Damaged Brass

[arkie]

I cleaned my brass from my range trip yesterday and noticed several of the case mouths were somewhat flattened on one side. For info, I was running 5.1 grains of Titegroup (5.4 grains maximum recommended) behind a 200 g LSWC. This is the first time I've run 5.1 grains. My load before was 4.8 g, the minimum recommended load.

I ran all the flattened cases through the resizing die to see if they were going to be OK and all except 2 turned out all right. The 2 in question have indentations on the lip such that the brass in the damaged area is indented and slightly below the rest of the case mouth. The brass in that area is also slightly wrinkled although it's not split. None of my brass has been reloaded more than 3 times. Normally I would just take this as a sign of wear and dispose of the brass except for the flattening of about 7 out of 50 cases. Is this a sign of normal case wear or is something happening to the brass that indicates a malfunction in my pistol?

[Hunter]

Is could be that the case mouth is hitting the ejection port upon ejection. Did you notice any brass residue around the ejection port? You also might check to be sure you have correct extractor tension and that the extractor is not clocking. Next time you have the slide off be sure the ejector is tight to the frame. The brass that you are loading, is it in spec?

[arkie]

The brass is spec but your comment makes me think. I field stripped the gun and this is the first trip to the range since then. I can't see how I could have done anything to it but I'll check the areas you said. Also, it occurs to me that if I empty a seven round mag and go through 50 rounds that would be 7 mags. I wonder if it's a "last round" issue.

[Joni Lynn]

Ejection ports can cause the bent up brass, it's why I got the port on my Colt Gov't model opened up. If you look closely you may see the marks on the gun that the brass leaves when it bounces off of it.

[nightfire800]

I remember reading somewhere that this problem occurs more with the older guns. Is this correct? Mine is a '43 RR and flattens about 60% of the rounds.

[Woodman]

Since the brass is getting damaged after putting more powder in your reloads, what is possibly happening is that the increased force is sending the spent case out with a different angle, so that it's smacking the side of the ejection port. Are your brass lining up where they used to when you fire, or are you having to look around to find them?

[nightfire800]

I'm using factory ammo till I have enough brass to start reloading, but they're all over the place. This might be due to the rather small stand though.

[arkie]

Since the brass is getting damaged after putting more powder in your reloads, what is possibly happening is that the increased force is sending the spent case out with a different angle, so that it's smacking the side of the ejection port. Are your brass lining up where they used to when you fire, or are you having to look around to find them?


My Springfield has never lined up spent cases in any particular order. With factory loads and reloads, even with more powder, they are genearally liberally scattered around. I haven't noticed any difference. The only thing besides the higher powder loads on my last trip to the range was that I used a Wilson mag exclusively and since only seven out of the fifty rounds were flattened I'm still thinking it's a last round issue. I haven't had a chance to get back to the range (rained out) but next trip I'm planning on splitting the duties between my Springer magazine and the Wilson. Maybe I'll get some useful info from that.

[nightfire800]

What date is your Springfield? I think the ejector opening on the later models is totally different to prevend this. Since the 1911's are rather scarce in The Netherlands It's difficult to compare though.

[Lafeswede]

Hello nightfire800,
Damaged brass is a real irritant; being the most expensive component of a cartridge, you would want to use it indefinitely. From my somewhat limited experience in 45 ACP, this is my advice: Dismantle your gun; take one of the damaged cases and try to match it to your slide to see where it hits. Especially, turn it 180° round and try to match it to the ejection port or bolt face. If you find a match, you have an extractor problem. Adress this issue from the extractor tension angle; see threads on this.
I had cases completely wrecked for this reason. They are now showcases at my range, but the 1911 fever is still alive.

Sail safe
Lafeswede

[Pappy]

[QUOTE=arkie]
I ran all the flattened cases through the resizing die to see if they were going to be OK and all except 2 turned out all right. The 2 in question have indentations on the lip such that the brass in the damaged area is indented and slightly below the rest of the case mouth. The brass in that area is also slightly wrinkled although it's not split. None of my brass has been reloaded more than 3 times. Normally I would just take this as a sign of wear and dispose of the brass except for the flattening of about 7 out of 50 cases. [QUOTE=arkie]

Arkie, as far as reusing the battered brass, run them through the expander first, then resize. Should come out OK except for the wrinkled case mouths. The others are giving good advice as to causes. Good luck...pappy