Bullet cracked after crimping - what to do?

cracked case mouth

Check your overall length. I like to use a case gauge as well to be sure the ammo is sized properly. The case looks abit overcrimped and maybe bulged abit. Does it fit in your chamber, are they tough to remove after shooting?

Safe to use that brass for the last time.

You don't really need too much of a crimp or flare the case out too much when adding the powder. I like to flare and crimp as little as possible and was reloading my 38 special up to 7 times ( light loads) before cracks started to appear. More use out of the brass, saves $$.
I'm guessing you bought a couple good reloading books. I really like the Lee Reloading Manual, tons of great info. The more good safe info we can read the better.
Great close up photo, that helps.
 
OK Gentle men Whose better suicidle Blacksmith or Battlerife or let the time tell by itself but you are doing bunch of things wrong and it's too good you posted the picture. Do not touch the BULLET and check your whole batch and/or someone at your range have a look at it and for your fingers sake DO NOT try or pry the bullet with hack saw or pliers.And go back to some used gun shop to return the THING you are shooting with cause it's already destroyed_____trust me_________ /or / you are going to destroy it now
 
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that crimp doesent look straight or even all the way aroung the brass.... or are my eyes playing tricks on me ?
 
Ok, sorry... I don't have a new pic yet (camera out of reach for the moment). The crimp is high, yes, but the bullet seems like it doesn't really have a good place to put a crimp around it. The grooves are really shallow and the only place I believed to be reasonable is to crimp it at the very top, just like normal wadcutters would be.

Anyway, the load is the bare minimum. My Lyman reloading manual suggest 3.6 gr of 231/HP-38 and I've loaded it to 3.5 gr, just to be safe. The crimp is not as heavy in real life, I think it's the close up + cracked case that make it look real bad. In fact, I only crimp at the end of the stroke and I don't put much pressure either. I am using CH dies (3 die set).

I have also reloaded 8mm French revolver rounds, but those bullets have a clear crimp groove, so it wasn't an issue. These things over here (the 38's) are somewhat screwed up.. I couldn't figure out where to place the crimp and my manual wasn't of much help. I decided to go with what seemed the most reasonable, plus I've already seen bullets seated like that in the past (be it right or wrong, lol).

In real life, my 38 spl kind of look like this:

g38e.jpg
 
RojamB21 said:
OK Gentle men Whose better suicidle Blacksmith or Battlerife or let the time tell by itself but you are doing bunch of things wrong and it's too good you posted the picture. Do not touch the BULLET and check your whole batch and/or someone at your range have a look at it and for your fingers sake DO NOT try or pry the bullet with hack saw or pliers.And go back to some used gun shop to return the THING you are shooting with cause it's already destroyed_____trust me_________ /or / you are going to destroy it now
Click to expand...

Wow, and you said other people had a lot of things wrong!
I hope he doesn't pay attention to a word yu have said.
 
762mm said:
These things over here (the 38's) are somewhat screwed up.. I couldn't figure out where to place the crimp and my manual wasn't of much help. I decided to go with what seemed the most reasonable, plus I've already seen bullets seated like that in the past (be it right or wrong, lol).
Click to expand...

Casing Crack: That crack is from throat expansion and crimping. If not numerous times reloaded, then it is from excessive expansion/crimp. The crack as shown will not harm your cylinder unless you are shooting very hot loads. (Crimp is meant to hold the bullet into the casing to help develop pressure behind the bullet and to prevent bullet slippage from recoil.) That crack will result in a dirtier fouling in the cylinder (If hot loads, maybe a slight flame cut) and may sacrifice some accuracy as it will allow some excess combustion to work on a single point of the bullet.

More of an issue is with sidewall cracks were pressure may not build high enough (case does not expand against the sidewalls of the chamber and blows by the chamber) and you lodge a bullet into the barrel.

As many have stated. If your loads are average, it will be fine to shoot. Discard the brass after however.
 
RojamB21 said:
OK Gentle men Whose better suicidle Blacksmith or Battlerife or let the time tell by itself but you are doing bunch of things wrong and it's too good you posted the picture. Do not touch the BULLET and check your whole batch and/or someone at your range have a look at it and for your fingers sake DO NOT try or pry the bullet with hack saw or pliers.And go back to some used gun shop to return the THING you are shooting with cause it's already destroyed_____trust me_________ /or / you are going to destroy it now
Click to expand...

Yeah... well, you're right on one thing at least... I've had three .357 magnum rounds previously screwed up (where the bullet fell too deep into the casing, as I was using .38 spl dies for that too and didn't set them right) and the bullet didn't come out with the pliers. It got all mangled up, but the SOB wouldn't come out.

So, I've jammed the casings one by one in a vise and cut the brass partially in two to recycle the powder. Once that was done, I ran the brass through the decapping die and recycled the primers. they fell out perfectly and back into the primer box they went. I'm still here and no boom. Lucky, I guess... :p

Ok, here are my actual bullets. The first are the .38s and the second ones are my 8mm Steve French Revolver... The last one is an example of my .38 spl Remington lead bullets. Sorry for the s**tty quality, but the lighting was bad and the flash makes everything look like you've just died and went to heaven - so it's best not to use it.

Bullets.jpg


And here's a close-up of my 8mm Steve French crimp... does that look excessive? The brass is slightly bulged in the middle, as it is in fact adapted 32-20 brass purchased from Tallman Industries (and so are the bullets). But it should fireform after the first time at the range, I think.

8mmFrench.jpg


P.S. Steve french was the name of Bubble's cougar in an episode of Trailer Park Boys. I just found it too funny, lol... So my 1892's nickname became Steve French ever since. :D
 
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The 8mm rounds look fine. Could you post a close-up of your 38spl bullet? It would be nice to see the top groove up close, perhaps it is a crimp groove.....:)
 
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