Brass Inspection

4949shooter · 11-26-2011, 10:58

I shot some Federal 180 grain FMJ today (1030 FPS) and Hornady 180 grain XTP (1180 FPS). I have been reading about brass bulging at the case web on another thread, so just for the heck of it I took a look at the brass my 20SF was spitting out. Wouldn't you know it, even from these lighter loads there was a small amount of brass bulging. Here are some pics. The Hornady is on the right:

and a less clear pic:

Has anyone else seen this with light loads? The Federal .40 light load seems to exhibit more bulging than the Hornady, though I don't know if this is evident in the pics.

I expected to see some slight bulging with the hot loads but not this stuff. Normal?

TRaGiK · 11-26-2011, 11:39

Even my low powered, bunny fart, reloads show slight bulging.

Don't worry about it.

arushus · 11-26-2011, 11:41

I dont know about federal, never used it, but the hornady brass is quality stuff, it's my favorite brass believe it or not...as far as the bulging goes, all of my brass is bulged to some degree, even the mouse fart bvac stuff. Dont worry too much about it, nothing that cant be fixed with a quick run through the sizing die..

4949shooter · 11-26-2011, 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by TRaGiK

Even my low powered, bunny fart, reloads show slight bulging.

Don't worry about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arushus

I dont know about federal, never used it, but the hornady brass is quality stuff, it's my favorite brass believe it or not...as far as the bulging goes, all of my brass is bulged to some degree, even the mouse fart bvac stuff. Dont worry too much about it, nothing that cant be fixed with a quick run through the sizing die..

Okay thanks..

_The_Shadow · 11-26-2011, 14:46

Just because the velocity was not as high as other rounds doesn't mean thet the pressure was not high. They probably used a fast powder to insure complete burning in any length barrel, (something like Bullseye comes to mind).

Therefore you would have the high pressure spike to push bullet & the bulge out in the loose chamber.

4949shooter · 11-26-2011, 18:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by _The_Shadow

Just because the velocity was not as high as other rounds doesn't mean thet the pressure was not high. They probably used a fast powder to insure complete burning in any length barrel, (something like Bullseye comes to mind).

Therefore you would have the high pressure spike to push bullet & the bulge out in the loose chamber.

Understood thanks.