Another "Stepped" 9mm Case

[1SOW]

Practiced as usual and picked up 9mm brass .
One that I picked up was headstamped MAXXTech.

THIS ONE was unbelievably Stepped severely smaller  at approx. .240-245 ish inches from the case mouth .
The case mouth was bent up,  so the measurement is within the above range. You could jump on the case and not bend the lower portion of the case.

Just passing this along.

[ReloaderFred]

Yep, I've got several of the MAXXTECH 9x19 brass in my collection.  I was talking to the engineer at MAXXTECH at the SHOT Show about their brass and he told me they were able to eliminate one whole step in the brass making process with this brass.  The intent was to prevent bullet setback, since they're all loaded with the same bullet, and to make it cheaper to make.

I told him I had seen some with the thin portion of the case separated in some of the brass I buy from our range, and he asked me to send him pictures of it, but I had recycled all of it, so if someone runs across some with a split between the step and the thin wall of the case, let me know and I'll forward a picture of it to him.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[1SOW]

Thanks Fred
  An interesting find.
That case was also noticeably "heavy". 

[andrew1220]

Freedom Munitions brass (FM headstamp) and another headstamp also has the stepped brass. I just scrap it.

[zormpas]

I read somewhere that FM had quit using the stepped brass? It was on the Internet, so it had to have been true!! 

[eastman]

I read somewhere that FM had quit using the stepped brass? It was on the Internet, so it had to have been true!! 

It was probably posted by faceless, anonymous strangers hiding behind aliases (and using avatar images that don't look like them).

[1SOW]

posted by faceless, anonymous strangers hiding behind aliases (and using avatar images that don't look like them).

No,  I didn't post 'that' one.

[Wobbly]

Didn't Perry Mason once have the "Case of the Stepped 9mm" ?
Or was that Sherlock Holmes ?

 

[eastman]

I was at the range today breaking in my new P-09 .40, when I saw an odd piece of brass on the floor. It was notable in that it was the width of a 9mm, but very short. When I picked it up, I saw it was a piece of FM brass sheared off just above the step.

Not sure if this was related, but someone shooting that side of me had a problem with reloaded 9mm cartridge getting stuck partially in the chamber. Not certain, but I have a feeling those were related. (this was probably gun show bag reload, I didn't recognize the name of either company mentioned).

[Clint007]

I ran across a bunch of these, there are several headstamps with this.

Most of them have a measurably greater thickness of the base, such that on the 1050 swage station, the swager backer rod bottoms out on the brass before the cycle completes. Easy to cull out, that way.   But, some headstamps have a normal 9mm case thickness there, so it still requires inspection on the front end to find those.

What with this and the sneaky brass-coated steel cases, it keeps one on his toes...I'm still pissed at the company that makes the steel look like regular brass. I started calling them insurgent brass...

C

[1SOW]

I eliminate those headstamps,  brass or not is not part of my reloading time.
A friend with an Open Pistol played HE.. with one of those brass coated steel cases in an expensive pistol.

[SoCal]

What with this and the sneaky brass-coated steel cases, it keeps one on his toes...I'm still pissed at the company that makes the steel look like regular brass. I started calling them insurgent brass...

C

I came across some of the brass coated steel when I was separating the SS pins from the brass after wet tumbling.  Except for the magnet I would not have known they were steel    It's just wrong!

[armoredman]

Um...who makes brass washed steel cases? They aren't Berdan primed? I know about the "step down" cases, but the others I had only seen the aluminum or the clearly steel Wolf stuff....

[1SOW]

A-man,  I believe S&B makes both brass and brass plated over steel. Only a magnet can tell which is which.
I can better say the WIN, R&P, FC, SPEER and PPU DON'T.     (my choices for reloading)

[armoredman]

Ah, I have enough issues with S&B I generally don't use them much anymore.