PPU .44 Mag brass sticking in cylinder?

[Hanzy4200]

I noticed this a few weeks back, and tonight I verified it. PPU brass sticks in my BlackHawk cylinder. I have a mishmesh of head stamps. Fed, Win, Starline, Magtech, ect. Every single PPU case has resistance to some degree when removing empties. Some need heavy pressure, some I need to remove the cylinder. This is occurring in loads ranging from 10 gr unique mouse farts to full house W296 loads. It's not a over pressure issue. What's the deal?

[JimB..]

Are they thinner and/or softer?

[500aquasteve]

Is it the same cylinder each time?

[memtb]

I experienced the same thing a while back with Hornady brass in my 460 S&W. I was driving them out individually with a dowel rod. It was all cylinders, but some were stuck worse than others. It took me a while to figure out it was the brass and not an overload situation! Went to Starline brass.....problems resolved! memtb

[wilecoyote]

99% it's the brass (I mean poor brass). go with another case brand and never turn back

[Mal Paso]

Korean I think. I had other processing issues and tossed them. I started buying 1,000 lots of Starline 7 years ago but still run across boxes of mixed headstamps. No PPU but lots of Magtech, a little short but good brass.

[wilecoyote]

ppu prvi partizan = Serbian/Yugo brass

[Walks]

I stick with American made brass. Or one of the long time well known Quality foreign ammo makers. RWS/DWM or Norma.

I got several hundred Phillipine 5.56 cases some years back. After about the 3rd broken decapping pin, I decapped them all by hand. Loaded them up and left them on the ground when I shot the up.

[Three44s]

How clean are your chambers?

I use JB Bore paste and Corrosion X. The JB is a very mild non-embedding abrasive cleaner. Corrosion X hangs in to the pores of the steel better than about anything I have tried. The treatments with the JB ended when fouling was decided eliminated.

Three44s

[rintinglen]

Soft brass. Replace if you can.

If you must use them, try sizing them a half dozen times to work harden the metal. Run the batch through the sizer, let them set for a day, expand them, then resize again. Repeat. When done load a few and see if it helped. Brass and copper don't respond to heat treating by hardening, they get softer. There are several devices available to perform annealing of brass, but as far as I know, it only hardens when worked.

[500aquasteve]

You saying that out of Federal, Winchester, Starline, CBC, and PPU, only the latter one sticks, or does it just stick more often?

And it isn't powder related, or load pressure related?

I have had cases stick in both my 500 and 44 mags, and both cases were NOT due to either the brass or pressure, but were indeed related to a particular brand of purchased ammo. This brand just happened to be my stockpile source of premium brass- Starline, of which was used in developing my own loads at the time (last winter).

The cause of the sticking cases of this brand wasn't pressure related as the recoil and velocity readings didn't signify stout loads. Turns out the end reason was powder residue between the chamber and case wall which glued them in there. The case didn't seal the chamber in time, or at all, and made its way there. This ammunition brand is reputable, but now I load all of my 44 and 500 and don't have to worry about sticking cases except when I might be pushing 55kpsi

[Three44s]

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The cause of the sticking cases of this brand wasn't pressure related as the recoil and velocity readings didn't signify stout loads. Turns out the end reason was powder residue between the chamber and case wall which glued them in there. The case didn't seal the chamber in time, or at all, and made its way there. This ammunition brand is reputable, but now I load all of my 44 and 500 and don't have to worry about sticking cases except when I might be pushing 55kpsi

Clean and slick chambers is my prescription .....

Three44s

[Bigslug]

Recently had a similar issue with a newly acquired Marlin .30-30. Prvi/PPU ammo was what we had on hand, so that's what we sighted it in with. Sticking cases and other evidence had us convinced we had an irreparably ringed chamber that was going to need barrel sleeving, or a re-cut to an Ackley chamber.

Shot Winchester and Federal ammo in it and the problem went away like it never existed.

No idea how old the Prvi ammo was, but it seems they got into a batch of over-soft brass at at least one point. My .303's like it fine.

[Four-Sixty]

I bought a 100 count bag of PPU brass for 30-30 Winchester several years ago from Grafs. About 4 or 5 cases had rims so thick they would not even slide into my shell holder.

I also had issues with loaded PPU brass chambering in my rifle. It reoccurred so regularly I culled the PPU brass out, and put it in the scrap bucket.

I dislike it so much now, if I were to buy used 30-30 brass, I'd want to know if any was PPU before committing.

[waylonrocks]

I had a problem with that brass in my Ruger Security Six a while back. It was very frustrating, to say the least! My son and I loaded up a 100 rounds with this brass and every cylinder would have at least one/two that would prevent the cylinder from turning. This was as the cylinder was being rotated during the firing process.We checked to see if the problem was isolated to just one of the cylinder holes but it wasn't. The problem still existed in his GP100 Match Champion, just not as often. I bought a couple bags of Starline brass and that seems to have eliminated the problem. I think I will load up a batch of the PPU stuff and try it in his Henry Big Boy and my Ruger 77/357.

[Tar Heel]

Don't use it.