saw something new at my loading bench

[joepistol]

something new happened @ the reloading bench

Larry, a friend I'd met @ church, asked me if I wanted some .30 carbine ammo.
From past conversations, he knew I was a hand loader and enjoyed experimenting with loads.
I told him I didn't have a .30 carbine, but I'd take the ammo. My thought was I could pull the .30 cal. bullets,
dump the powder, and remove the primers & reuse the bullets & primers..

I used my inertia bullet puller to remove the 110gr. SP bullets. This ammo had been reloaded by someone,
as I found 2 rds (of the 55 I was given) had no powder.. ( which is why I wouldn't shoot someone's reloads )
Not a big deal, since I was pulling them apart for the bullets & primers.

As I was slowly working my way through the ammo, I noticed most bullets came out of the case with only 2-4 strikes
of the hammer against a wooden block. Some were more persistent, requiring more strikes.
I noticed a bit of an impression on the outside of the case, as if they'd been heavily crimped.
A few were quite stubborn , but I was not to be denied..

This is the "something new" that happened : see attached pics...
1st pic shows an assembled round, beside a pulled bullet.
The lead core came out of the bullet & the brass jacket remained stuck inside the case!

 

[joepistol]

the second pic shows a view of the jacket inside the case..couldn't figure out how to get the jacket out..though I tried.

 

[Mike A1]

WOW & I thought I'd seen everything.

 

[dennishoddy]

Thats a first for me as well.

 

[red442joe]

Thanks for sharing!

Joe

 

[joepistol]

For clarification; unfortunately I don't know the brand bullets that allowed to lead core to separate from the copper jacket.
I had 4 rds. that experienced this separation (out of 28 rds) I did notice the .30 cal. rds were loaded with 2 different SP bullets.
Those that had the issue, had a large soft point (area of exposed lead, uncovered by the copper jacket) .
The other 29 rds were loaded with a different SP bullet,with a much smaller exposed lead surface. These rds had no separation issues.

attached is a pic of the 2 different SP bullets


I use a Lee Universal decapping die to remove primers. If you move slowly, primers are removed w/o damage,
and are reusable. In my 40+ yrs of reloading, I've never had a primer go off while being removed. That 's been my experience.

 

[CECannonJr]

For clarification; unfortunately I don't know the brand bullets that allowed to lead core to separate from the copper jacket.
I had 4 rds. that experienced this separation (out of 28 rds) I did notice the .30 cal. rds were loaded with 2 different SP bullets.
Those that had the issue, had a large soft point (area of exposed lead, uncovered by the copper jacket) .
The other 29 rds were loaded with a different SP bullet,with a much smaller exposed lead surface. These rds had no separation issues.

attached is a pic of the 2 different SP bullets
View attachment 35268

I use a Lee Universal decapping die to remove primers. If you move slowly, primers are removed w/o damage,
and are reusable. In my 40+ yrs of reloading, I've never had a primer go off while being removed. That 's been my experience.

The case in the 1st post doesn't show obvious signs of a crimp. It must have a taper crimp. This definitely reinforces the good practice of NOT shooting someone else's reloads.

 

[joepistol]

" The case in the 1st post doesn't show obvious signs of a crimp." this is true..some of the others (where the core separated from the jacket) did have a slight indentation in the case, just below the bullet. I didn't take a pic of it @ the time.

I'm going to ask Larry if he has anymore ammo he got from the guy that loaded this ammo & advise him not to shoot it.. ( + explain why)