It has been discussed in the past if the "stepped" 9mm cases were safe to reload. I mentioned that I load them often and shoot them without issue.

Today, I tried to get 5 of them to fail. They are all head stamped "FM" not certain the manufacturer.

To maintain some control, I used 5 other non-stepped cases from other manufacturers. Winchester, speer, FC, Blaser and Remington.

All the brass tested is at LEAST 2x fired. Once from the factory and at least once by me. Possibly more. I pulled them from my blaster brass stash.

The load is 4.9-5 gr of Unique, CCI 500 primers, and 115 gr PCC home cast boolits. This is a medium load, but one that works well in my 9's.  All rounds were loaded using dillon dies on my dillon 550. All charges were thrown using the dillon PM. Charges were checked randomly and all were within the 4.9 to 5 gr range.

I logged velocities, but I did not shoot for accuracy. All loads functioned 100% in the S&W SD9VE I fired them in.

FM brass velocities:
3x fired    4x       5x        6x        7x        8x       9x        10x
1177       1127    1116    1098    1147    1128    1122    1144
1144       1142    1122    1117    1135    1145    1146    1114
1138       1150    1108    1133    1129    1156    1148    1150
1186       1169    1139    1098    1150    1149    1148    1141
1161       1106    1129    1119    1113    1166    1128    1146

Control brass velocities:
            3x       4x        5x        6x       7x        8x        9x       10x
Win       1146    1106    1115    1113    1079    1134    1061    1143
Blazer    1149    1118    1133    1070    1107    1105    1131    1109
R-P        1131    1088    1098    1110    1088    1102    1111    1118
Speer     1138    1101    1116    1080    1092    1131    1092    1127
FC         1120    1136    1089    1103    1121    1099    1099    1130

Pictures to follow. I had no brass failures of any kind. The test could continue.

Before 3x firing
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Insides after 3x firing
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After 10x firing
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FM was "xtreme bullets" company brand, I think they own freedom munitions as well. I've used those cases extensively with no problems, and no pressure issues.

Good work!

I will still toss FM headstamps though

I have never had a problem with them but apparently they lock up 1050's

i've had to hammer out three brass rings out of my uzi and 2 out of my m11/9 from cases separating at the step and getting stuck in the barrel. I have a ton of that crap mixed in my reloads and bulk buys from years ago unfortunately. It gets real sporty when a case can't fully seat in the barrel of an open bolt mg running full auto.

I am assuming those weapons have generous chambers to allow for better function?

I wish I had more options for this test. Neither of my 9mms have large chambers or anything.

I’m hoping the testing will continue if possible.

Just the same, I think the easy answer for the open bolt autos and the autos in general, are to keep their brass batches segregated and well inspected if they plan to reload at all.

Good Luck with the testing and be safe.

I trash the stepped cases for this reason.

These cases have a less restricted inner diameter than the MaxxTech stepped cases.  I sort of expected that the MaxxTech brass would need a full blown load workup for safety.  But these FM cases are not that much smaller internally than regular brass, and there doesn't seem to be any sign of pressure issues.

On the other hand, open bolt SMGs do Bad Things to brass.  They tend to extract (if that's the right word with open bolt SMGs) while there is still a lot of pressure inside the case, and shredded brass isn't an uncommon result.  With brass that's substantially thicker than normal, it looks like only part of the case shreds, and it leaves parts in the chamber.  Great to know ahead of time.

I'LL continue to trash the stepped cases I come across.

Thanks for the report.

I do not seem to remember any Maxxtech cases in my stash. If someone wants to send me 5 of them, I'll test them out and see what happens in my guns.

I was thinking about it and I decided to work up the charges on my cases a bit. 5.2 is a bit hotter and I know it is safe, I've shot it before.

The next 10 firings will be at 5.2 gr of unique to add some pressure to the cases.

Thanks boman, for another excellent thread!  

RE: unique, as much as I personally dislike that powder, I commend your choice for this thread, since unique is so universally known and used in our community.  

Also, most 9mm cases can, by design, withstand much more pressure than folks would believe. That’s not to say folks can ignore published reloading data; I am just saying it’s an unusually strong case When used in a modern locked breach pistol (not so much in a blow back).

Made it to 15 firings today without anything to report.

I will post velocities later when I get to 20 firings.

The cases were getting so dirty, it was hard to see them on the ground and I was spending more time looking for them than loading and shooting. So they are tumbling clean right now.

Sometimes those brass catchers work, you know the ones that look like a butterfly net.

Putting one up on a camera tripod so it is at a comfortable height for your shooting stance may help prevent looking for the cases in the dirt.

9mm brass is too abundant and easy to get for free to take any chances.

Thanks for the effort put into this OP.

This.  Stepped cases only fail in carbines or other blowback type systems that start extracting while still under pressure.

OPs experience mirrors my own (though way more rigorously tested and documented - hats off sir!).  

9mm brass is common as dirt,  so I usually just set aside stepped brass for fire&dump days, but in common 9mm pistol actions,  they run fine.

In my experience with the powders I use, the common knowledge about 9mm case capacity and bullet set back - and actual field experience,  don't agree much.  Maybe +P+ fast powder loads, but in just basic shooters 9mm loads, that's a non-item. (For me)

How do they feel as they pass through the sizing die, any different?

Does the case bell funnel get caught or require a different adjustment?

They feel the same as all the other head stamps. They load the same as well. I run them through the dillon 550 randomly when I load them up.

They feel the same as all the other head stamps. They load the same as well. I run them through the dillon 550 randomly when I load them up.

Made it to 20 firings today. Had a casualty.

One of the FM head stamp brass cases had a neck split. Very small, but I saw it upon inspection after the 17th firing.

Velocities have not really changed much.

FM
11x    12x    13x    14x    15x    16x    17x    18x    19x    20x
1164  1185  1207  1182  1192  1155  1181  1173  1168  1163
1207  1226  1187  1189  1179  1188  1224  1198  1190  1194
1210  1208  1220  1210  1214  1217  1192  1194  1190  1202
1163  1238  1180  1204  1180  1206  1170  1211  1188  1180
err     1228  1172  1212  1190  1212  1171  

          11x    12x    13x    14x    15x    16x    17x    18x    19x    20x
Win     1172  1153  1148  1158  1178  1133  1207  1153  1168  1178
Blazer  1155  1198  1133  1180  1167  1159  1205  1178  1162  1167
R-P      1153  1160  1134  1132  1135  1178  1162  1190  1164  1144
Speer  1193  1164  1161  1195  1190  1147  1170  1165  1156  1166
Federal 1152  1134  1192  1172  1212  1181  1177  1158  1180  1157

I am inspecting the brass after each firing and after loading. If split necks are the thing, I would like to catch them before shooting.

Pic of split neck.
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Pretty good catch with such a small start to the split.

Even with that, 17X isn’t unusual to start seeing issues statistically. Good Catch.

I reload the stepped cases and never had any issues. I use TG as powder.