Kaboom: Ultramax case head seperation

[XnotedgeanymoreX]

Midway through the third magazine of the year through my second gen glock 23 I experienced my first case failure in a handgun. The ammunition was Ultramax brand 180gn FMJ. For those not familiar with the brand it is labeled as "factory reloaded ammunition". I picked up about 650 of these second hand for a very attractive price earlier this year. I have run about 500 of these through this weapon with no issues.

The second I pulled the trigger I knew something was wrong- extremely hard recoil and loud report, my hand stung worse than after shooting a 12ga pistol grip with high brass. The magazine was ejected out of the gun and the action didn't close the way. The ruptured case had failed to extract. It was grabbed by the extractor after racking the slide and came out with ease. The head was separated from the case almost halfway around the rim. The top round in the magazine was dented from being impacted with the brass that used to be part of the ruptured case. I field stripped the weapon and saw nothing of interest. The weapon and magazine was fine outside of a little damage on one of the feed lips. Both continue to function fine. I have a small red line on my index finger by where it rests near the extractor, but thats all. Sorry for the crappy pics, I was still pretty shaky when I took them...

 

[jakec]

dammit man! glad your ok! ive had some ultramax before and never had any issues.

 

[joe]

Glad you & the gun were not hurt.

I was always leery of the 40 because of posts like this. It always seems to happen with reloads though. I have a 23 g 4 & so far so good.

Joe

 

[oneshot]

Having the issues with some ultramax 9mm. has happen in five diff. guns Just my 50 cents jj

 

[joe]

I just saw where a ar-15 had kaboom using the Ultramax ammo. I would stay far away from that crap.

http://rifleshooter.com/2012/09/rock-river-arms-mid-length-carbine-kaboom/

 

[M.O.A.]

That will definitely wake you up. Glad you're OK.

 

[bigbulls]

That's exactly why you never shoot reloaded ammo in a factory Glock barrel. That one blew right where the case is unsupported by the chamber. You're not the first and certainly won't be the last. Glock should fix this but I doubt they ever will. Glad you didn't get hurt.

 

[joe]

Well I am not a glock expert but I believe they did changed the amount of chamber support from the Gen 2 he has & the newer models.

 

[oneshot]

I have had this happen with 3 diff. MP's a 92f,,,FN,,and a Glock Just my 2 cents jj

 

[M.O.A.]

I strongly suspect that the cleaning process accounts for some of these failures. A chemical wash could cause a weak spot if left in the case too long or was improperly rinsed. I have ran literally thousands of hand loads through various factory barrelled glocks with zero issues. Yes I know about the Glocked brass effect but a full length die irons that right out. Looks to me like a weak case that would definitely be brought up with the ammo mfg. Also its not unique to pistol calibers in this brand as was pointed out earlier.

 

[bigbulls]

Well I am not a glock expert but I believe they did changed the amount of chamber support from the Gen 2 he has & the newer models.

Yes, they have about cut in half the ammount of unsupported area from the gen2 to the 3&4.