extractor pulled case in half

[dyablo409]

so this happened today. i was shooting federal xm855 55 grain and some american eagle 62 grain with no problems since ive had my ar. bought it back in February. ive only shot 20 rounds of tulu steel case ammo just in case it matters. rifle was working fine till i shot it then went to shoot again but it just dropped the hammer and nothing so i checked the ejection port and found this. the other half is still in the chamber so im going to take it to a gunsmith to see if he can take it out. what do yall think could of caused this ive looked it up but the only thing that comes up is the extractor breaking the rim of the case so this is new to me.

[ROLEXrifleman]

A broken shell like this is not the norm but it is far from rare. Look up broken shell extractor.

The main cause for this is weak brass. Either weakened by to many full length resizing with reloaderes or improperly fire formed if it's factory. Another cause would be improper head spacing or improperly stored ammo.

In the case you mentioned I would venture to say that the fact that you were using Tula ammo, which is polymer coated steel case had a part to play. As you admitted first firing standard brass through your rifle this heated the chamber. you then fired Tula, this allowed the heat from the already fired rounds combined with the heat from the currently fired rounds to bake off some of that polymer and leave it in the chamber. The residue in the chamber provided for the subsequent brass ammo to not properly headspace, if even for the slightest bit, aiding in your broken shell.

My opinion moving forward would be to either use one or the other type of round. and in the event you use any coated ammo be it Tula, Silver Bear, Wolf etc... you clean the chamber aggressively prior to reintroducing brass cases.

[dyablo409]

A broken shell like this is not the norm but it is far from rare. Look up broken shell extractor.

The main cause for this is weak brass. Either weakened by to many full length resizing with reloaderes or improperly fire formed if it's factory. Another cause would be improper head spacing or improperly stored ammo.

In the case you mentioned I would venture to say that the fact that you were using Tula ammo, which is polymer coated steel case had a part to play. As you admitted first firing standard brass through your rifle this heated the chamber. you then fired Tula, this allowed the heat from the already fired rounds combined with the heat from the currently fired rounds to bake off some of that polymer and leave it in the chamber. The residue in the chamber provided for the subsequent brass ammo to not properly headspace, if even for the slightest bit, aiding in your broken shell.

My opinion moving forward would be to either use one or the other type of round. and in the event you use any coated ammo be it Tula, Silver Bear, Wolf etc... you clean the chamber aggressively prior to reintroducing brass cases.

thanks for the info. but i didnt shoot the tula today. i only shot brass what i meant to say that the rifle has only shot 20 rounds of tulu ammo since i bought it. and i had cleaned it before shooting brass again. i guess i didnt word it right on google to find what i was looking for

[ROLEXrifleman]

did you clean it while the chamber was still hot? If not did you use a chamber brush to clean it as well with harsh solvents? If not then the polymer/laquer would have been backed into the chamber. When you fired the new rounds during your follow up shooting session you would have heated up the polymer/laquer in the chamber which may have already had head space issues and now made it a sticky glue trap adding resistance to the extraction process.

Brass is softer than steel, that why shooting tons of tula ammo at once doesn't cause this, the steel is hard and still extracts. and when it doesn't the rim rips off.

Do you own a chamber brush? If not then your not cleaning your AR properly. And that's not an opinion, its a fact.

[dyablo409]

did you clean it while the chamber was still hot? If not did you use a chamber brush to clean it as well with harsh solvents? If not then the polymer/laquer would have been backed into the chamber. When you fired the new rounds during your follow up shooting session you would have heated up the polymer/laquer in the chamber which may have already had head space issues and now made it a sticky glue trap adding resistance to the extraction process.

Brass is softer than steel, that why shooting tons of tula ammo at once doesn't cause this, the steel is hard and still extracts. and when it doesn't the rim rips off.

Do you own a chamber brush? If not then your not cleaning your AR properly. And that's not an opinion, its a fact.

i do own a chamber brush and i think i do clean it pretty good i use the hoppes solvent and chamber brush and go to town with it and then reapply more solvent and go to town on it again and again. no by the time i get home and clean its already cold. i guess i'll just stick with brass o and thanks for the broken brass extractor tool i would of gone and take it to a gunsmith and never would of known about this.

[ROLEXrifleman]

There's pros and cons to steel case ammo. I by no means am saying don't use it, just know it can cause, of at least contribute, to issues more so than brass ammo by its design.

Steel ammo is cheaper than brass, in my opinion that's it's one and only pro.

It's cons are

the fact that it's harder on chambers

Has to be coated in some way to prevent rusting which ends up in the chamber

Doesn't expand like brass

In an ak or some other third world country rifle where tolerances are measures in feet not thousandths of an inch no problem, but in the finicky world of the ar I would pass

[flashlight_65]

We're you using reloaded ammo? It looks like it could have been blank brass with the knurl on the bottom 1/3 (that's the only thing I've seen that happen with) Like Rolex said could just be a dirty chamber.