Would you shoot this?

[jonp]

I sprained my ankle so am off work for a few weeks. Reloading time! I decided to use up some 38sp brass I have and a box of Gold Dot 125gr j-words that have been sitting on my shelf for quite some time. One of my first rounds came out like this for some reason. Not sure why maybe had the crimp set wrong with the seating depth is my guess. doooo![smilie=b:

Here is the picture:

87350

The jword is: 125gr GDHP
38sp brass
4.0gr Bullseye

It will be shot from a Ruger Blackhawk.

So, since the load is safely under max and will be shot from a Blackhawk would you pull it or shoot it and see if it fireforms back ok as the wrinkles are smooth not sharp and may be ok?

[nhrifle]

As long as it goes into the cylinder it shouldn't be a problem and the crease should unfold. Be sure it seats fully though.

[Kraschenbirn]

Speaking only for myself, I'd break it down and reload the bullet into another case. Looking at the size of that wrinkle in the case wall, though, I doubt it will chamber in your BH, anyway.

Bill

[ofreen]

If it chambers without having to drive it in with a mallet, yes.

[1bluehorse]

Me, I'd pull it and run the case back through the sizing die and see what I had....

[dondiego]

It won't chamber.

[AlaskanGuy]

Dont look like it will fit.... Case it purty much toast now in my book.... I have a rule that i follow without exception....

If you have to ask the question "is this good enough".... Or i wonder if this will shoot" then i just pitch it, wether is is a cast boolit or a funky load for some reason.. Nothing is worth the risk... And i repeat nothing... Yes it might shoot, yes it might mess up you gun, and yes it might hurt you or somebody.. I never want to say to myself, "i wish i wouldn't have....." Always play it safe without exception....that is just me though.. Maybe i didn't always think this way, but i do now.. I just dont mess with anything sub standard in my reloading... Its my rule, and i follow it.

Alaskan

[mdi]

Looks like either too much crimp or seating the bullet without enough chamfer. Either way you have two options as far as I'm concerned; toss it into a box labeled "To Be Dealt With Later" and when you gain more experience/knowledge deal with it, or pull the bullet, save the bullet, powder, and primer and toss the case...


I never want to say to myself, "i wish i wouldn't have....." Always play it safe without exception....that is just me though.. Maybe i didn't always think this way, but i do now.. I just don't mess with anything sub standard in my reloading... Its my rule, and i follow it.

Alaskan

[Gtek]

Man, that is a tough one. One each 38 SP case = $ ? MAYBE damage to one or more fingers, or an eye = ? Gtek

[osteodoc08]

Too much crimp and crushed the case. It won't fit. Just trash it.

[ultramag]

I'd be very surprised if it chambered. I'd break it down and run the case back through the sizing die. How it looked after that would determine rather it became scrap or got reloaded again.

[georgerkahn]

I strongly agree with mdi! I had a similar experience after seating .357 magnum cartridges, also with jacketed boolets, in a hurry using a die-head still set up for shorted .38 S&W Special loads. Mine would not fit in revolver cylinder, either, and the little rubber-band holding the three segments of my Quinetics bullet puller had broken. A friend suggested I try a shell holder instead, and to my pleasant surprise it worked superbly. I pulled all the bullets -- albeit I only had a half-dozen or so -- and put a pair of pliers to the cases. No recollection re what I did with primers, but -- knowing me -- I probably donned safety glasses, put on hearing protectors, and gently decapped them. For the investment one has in the firearm, not to mention personal safety issues -- pulling the bullet seems to be the only alternative. Paramount, too, is the cause. As stated, I knew mine almost immediately. I'd surely do a post mortum on your crinkled cases to determine the cause -- and really would love to learn the answer. Best! g

[Guesser]

Run it into your Lee Crimp die, if it fits it will shoot. Not a problem. Wrinkle removed!!!
This happens a lot with progressive presses and cases of different thickness and/or length. I run them into my Lee CCD and shooter out.

[jonp]

ok, to answer a question or guess by several of you: Yes, it does freely chamber in my Blackhawk. If I could not chamber it this would be a moot point unless I got out some vice grips, a nail and a hammer.

This is a question to see what everyone would do on this. I have more 38sp brass and Bullseye than I know what to do with so I really don't care if I pull it and throw the whole thing away

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

Man, that is a tough one. One each 38 SP case = $ ? MAYBE damage to one or more fingers, or an eye = ? Gtek

What in the hell would you be doing to cause it to damage one or more fingers? He asked if you would shoot it out of a gun, not pound on it with a hammer.:roll:

If it chambers fine, there's no risk in firing that one. Done it more than once.

[w5pv]

I annealed some 45 cases that were too soft and wrinkled like that.I pulled the bullets and powder and chunked the case case after soaking in oil for a couple of days.Mine would not chamber.

[gray wolf]

Find the mistake, Pull the bullet, trash the case, and move on.

[paul h]

If you don't feel like pulling the bullet, then shoot it and toss the brass. A wrinkle that severe will cause the case to crack in the future. So long as it chambers, it will be safe to shoot.

A combination of an overzelous crimp and starting to crimp before the bullet is seated to the canalure will cause brass crumple like that. I've had it happen every once in awhile over the years when re-adjusting a seating die. It was a crying shame when I did it to a 500 Jeffrey case, at $5 ea. 38 sp case, no big loss.

[Harter66]

These days it is a shame to lose any case at least for me. One of the real beauties of shooting rimmed pistol cartriges is that there's data for 41-200gr boolits and cases from 1.605 down to .680 in length, in the 9mm(355)38/357 family . 9x23 rimmed is pretty impresive, I've about 65 of those from the crushed/split mouth. 38 can. If it chambers shoot it for proficiency. I've fired dozens of wrinkled 38 and 357 cases and a few 45 Colts and I'm yet to iron 1 out. There are about 5 Schofields and 10 or so ''cowboys''(ACP length) wating quietly.

[cainttype]

If you really don't care, they fit your cylinder, and you know they're easily within safe pressure levels...shoot them.
What you do with the brass after that is a different question. At a minimum, I'd separate them from my other 38s (and clearly mark them). Personally, I'd view the casings a throw-aways and relegate them as plinkers, at best... discarding them after firing them wouldn't bother me in the least.
The reason for the buldge would be more important to me than what to do with an obvious malfunction of either components or the loading practices.
Mishaps like these offer us the opportunity to better understand things often over looked. Any experienced reloader can relate to such minor screw-ups. Any pretending to be above these minor mistakes probably aren't as experienced as they'd have you believe.

[CastingFool]

I think it would be far simpler to pull the bullet, save the powder, push the primer out, then toss brass.

[BruceB]

It would be simpler yet to just crush the blasted thing in a vise, and throw it in the garbage.

Foe Heaven's sake, we are talking about ONE MEASLY ROUND!

[paul h]

Even easier is to stick it on a shelf as a visible reminder of what can happen when you improperly adjust your die. I've got a few reminders that stare back at me when I'm reloading.

[rbuck351]

What I used to do was run them through the early rcbs sizer die that didn't have a deprimer rod then shoot them. Now that I have thousands of 38 cases I would probably just throw it in the box with the rest of the Boo Boos.

[jonp]

Even easier is to stick it on a shelf as a visible reminder of what can happen when you improperly adjust your die. I've got a few reminders that stare back at me when I'm reloading.
I don' t have a shelf big enough for all of my mistakes

[prsman23]

I call this concept my "wall of shame". I'd also add this to that stupid mistake collection. Once every few years I pull those mistakes and start a new wall of shame :-)

[mdi]

What in the hell would you be doing to cause it to damage one or more fingers? He asked if you would shoot it out of a gun, not pound on it with a hammer.:roll:

If it chambers fine, there's no risk in firing that one. Done it more than once.

You're absolutely sure a mutilated case/cartridge will fire safely in his gun? No splitting or gas spewing out all over the place? No over pressure issues from reduced case volume from mis-seated bullet? Mebbe no problem, so you go ahead and shoot all of those you want, I won't!. Quality control ? :veryconfu

[10mmShooter]

....scrap it

[jonp]

You're absolutely sure a mutilated case/cartridge will fire safely in his gun? No splitting or gas spewing out all over the place? No over pressure issues from reduced case volume from mis-seated bullet? Mebbe no problem, so you go ahead and shoot all of those you want, I won't!. Quality control ? :veryconfu

The bullet is seated too long not too short. No problem with case volume

[paul h]

You're absolutely sure a mutilated case/cartridge will fire safely in his gun? No splitting or gas spewing out all over the place? No over pressure issues from reduced case volume from mis-seated bullet? Mebbe no problem, so you go ahead and shoot all of those you want, I won't!. Quality control ? :veryconfu

He's shooting a load that will nominally produce 16,000 psi in a gun that can handle 40,000 psi. And not the occasional 40,000 psi load, thousands and thousands of such loads won't damage the gun. If the case splits it will be a circumfrential split.

I've had old nickle plated 357 brass split lengthwise in a blackhawk from the case mouth to the web, and they were 40,000 psi+ loads. Absolutely no gas leakage or damage to the gun or gas cutting in the cylinder.

357 blackhawks are extremely strong guns, and that is a mild 38 special load. Even if that load created double it's nominal pressure, you'd still be well under what the max working load is of the gun. I'm not going to say it's impossible to hurt a 357 blackhawk, but you'd really have to work at it.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Considering the rarity and true value of a single .38 case, I`d pull the bull, save the powder, deprime if you want to and TOSS the case!Robert

[cbrick]

I don' t have a shelf big enough for all of my mistakes

Well that's a horse of a different color.

For the future to prevent that from ever happening again simply seat the bullet and crimp in two separate steps. That happens from seating and crimping at the same time.

Rick

[jonp]

Well that's a horse of a different color.

For the future to prevent that from ever happening again simply seat the bullet and crimp in two separate steps. That happens from seating and crimping at the same time.

Rick

I usually do. For some reason I was adjusting and trying to do it in one step and then went DOHHH! and got my Lyman Taper Crimp out. Why was I trying to seat and crimp in one step? Got Me

[Janoosh]

+1 rbuck351. Been there...done that...a number of times...simply put, It Works! Sometimes the case irons out on firing, sometimes not. Then, the case is trash!

[Blackwater]

The main thing is that you know what caused this issue in the first place. Identify that, and you're on your way to never duplicating it again. From my own experience, I'd guess that the problem is not trimming the cases to a uniform length before loading them. This is a real pain, but it's the only way to get a consistent and uniform crimp. If case length varies, more or less of the case mouth will be turned inward to hold the bullet, thus, bullet pull will vary with how much each case mouth holds the bullet in with, and this affects ignition, too, resulting in inconsistent accuracy, usually. For a single case, I'd chunk it, smile a sheepish grin, and go trim the whole batch of cases. When doing this, any that don't reach all the way to the cutter are tossed in a separate box/container and used only with HBWC's and very light loads and little crimp. Just my take on it, anyway.

[Gtek]

Thank You MR. mdi. Ruptured front half of case left in forcing cone, next round? My mind creates all kinds of possible situations, for God's sake it is a 38 special case. I have a couple extra I will send if anybody is down to the last couple on earth. Gtek

[dudel]

It will probably fire form back; but that crease will be a weak spot forever after. That's where it will fail on a subsequent reload. Brass is cheap (heck one round is cheap when you reload it). Save the components, and toss the case if you're really tight on components. The case is toast.

If you insist on saving the case, after you form it back, you can use it as 1) a dummy round for setting seating depth, 2) turn it into a snap cap, 3) turn it into a custom dipper for your favorite charge, 4) use it for primer only loads with rubber bullets or 5) keep it as a reminder to check your die settings before your loading session.

[reloader28]

I had that happen a couple of times myself. They were seated to the correct depth, but I was flaring and crimping too much.
They fired with no problems whatsoever.

[jonp]

Dudel:" you can use it as 1) a dummy round for setting seating depth". Now that is a great idea. Load it with that jword without primer or powder, mark it and keep it to set my seating die.

[waksupi]

I wouldn't want to deal with the possible case separation.

[Garyshome]

NO!!!!!!!! I'd break it down and reload the bullet into another case. Looking at the size of that wrinkle in the case wall, though, I doubt it will chamber in your BH, anyway.

[mdi]

Much ado about nothing. Talking about a $.03 or $.04 piece of brass? If the OP is short of brass, I'll send him some.

[dudel]

Dudel:" you can use it as 1) a dummy round for setting seating depth". Now that is a great idea. Load it with that jword without primer or powder, mark it and keep it to set my seating die.

Yep, I keep one of those with each boolit/bullet profile I use. Makes setting the seating depth and crimp a piece of cake.