Was out shooting my PARA-ORDNANCE 9mm the other day.  I was using a mix of Win. White, S&B, and Wolf.  Everything was humming fine.  I had a mag full of Wolf.  Bang, Bang, BOOM!  The pistol lit up, and the mag came flying out of the handle in pieces.  My hand stung quite a bit, but I was not hurt.  The pistol was locked up tight and my $80 pre-ban mag was in four pieces.

Anyway, I finally dug out the ruptured case with a dowel rod.  The whole butt end of it was blown out and down.  Can anybody help me understand what happened?  This particular pistol has had about 3,000 rounds through it, about half of that being Wolf 115 grain.

I know that Wolf is cheap and horror stories abound about it.  I have shot about 6,000 rounds of wolf in .223 and 9mm over the last two years and it has been great.  Was it the ammo?

Note:  My pistol was on about 500 rounds without a cleaning.  Wolf and other cheap rounds are fairly dirty.  Could residue have built up enough to not fully chamber the round and therefore the action was not locked up tight?  Or, is it not possible to fire a 1911 type weapon unless it is locked?  Or is this obviously a bad round?

BTW:  Thank god I was holding a big piece of stainless steel.  Polymer would probably have held up okay, but I do not want to test this again with my Walther P99 or my Kel-Tec P11.

sounds like a case head separation.

SEE!!!  we told you Wolf ammo was SHIT!  but I bet you were thinking it was a hell of a deal until you got that one bad case and almost killed yourself.  

box all your busted crap up and send it to para-ordinance with the blown up case and a few rounds of wolf ammo and let them take a look at it.  they may have pity on you and replace the gun for free.

Need a picture, or description of the failure.
Also, had any ramp, or throating work been done? Other customization?

Any indication of problems before?
Let the shop you bought the ammo from, as well as the ammo manufacturer know. They'll probably make it right by you..

Meplat-

Rhainan,
I had the exact same KB you described about 2 years ago Wolf ammo blew up my new CZ 85 combat,(I wasn't hurt) Pistol had about 250 rounds ran through it, I would suggest you call/e-mail Wolf's distributor immeaditly, They replaced my pistol quickly, After I had signed some release forms, Get ahold of them ASAP! this should not happen!  the only wolf ammo I now use is for my Makrov...other than the mak ammo, NO Wolf for me...

It could have been a bad round, or it could have been due to the round not fully seating due to dirt causing the base of the round to be unsupported. This 'should' not happen in a 1911 style under normal circumstances. If the round doesn't chamber fully, the disconnector should not engage properly, but it depends on tolerances.

Its a matter of odds who to send it to first. My 1st action would be to contact Wolf as previously advised, as it is most likely an ammo problem. If you send it to Para 1st, they may end up returning it and advising you to send it to Wolf. (Of course, it may be a Para problem and Wolf may tell you to send it to Para, which is why you play the odds).

Had you blown off your hand, how much money would've been saved by using Wolf?

I freaking blew up my Broomhandle with their shit. I learned the hard way.