I was going through a mixed lot of 1000, once fired, 45 auto brass and came across several Winchester marked cases with huge flash holes. These flash holes measure between .132 and .135". I have never seen flash holes this big before. Anyone have any experience with this brass? Is it still ok to reload?
Huge flash holes in Winchester 45 ACP brass.
- Thread starter jbmauser
- Start date
I haven't had any problems with the larger flash holes however I also use Winchester large pistol and magnum primers. Winchester primers are less sensitive than CCI and Federal primers so that may have something to do with it. Looking at the packaging that the primers come in will give you an indication on how sensitive they are.
There was at one time a line of plastic handgun bullets for use indoors.
These were used with the primer only (no powder) and the flash hole had to be drilled out larger.
It was recommended that these enlarged flash hole cases not be used again to reload conventional ammo.
I wonder these are what you ended up with?
These were used with the primer only (no powder) and the flash hole had to be drilled out larger.
It was recommended that these enlarged flash hole cases not be used again to reload conventional ammo.
I wonder these are what you ended up with?
Thanks for the info guys. Just to be safe I won't use these cases. I did find a few Winchester cases with a NT stamp on them as described in the article posted by adriel. These have a small primer pocket and a normal sized flash hole.
i think you are refering to glooblits which are hot glue stick pieces inserted into a primed case then cut off at the case mouth (large gluesticks are .450") i have also seen people cast them with a bullet mold for different calibers
too bad it is not legal to dischage at home
yes i have tried it but at the range only. accuracy is pretty good with enough jam to bust through cardboard, bullets are also recoverable and reloadable
it's only the PRIMER POCKET that is sized differently- the FLASH HOLE is the same size- or SLIGHTLY bigger for better flame channel- if yours are significantly oversize, they're either eroded or someone drilled them out for something like wax bullets
"...Winchester cases with a NT stamp..." That'd be NT ammo. Winchester says it's not reloadable. Suspect they mean not reloadable with NT primers. That hasn't stopped anybody from using Small Pistol primers. Best to pitch 'em rather than chance getting 'em mixed with regular brass.
The plastic bullets were sold by Speer and they had a red plastic case as well, the others that you are thinking of are rubber bullets and they use modified brass cases, the rubber ones look like large pellet gun pellets and the Speer plastic ones are cylindrical.
What, pray tell, do you think is the correlation between primer sensitivity and flash hole size?
I found a bunch of these a few months back while sorting a bunch of mixed brass. Every one was a Winchester case. I suspect there are 1000s of these floating around, in use, only most people wouldn't notice them. Because it seems to be only Winchester, I kinda doubt the eroded flash hole theory. Ditto on the wax/plastic bullet theory, most people would have only modified a handful of cases, not 100's that ended up all over the country.
My guess would be a lot variation from the factory. I'm sure they are safe to shoot, mine were shot when I got 'em and I've shot them since. Didn't notice any rounds behaving any differently than the others. Maybe if you were doing some 500yd bullseye shooting........
- Location
- Niagara Region, Ontario. For now
Not in a .45 ACP cartridge unless it was from a revolver those plastic/wax bullets with just a primer would not cycle an auto.
I wouldn't think you would find them in anything but revolvers, but I guess there is a couple .45 ACP revolvers.
