Shotgun shells splitting?

the noobie

New member
Wasnt sure if this was normal and couldnt find anything about it on google. But today I was shooting some factory 12 gauge 2/3/4" 8 shot. I was noticing that every few have splits around the crimps after firing. One split goes from the end of the hull and down about 3/4", others had multiple splits, some had none. Is this normal?

Ive never had this happen and got a little worried.
 
Doesn`t sound good to me either.I had splits from overuse when younger on the old Mec 650.Doesn`t sound good from new factory ammo IMO.What hull is it??
 
Wasnt planning on reloading any of them but I have never had them split out on me when Im shooting, especially for factory. They were Federal Red Box
 
I've never saw that either.Even after several reloads the worst I get are very short splits maybe a 1/4" or so in the crimp.If you have more I would try to return them.
 
If i'm reloading and notice a split on the sidewall i chuck the hull, but if it's a little one on the lip, i'll load it and mark it for doubles on trap and let it fall after shot.
 
It was cold and maybe thats the reason they were failing but I was getting nervous pulling some out that were pretty split up. Never had that happen during my mid winter pigeon hunts though.
 
I have been known to shoot at lots and lots of clay targets a year, not nearly so many lately, but enough to remember which end of the gun the bullet goes in....

anyway...

It is not common, but if they were an economy type hull, and perhaps a bad batch of plastic and cold weather, it could happen.

clearly as you indicated, not an ideal situation, but probably wont hurt anything.

Certainly probably not worth trying to reload any of the hulls from those boxes.
 
Federal hulls are garbage. Soft wimpy plastic even in their
more expensive ammo hulls. I do hand loading, and for some
of the specialty wads I use, I am almost forced into using
Federal hulls. I cuss a lot when loading with them. If
you purchased "cheap" Federal ammo, almost certainly these
loads are even cheesier than their typical hull. As for concern
about safety, you may want to take them back to where you
purchased the ammo, just for extreme paranoia sake. Me, I would
shoot them up, and make a mental note not to buy cheap Federal
ammo again...Already had that mental note.
wink.gif


Squeeze
 
I've done a fair amount of trap shooting and the older AA hulls are better than the new ones. I'm a cheap a$$ and shoot an over and under so as long as they hold the shot I keep loading them but that doesn't work in an auto or pump.
 
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