That batch of primers seemed fine with other propellants, so I suspect something was hinky with that particular bottle of CFE.

Yuk! Sounds like it got damp at the factory when the powder was made and it ruined the powder. Glad it was just one shot, a follow up would have been catastrophic!

Stay safe.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Huh. Not what I expected when I read the title! I read the title as a question and asked myself "how could someone not know if they had a kaboom?"

Anyway, cool story, glad you caught the abnormality, and even more glad you posted it as a lesson in attentiveness.

 

[Pat Riot]

9x21 case length is .833”
9x19 case length is .754”

Glad you didn’t have a Kaboom today RioMouse.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

While we're on this general subject, just last night I discovered another potential cause of mischief within a large batch of 9x19 I've been handloading.

I'm working from a batch of 1K fired and commercially processed (cleaned, sized and deprimed) brass, which has generally served me well until now.

After I finish each loading session I use one of those Lyman handgun ammo checker blocks to verify specs on every round I've loaded before boxing up the ammo. One round last night did this:



If you're not accustomed to this type of ammo checker, the case should drop into the indicated hole flush, but it is still within spec as long as it doesn't stick up higher than the block's surface. The case in this photo was easily 1mm short! And before anyone asks, it wasn't a .380.



The case has a proper 9x19 headstamp -- other cases in this lot bearing the same headstamp have been the correct length. The casemouth has been evenly trimmed, so if I had to guess this was damaged brass salvaged for use in a moonclip-type revolver where case length isn't critical. Later I found a second case in the same batch trimmed to this length, making 2 shortened cases out of 500 checked so far.

Now, if this round headspaced on the casemouth the way it was designed to, the firing pin might not reach the primer. And if it did, the case could slam back onto the breechface hard enough to pierce the primer.

Many autopistols actually headspace on the extractor, but that seems chancy to me. I'll shoot these oddballs in a H&R single shot carbine I have where I can manually headspace each case on the extractor, then I'll discard this brass afterward, somewhere it won't get found and reused.

The moral here: check your brass when you handload, especially when the source is unknown.

 

[PapaG]

I have had two 9mm shell blow out just ahead of the rim in a S&W 39-2. Both were from, I believe, the bullet being pushed back in the case.
I doubt yours would have been bad as the oal was good. That crimp, though the wrong kind, didn't look very heavy. Better safe than sorry, however. My blowouts each cost me a set of walnut grips.

 

[Ks5shooter]

Should have bought lottery tickets on the way home.Glad all is well.

 

[Riomouse911]

I have had two 9mm shell blow out just ahead of the rim in a S&W 39-2. Both were from, I believe, the bullet being pushed back in the case.
I doubt yours would have been bad as the oal was good. That crimp, though the wrong kind, didn't look very heavy. Better safe than sorry, however. My blowouts each cost me a set of walnut grips.

Ya, bullet setback certainly can send pressure spiking. Not a whole lot of room in a 9mm case, take away space and you can spike pressures.

With my situation, the additional crimp was applied by the barrel as the round was jammed into the chamber and the over-length case went beyond the chamber cut. The recoil spring jammed it in there pretty good, I am glad I didn’t have a stronger spring in the SP-01 or it would’ve stuck even worse than it did.

I certainly wouldn’t fire it even if I could get it to chamber and the slide to go into battery. Because the case is too long, I don’t believe the case will have any free space in this chamber. If it was fired the case mouth won’t be able to expand enough to let the bullet out as designed, so pressure would zoom until something happened. (Probably a really bad something.)

Stay safe.