Brass Ripped in Half

[stick655]

The firearm is a new-to-me Palmetto State Armory AR-9 pistol. I was shooting new (not reman) Freedom Munitions 9mm, either 124 or 135 grain ammo. Was clipping along as expected then suffered a failure to feed. Upon closer inspection turns out the extractor ripped the casing in half, extracting only the primer end and leaving the top half still sitting inside the chamber. This is a first for me, as far as I can remember. Firearm was functioning fine, doing everything expected of it. I was thinking it could have been a once fired casing, since Freedom Munitions sells remanufactured ammo as well, and I have notified them

Any thoughts?

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[No_Regerts]

Was it a clean cut, or uneven?

 

[stick655]

Was it a clean cut, or uneven?

It was clean, like, mysteriously clean. The photo of the brass, the up-side is the side that is cut.

 

[No_Regerts]

Maybe some overzealous crimping weakened the case? Most separated case heads are not clean cut like that.

 

[PiratePast40]

Take a look at the rest of your brass and see if it has a shelf or step inside the case. There have been reports of that brass separating, but usually with range brass reloads or 9 major loads. If I recall, it was FCC headstamp brass.

 

[BillM]

Freedom ammunition uses a stepped case. Most people will not reload it--as it has a nasty tendency to
break right at the step, leaving the forward half of the case in the chamber. AR9's are tough on brass,
especially tough if you don't have the BCG/buffer/recoil spring timed correctly.

 

[No_Regerts]

Finding all sorts of accounts of this via google-fu. At least your gun isn't the culprit.

 

[Argonaut]

Check the chamber for roughness or groves by inspecting other brass fired through it. Rough chamber with a strong extractor can be the culprit.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Freedom ammunition uses a stepped case. Most people will not reload it--as it has a nasty tendency to
break right at the step, leaving the forward half of the case in the chamber. AR9's are tough on brass,
especially tough if you don't have the BCG/buffer/recoil spring timed correctly.

View attachment 478498

Holy cow, I've never seen brass like that. Looks like junk to me..

 

[stick655]

Well, I would exercise my own google-fu mastery, but why would I do that with all the subject matter experts on here? Thanks a bunch guys!

 

[Member 34319]

Ya, it's a freedom munitions thing. Nothing wrong with your firearm likely.

Just google freedom munitions split case, it will relieve any fears the gun caused it.

I'd say send the rest back for a refund, but I heard that's just not worth the hassle.

They are a shady company in my opinion.

 

[stick655]

Ya, it's a freedom munitions thing. Nothing wrong with your firearm likely.

Just google freedom munitions split case, it will relieve any fears the gun caused it.

I'd say send the rest back for a refund, but I heard that's just not worth the hassle.

They are a shady company in my opinion.

I'll probably just shoot the rest of it off, and take a tool with me to undue any more problems that I may run into. Stuff runs fine in my other pistols, but don't want to leave it to chance.

I bought this stuff a couple years ago, and the more I've heard about them since I tend to agree about them being shady. I guess I don't have to concern myself with which ammo to take to the range anymore, at least until that stuff is all gone.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

Holy cow, I've never seen brass like that. Looks like junk to me..

yeah, just think if he had a yard full of nutsedge. he may never have found it. sheesh!

 

[P7M13]

Dang, look at that Junk!
Are they a subsidiary of Morton Thiokol? Reminds me of the shuttle booster. Good thing there aren't any O rings involved!
Maybe it's a leftist effort to render every 9mm semi-auto into a single shot.
Edit to add: reminds me of the beer-can tennis ball cannons we used to make as kids....

 

[Mikej]

Head stamp "AMMOLOAD"...Load a somthin' else!

"Ammoload" headstamp on 9x19 brass

 

[Bones2586]

Yikes! Have not see that in the past, wow. Hopefully was relatively painless to get the upper half of that split casing out of the chamber. ERGH! Would bring a range trip quickly to an end if not!
Don't have any Freedom Munitions loads to worry about, was turned off a few years ago when a fellow USPSA shooter was dealing with malfunction after malfunction using .40SW loads from FM. Soured me right then and there. UGGH!

 

[MrRob96]

There are a few brands that use this stepped case design for 9x19 that I ran into. I used a Maxxtech brand and when I looked into the cases I saw this shelf.. sleeve... whatever. As a reloader I immediately discarded all those cases.

I have not heard of it separating, but the problem with reloading is reduced case volume.

SAFETY ALERT!! ........Maxxtech 9mm Brass

You may be getting some weird effect in your PSA gun where the non-reinforced portion of the case isn't expanding and sealing as well as the thinner brass... then hard extraction tears apart the case.

I would check how smooth the chamber is finished, as suggested above. A number of low-cost firearm manufacturers will skip on polishing the chamber and it'll lend to cases sticking during extraction.

A great example is the Remington 870 in the last 5 years. With low and high base brass, extraction isn't much of an issue. Yet if you shoot cheap bird shot loads with steel base, the steel base sticks into the rough chamber and locks the gun up good. I've seen 3 separate 870s getting mortared open during games of trap. A quick 000 steel wool on a brass brush with oil cleans it right up.

 

[Member 34319]

portion of the case isn't expanding and sealing as well as the thinner brass

Essentially this. Sorry to take your entire quote out of context, but you pretty much nailed it.

It's been heavily discussed on other parts of the internet as well since it isn't a new thing.

Essentially, the thicker portion of the case does not expand and the thin part does. Ripping itself away from the rest of the casing.

Then once the gun starts to cycle, it just pulls the back half out and the other have stays put.

Stupidly annoying!

 

[SUPER X]

The firearm is a new-to-me Palmetto State Armory AR-9 pistol. I was shooting new (not reman) Freedom Munitions 9mm, either 124 or 135 grain ammo. Was clipping along as expected then suffered a failure to feed. Upon closer inspection turns out the extractor ripped the casing in half, extracting only the primer end and leaving the top half still sitting inside the chamber. This is a first for me, as far as I can remember. Firearm was functioning fine, doing everything expected of it. I was thinking it could have been a once fired casing, since Freedom Munitions sells remanufactured ammo as well, and I have notified themView attachment 478488 View attachment 478489

Any thoughts?

I've seen cases split down the side ore blow the side out near the rear of the case but this is the first time I've seen this.