Bulging Cases?

[tul9033]

Lately I have been having stuck rounds in my Glock 17. Real buggers to get disloged. One thing I noticed was all the stuck rounds had this ring near the rim.
It appears to be a bulge to me and this is after resizing. All of this is range pickup brass. I got about 10 of these out of the last 300+ I loaded. Never had an issue like this before the last few months and I have loaded several thousand rounds.
These rounds get stuck in the chamber and most times will not go into battery to be fired. I've gotten where I can spot them after loading, but I have been gauging most of my reloads till this is sorted out.
Are these just bad brass or is there a bigger issue?

PS: They seem to hang right on the line where the sizing die stops on the case.

 

[rebelracer79]

I have had the same problem with .30-06 brass, not so much as getting stuck, mine would snape the head off when It came out of the resizing die, I determined that my brass was just wore out, threw it out and never looked back.


A good way to check is to get a paper clip, straighten it out and and run the end up and down the bump on the inside of the case, if you can feel a definative crease there, its time to throw out that brass.

 

[Randall]

Sounds like Glocked brass.Glocks have minimal support at the breech and let the brass expand too much.If you have a spare sizing die you may be able to modify it to a push thru and size the whole case down.If you are using Dillon dies try another brand of sizer.Dillon dies are smoother feeding on a progressive but sacrifice sizing a little more of the case for a funnel to feed the brass.

 

[WhiteyMacD]

Sounds like Glocked brass.Glocks have minimal support at the breech and let the brass expand too much.If you have a spare sizing die you may be able to modify it to a push thru and size the whole case down.If you are using Dillon dies try another brand of sizer.Dillon dies are smoother feeding on a progressive but sacrifice sizing a little more of the case for a funnel to feed the brass.

Yeah, but 9mm brass usually doesnt get the glock bulge that bad. If they are bulging that bad I would think its a combination of the unsupported chamber and higher pressure (which begs the question, what recipe you using? Are you loading to max? What are you crimping the case neck to? How far are you seating the bullet?)

 

[tul9033]

Thanks for the replies. Like I said this is random range pickup brass. My loads are on the mild side, 3.8gr TG and COL is 1.15 for a Glock. Really irrelevant in this situation though as these are fresh loads from unknown brass. I have at least 10K in 9mm brass and about 1500 of that is actually my once fired.
Strange thing is the frequency has jumped in the past few months. Could be USSA brass, who knows what they are shooting out there. I suspect a brass issue, just looking for other thoughts.

Yeah, but 9mm brass usually doesnt get the glock bulge that bad. If they are bulging that bad I would think its a combination of the unsupported chamber and higher pressure (which begs the question, what recipe you using? Are you loading to max? What are you crimping the case neck to? How far are you seating the bullet?)

 

[WhiteyMacD]

Thanks for the replies. Like I said this is random range pickup brass. My loads are on the mild side, 3.8gr TG and COL is 1.15 for a Glock. Really irrelevant in this situation though as these are fresh loads from unknown brass. I have at least 10K in 9mm brass and about 1500 of that is actually my once fired.
Strange thing is the frequency has jumped in the past few months. Could be USSA brass, who knows what they are shooting out there. I suspect a brass issue, just looking for other thoughts.

Yeah, doesnt sound like overpressure from your end.

Looking at the picture the bulge looks weird too. Almost looks like an edge or crease. Most the G-Bulge I have seen is smooth and fat even after passing through a sizing die.

 

[Mitch H.]

I think I know the source of your problem. There are several guys at USSA shooting 9mm MAJOR loads. This would explain the bulging which is pretty rare with 9mm.

 

[tul9033]

That is exactly what I was suspicious of. Having never seen 9mm brass size like this and not seeing it until recently I suspected something was amiss. Nothing has changed on my end.
Thanks guys, I'll have to keep a close eye out for these little nuisances.

I think I know the source of your problem. There are several guys at USSA shooting 9mm MAJOR loads. This would explain the bulging which is pretty rare with 9mm.

 

[Glocktogo]

Get a Lee or EGW "U" sizing die an that problem will disappear. I run one in my Dillon 550 and don't even gage check my local match ammo anymore (still to anal to not do it on my major match ammo, but I don't find any problems).

 

[NikatKimber]

Is that U die longer than standard Lee dies? I tried setting my set of Lee dies in my 550 for 9mm, but they were too short.