Buldged Cases

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WarLord
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Buldged Cases

Post by WarLord »

Not sure if this a common problem or not but I was picking up some brass that I had fired (couple of magazines) and I noticed several had buldged cases. I wish I had saves some to photograph. Any way they were buldged just above the rim probably about 1/4 way around or less. Examining the barrel (putting a live round in it) while the gun was disassembled, I am wondering if the buldge is because of the cut out for the extractot? It is a small cut out from the breach and leaves the base of the round unsuported durig fire.

Any ideas?

Thanks
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Curly1
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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by Curly1 »

New or reloaded ammo?

Manufacturer?

Brass or steel?
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WarLord
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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by WarLord »

Brand new Fiocchi.

If you slip a round in to your disassembled chamber you will see what i mean about not being supported 360 deg.

And I really do know how to spell bulged :oops:
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dfunk
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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by dfunk »

Happened to me once, 6 years ago. Silver Bear 115 gr rounds
See here -> viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7&p=117#p117
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WarLord
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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by WarLord »

dfunk wrote:Happened to me once, 6 years ago. Silver Bear 115 gr rounds
See here -> viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7&p=117#p117
Thanks for the information. May be the quality control in this batch of ammo was not that great. The first half of box I had no trouble but possibly some of the rounds were over charged. That might explain it.

Not sure about the weak recoil spring, if that would be a factor or not because as I said, the first couple of times I shot the gun I had no trouble.

I will try to find some different ammo and try that.
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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by autorifle »

Hi guys new to the forum. Just purchased a P64 shot it today for the first time. Just happened to see an empty casing and it was bulged big time. There was a gunsmith at the range I was at and we noticed that the feed ramp is machined way up into the chamber and the bulge is the exact shape of the ramp. With a round chambered the feed ramp leaves an unsupported area at the bottom of the case I was shooting prvi partizan 93 gr. fmj every case was exactly the same :?: any ideas now I am scared to shoot this thing :shock: I'm gonna shoot some steel case and see if it does the same thing pray for me :D

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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by RobsTV »

The famous unsupported chamber area known for Ka-Boom's is with Glock 40 S&W, which have around 50% more case pressure than the 9x18 Makarov does. Even the 9mm Luger round has around that same high case pressure, but generally no issues with bulges. However, most of the Glock 40 S&W with unsupported chambers also have zero issues with bulged cases, and when they do, it is mostly due to reloads.

Just pointing this out so as not to be confused thinking it is the same, somewhat common mentioned thing. It is not. Unsupported chamber in 9x18 Makarov is nothing to worry about. Case pressure is far too low to cause a bulge in factory loaded ammo that is not defective. Looks like defective ammo to me.
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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by WarLord »

RobsTV wrote:The famous unsupported chamber area known for Ka-Boom's is with Glock 40 S&W, which have around 50% more case pressure than the 9x18 Makarov does. Even the 9mm Luger round has around that same high case pressure, but generally no issues with bulges. However, most of the Glock 40 S&W with unsupported chambers also have zero issues with bulged cases, and when they do, it is mostly due to reloads.

Just pointing this out so as not to be confused thinking it is the same, somewhat common mentioned thing. It is not. Unsupported chamber in 9x18 Makarov is nothing to worry about. Case pressure is far too low to cause a bulge in factory loaded ammo that is not defective. Looks like defective ammo to me.
Not so sure it is defective ammo. autorifle said he was using Privi Partizan and I was using Fiocchi.

My cases looked exactly like his that is why I suspected the notch/unsupported area in the chamber. Not all my cases were bulged but at least half of the box.

I am not to worried about the safety but it sure would weaken the case for reloadig purposes. If reloaded I would think you might experience a case rupture/rim seperation.
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WarLord
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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by WarLord »

WarLord wrote:
RobsTV wrote:The famous unsupported chamber area known for Ka-Boom's is with Glock 40 S&W, which have around 50% more case pressure than the 9x18 Makarov does. Even the 9mm Luger round has around that same high case pressure, but generally no issues with bulges. However, most of the Glock 40 S&W with unsupported chambers also have zero issues with bulged cases, and when they do, it is mostly due to reloads.

Just pointing this out so as not to be confused thinking it is the same, somewhat common mentioned thing. It is not. Unsupported chamber in 9x18 Makarov is nothing to worry about. Case pressure is far too low to cause a bulge in factory loaded ammo that is not defective. Looks like defective ammo to me.
Not so sure it is defective ammo. autorifle said he was using Privi Partizan and I was using Fiocchi.

My cases looked exactly like his that is why I suspected the notch/unsupported area in the chamber. Not all my cases were bulged but at least half of the box.

I am not to worried about the safety but it sure would weaken the case for reloadig purposes. If reloaded I would think you might experience a case rupture/rim seperation.
O.K. I take it back, I looked at my buldged cases again and they were PPU not Fiocchi. May be it is just the ammo.
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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by p64-1973 »

I have had this issue with S&B ammo in other guns and other calibers before. I don't know for sure, but I feel as though S&B uses some really thin case walls on some of their ammo. I have noticed that with 7.62x54r cases as well.
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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by lklawson »

This may be an argument for the old "It's designed to shoot steel-cased ammo" debate. I dunno.

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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by juniustaylor »

I've never experienced this problem. I never shoot factory ammo unless it's steel case. All my brass cases are reloads made from cut down 9mm Luger cases. Every one of my brass cases is nice and round with no bulging to be seen by the naked eye. Here are pictures of my feed ramp, which looks like everyone elses. The other picture is with one my my fired brass cases.

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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by jat428 »

I am having the same issue with my p64 using PPU ammo from aim

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Ordered some steel case mak ammo from classic arms to see how it holds up
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WarLord
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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by WarLord »

Pretty sure it is just the ammo. I tried some PPU, Fiocchi and American Eagle this week, Had no problem with the Fiocchi and American Eagle but with the PPU I experienced buldged cases.
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Re: Buldged Cases

Post by stonecutter2 »

Just wanted to chime in on this, I know this is an older thread, but I just got around to shooting some of my PPU 9x18 makarov rounds from Aim Surplus today, and my casings are bulged just like in the above photo - it really freaked me out. I've shot plenty of steel cased ammo through my P64 with no issues. So much for reloading this brass!
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