Blown cartridge in my CZ

And what powders might that be for .38/.357. 9mm and .45 ACP? A double charge of TiteGroup or Bulls Eye is not going to spill over a casing. The only powders I can think of that might are Trail Boss and Unique, depending upon the charge weight.

I'm looking down over my Dillon presses as I load and before I place a bullet, I can see the charge both as it comes out of the charging die and after I rotate that shell plate. That gives me two chances to check visually.


G37 said:
I reload all pistol rounds... I always lean towards powders that will spill over in a double-charge situation for this very reason.

Glad you just experienced a broken extractor.

I only trust myself for reloads as well :) Hope it all works out.
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sailor723 said:
I'd be interested to know if the OP has contacted Western and, if so, what their response was.
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Not yet, and frankly don't see much use in it but may try.
And again, can i be a 100% sure it was the cartridge and not out of battery fire?

bigdaddyeo said:
Western Munitions? As in a site sponsor here on CGN?
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Well, the sponsor's company name here is Western Metal and they are re-sellers of Western Munitions' re-loads, that's my understanding but i may be wrong.
 
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As one of the individuals who had an unpleasant experience with Western Munitions ammo, I can say the following: When I contacted the manufacturer, they were pleasant enough, said sorry and apologized profusely, but there is nothing else they were going to do, and in all honesty what can they do? Give me a new gun? I don't think that is fair to them.

I took my gun appart inspected everything, and at that time I had access to MPI facility, so I took full advantage of it. Once I was satisfied with results, I put my gun together and shot it for a few years.

Ever since that incident, I have not bought any ammo (factory or reloaded). Now I load 100% of what I shoot. I have invested a lot of money, time and effort to get best reloading gear, learn everything that is humanly possible and implemented full QA policy for my ammo. Steps I have taken to produce best possible ammo, give me a peace of mind and assurance that my ammo went through a comprehensive QC process before I pull the trigger on any of my guns.
 
This is the unfortunate reason why I will never shoot remanufactured rounds loaded by someone else,be it an individual or a company.Ive been reloading since 1976 and have reloaded probably several 100k of rounds over that time.I have never had an issue such as a double or overcharge.Ive always been careful reloading and as I have complete control over every step of the process Im 100% confident that my reloads are safe and will work well,and if they dont,I know that I only have myself to blame.This reason,other than the obvious reason of cost savings is why I reload my own rounds.Ive read of too many issues with remanufactured ammo to make me change my mind.
 
New2U said:
What clues would be pointing to out of battery fire? I'm not sure but my feeling was that the slide did not lock in completely when the shot was fired. Maybe because i felt hot gases hitting my hand and face and also black carbon stains on my hand. From what I've heard that's how out of battery fire behaves. So when i found out the extractor was broken, i thought maybe a piece of it prevented slide from locking completely causing out of battery.
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Same as an in battery over charge. What happened has all the ear marks of an over charge or bullet set back which can cause the same high pressure. The 9MM case is pretty hard to double charge and I would think even difficult to add enough powder to still seat the bullet and cause the case to let go like you experienced. Given it is the 9MM I would look at bullet set back as being the culprit more than an over charge.

Have you taken any of the unfired cartridges and tried to press the bullet into the case. It maybe a case of either a bad crimp OR a bad case that allowed the bullet to push back due to insufficient friction holding the bullet.

Take Care

Bob
 
I currently only reload 9mm and 45ACP(i.e. Super Brass) hot with Vihtavuori N350... a double charge might not spill over, but it would be very compressed load if possible to seat. I get what you're saying, good point. I do always try to find powders that fill a good portion of case. I also reload on a single stage press so I visually check levels before moving on.

I used to reload 44Rem with IMR 4227 which would definitely would spill over as I was already reloading compressed loads :)

For 10mm I recall IMR 800-X taking up a large amount of case volume as well.


Sharps '74 said:
And what powders might that be for .38/.357. 9mm and .45 ACP? A double charge of TiteGroup or Bulls Eye is not going to spill over a casing. The only powders I can think of that might are Trail Boss and Unique, depending upon the charge weight.

I'm looking down over my Dillon presses as I load and before I place a bullet, I can see the charge both as it comes out of the charging die and after I rotate that shell plate. That gives me two chances to check visually.
Click to expand...
 
New2U said:
What clues would be pointing to out of battery fire? I'm not sure but my feeling was that the slide did not lock in completely when the shot was fired. Maybe because i felt hot gases hitting my hand and face and also black carbon stains on my hand. From what I've heard that's how out of battery fire behaves. So when i found out the extractor was broken, i thought maybe a piece of it prevented slide from locking completely causing out of battery.
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I think the side of the case would have blown out rather than the back if it was out of battery.
 
Canuck44 said:
Same as an in battery over charge. What happened has all the ear marks of an over charge or bullet set back which can cause the same high pressure. The 9MM case is pretty hard to double charge and I would think even difficult to add enough powder to still seat the bullet and cause the case to let go like you experienced. Given it is the 9MM I would look at bullet set back as being the culprit more than an over charge.

Have you taken any of the unfired cartridges and tried to press the bullet into the case. It maybe a case of either a bad crimp OR a bad case that allowed the bullet to push back due to insufficient friction holding the bullet.

Take Care

Bob
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Unfortunately, i don't remember how that particular projectile was seated, but I'm sure it was crimped properly and wasn't loose. I notice these things when loading magazines.
I showed the cartridge to someone who's very experienced with that sort of things and he thinks there was a crack around casing cup which caused the blow up.
 
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