Gun Shell Split ???

[Cynful1958]

I was at the range yesterday and had trouble getting one of the shell casing out of a revolver, I had to use a cleaning tool to poke it out of the cylinder, the case had split !?!? This was a Speer Gold Dot 125 grain 38sp bullet. What on earth happened? It kinda freaked me out, I have never seen anything like it before, should I avoid this brand of bullet ?

[Moby]

Freak accidents can happen when dealing with "explosives" even when controled in a brass casing.

If it happens again I'd switch manufacturer.
You might also consider contacting the manufacturer.
Send them a pictture if you can.

Glad you were not hurt.

[Cynful1958]

I did keep all the shells, about half of them had a bulge in the cases. Is there anyway to find out how old bullets are ?

[Keith B]

I did keep all the shells, about half of them had a bulge in the cases. Is there anyway to find out how old bullets are ?

If you are talking about the fired shells having a bulge in the case, then what caliber are you shooting and what gun? A bulge in the case usually means there is an issue with the round being smaller in diameter than the chamber. When the round discharges the case swells.

Are you sure the ammo you are shooting and the gun are the right match?

[TDDude]

I did keep all the shells, about half of them had a bulge in the cases. Is there anyway to find out how old bullets are ?

If you are talking about the fired shells having a bulge in the case, then what caliber are you shooting and what gun? A bulge in the case usually means there is an issue with the round being smaller in diameter than the chamber. When the round discharges the case swells.

Are you sure the ammo you are shooting and the gun are the right match?

This is really the only way a case will "swell". Like shooting 9mm in a .357 sig pistol. It will shoot fine but the shells eject looking pregnant. I witnessed this with a shooter at my IDPA club. He forgot to change his barrel from .357 sig to 9mm. Everything worked but we all noticed the odd looking cases that were ejecting out. With a revolver, it seems like you would notice a cartridge rattling around in the cylinder if it was too small.

Sometimes with reloads, if the brass has been reloaded too much on the +P side of the recipe, that can also cause the case to split. I've seen this when I was reloading rifle rounds as a youngun. If it's factory, I wouldn't think that would be what's going on.

I would definately write their local rep and let them know what's going on.

[Cynful1958]

The gun is an old ( belonged to my Dad, and I am 54) S&W 38 with a long barrel. I did notice on the side of this gun, there's a stamp saying "converted by Cogswell & Harrison Ltd London " I do not know what that means. I was shooting Speer Gold Dot 38 spl+p 125 grain. I am not sure how old this box is. This was the first handgun I ever shot at the age of 10.

[Keith B]

The gun is an old ( belonged to my Dad, and I am 54) S&W 38 with a long barrel. I did notice on the side of this gun, there's a stamp saying "converted by Cogswell & Harrison Ltd London " I do not know what that means. I was shooting Speer Gold Dot 38 spl+p 125 grain. I am not sure how old this box is. This was the first handgun I ever shot at the age of 10.

That may be the issue. If you were shooting .38 special, it may be chambered for a different type of .38 round. Also, it may not be capable of handling the +p rounds, so I would suggest you do a little more checking on the actual round to use and then only use a lower pressure round.

[Keith B]

A little follow up. If it is marked .38 S&W it may be for a .38 S&W round which is a little larger than a .38 special. The combination of the smaller round and the high pressure +P caused your case swelling. I found this from http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=41594&page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. There is a lot of good info on this pistol and the conversion in this topic.

It was shipped from the factory as a .38 S/W . Many people use the terms 38 S/W and 38/200 like .223 and 5.56mm or .308 and 7.62 . The 38/200 is a vastly hotter load in what is basicly the same case as the 38S/W .
Because the S/W revolvers were made for the 38 special , they ( and the Colts) could easily handle the pressures of the 38/200 . The barrels , however , were bored to Americian 38 S/W specs ( same as 38 special ) and the British had some concerns early on that the slightly fatter 38/200 bullet would put excessive strain on the skinny muzzles of the S/Ws ( Colts were thicker tubed ) . Therefore , early on , some were counterbored so as to reduce the pressure here . You might check the muzzle to see if that's the case here. If not , just try to slip in a 38 special . If it's still in unaltered 38 S/W , it will not go all the way in. If it does , the chamber has been lengthened to take 38 specials , but because the hole was drilled to take 38 S/W , which is fatter , it will be oversized for the special rounds. Not usually a safety issue with std pressure 38s , but case swelling usually results in stiff extraction and cases too bulged for reloading. You can still shoot 38S/Ws through it , though , kinda like firing 38 specials through a .357 .
As a compared loading , using a 200 gr lead bullet , 1.6 to 1.8 grs is for std 38 S/W . I use 2.7 grs. for the 38/200 . Because I use 38S/W marked cases , every box is marked 38/200 only , not for 38S/W tipups , Victories and Commandos only .

[Cynful1958]

Thank you for the info

[dubya]

38 S&W vs 38 Special sounds most likely. Marking this to come back....

[JSThane]

I had a whole explanation typed here, and then noticed KeithB already beat me to it.

On a side note: It may be an old "Victory" revolver. The .38 S&W and the British .38-200 were externally identical (the British loaded a heavier bullet), and a number of "Victory" revolvers were "accidentally" brought back to the US post-WWII. Some of these were "converted" to .38 Special, but I wouldn't trust them categorically. However, if your gun is indeed a Victory, then that ought to add some military history to the family history.