Factory cases

[Harter66]

A buddy got a new 40 for Christmas, and a 100 rounds of Win 165s. Its an XD a look down the bbl reviews some freebore and generally cast friendly chamber throat friendly features. About the brass though. I've never seen auto anything smoke cases,as in soot on the outside of the case, and never from a factory load. After a closer look the brand new factory cases appear to have some of the factory crimp left too. I only see 2 possibilities 1 the brass is just, maybe,too hard.2 the loads aren't generating the pressures nominal to the 40 Smith ,either because chamber shape or the light for cartridge loading. If this brass is hard it'll be short lived ,if not will using the whole chamber/throat raise the pressure enough to make the brass seal w/175s.

Work ups will be simple ladders to function then group w/Unique and I expect to be 75% of max relative to the load window.

In case it would matter the bbl is 392/400 and the factory"J's" were small at the case mouth. His mould drops WW at 402-3 and 178-81 over about 60 drops in a 6C.

Not really seeking help at this point because I've been reading 40 posts for 3 years just wondering about the Win brass appearing so hard in this case, not punny on purpose, as I've 9mm brass w the head stamps practically gone that don't act like this.

[runfiverun]

i just have a feeling that they don't make ammo that they care if we reload or not anymore.
in fact i think winchester is going out of their way to make ammo that doesn't have very good reloadable cases anymore.. [what is their motive??]
look at what they done to the AA shotshell case,and to the many posts on the net about their reloading cases.
it will be a sad day indeed if the cerebrus group sells off their assets just for the rifle and shotshell hull loss alone.

[Alan in Vermont]

Things sure have changed since the days when W-W and R-P had serious ad campaigns lauding the reloading life of the AA vs RXP hulls. At least the new versions work with the same components as the originals did even if the hulls are now disposable.

[Harter66]

Well the shotgun cases I can't speak to, I haven't loaded anything but Fiocchi 12s and some old stock 20 AAs in 15plus years. As for brass Remmy cases at least in 06' haven't been worth a hoot in at least 10 years . A buddy brought me 140 cases from a single factory lot, 150 corloks I think. The cases ran from a light of 180gr to 210. I wound up w/2 lots of brass of 20 and 25 that were +-.7gr the other 85 were all over. I did anneal some Colts brass in Winchester ,after about 15 "full tilt"loadings. Like I said in the op the 9mm is on god know how many cycles for it,but the headstamps are thin on at least 100. I just thought it was weird that brand new factory loads would smoke cases.

[Love Life]

Amen on the Winchester brass. The current curse we wish upon each other is:

"May you have to prep virgin Winchester brass."

[Wayne Smith]

Consider the run on ammo and components the past four years. I'm not surprised that a little slip in quality control may sometimes happen. This is especially true if they are training new hires as they are trying to increase production.