My Mak Brass Got Glocked

[BikerNut]

Shot my P-64 for the first time time tonight and really enjoyed it. Tried to scrounge up my brass for reloading, but the pistol was ejecting up and forward and into the shooting lane where it cannot be retrieved.

So I backed up about 3-4 feet so that the brass would land right in front of me. I managed to recover only about half of the 50 rounds I shot. But I walked out of the range with about 300 pieces of .380, 9mm, .40 and .45. There was an ocean of brass on the floor and nobody wanted it.

When I was sorting all the brass at home, I noticed that all my Mak brass had a big outward bulge on one side near the case head. Obviously, the case head is not fully supported in the P-64 (nor is it in many other handguns).

The bulge is not a gentle swelling or deformation like you see on a lot of .40 S&W, but a pronounced expansion with sharp creases at its perimeter.

I'm not sure my 9x18 resizing die is going to be able to normalize this brass back to its proper (and safe) dimensions.

Anyone else ever experience this? These were not hot reloads, just average PPU 9x18 store-bought ammo.

[Ketchman]

PPU has a history of being a bit hot and your bunch might have been a bit hotter. If you search through this site you will find others have had similar problem with PPU. I use Wolf and Silver Bear a lot without this issue. This may also be why you had 2 FTE's / stovepipes in 50 rounds as you reported having on another thread. Slide rocking back so hard that the extractor can't quite keep up??

[snailman153624]

I wonder if it's because it's hot, or just cheap metallurgy. I mostly use steel-case for the 9x18, but I have some brass-case Fiocchi that has never had this problem.

[BikerNut]

PPU is the only brand of 9x18 ammo I've seen around here. Maybe I'll mailorder some Wolf ammo or something else.

I have some PPU brass in .223 that I've reloaded and shot multiple times. It seems to be good quality brass. Unlike .223 Remington or FC brass, for example.

I'm not too concerned about it -- every gun chooses its own ammo. Ill just have to try a few different brands and see what it likes best, then buy a lot of it.

I also bought 200 pieces of Starline 9x18 brass and four pounds of Titegroup, so the P-64 and I are going to become intimately acquainted.

[kbuilta]

The PPU factory ammo I have does the same thing (posted somewhere on here a month or so ago with pictures). At the time, I didn't realize the bottom of the case is unsupported where the feedramp intrudes into the chamber but that's why there's such a sharp crease (edge of the feed ramp). I tried reloading some of the once-fired PPU but even with solid resizing, I had multiple FTF's with the reloads because of a tiny residual of the bulge. So now all my PPU once-fired goes into the recycle bin. I bought some Starline brass and so far that doesn't bulge anywhere near like the PPU. Of course it also starts as brass with my loads in it which are probably not as hot as PPU's factory load.

[GeneCC]

PPU does run hot in the 9x18. I've not seen this myself but I'll keep an eye out for it.

[normsutton]

you are better off making 9x18's out 9 mm brass , than buying Starline brass , its very soft brass , and if you lose it won't matter so much
NORM