A true oddity

[Mhinagoya]

Gentlemen.

I ordered 2,000 pieces of 9mm once fired brass and these were in the lot. I'm not through resizing them yet, so I have no idea how many are in there. They are head stamped "MaxxTech 9mm". They almost look like they were machined from bar stock.
I apologize for the blurry image, but I'm not inclined to drag out one of the wife's Nikon DSLRs and a macro lens, so I shot this with my phone.

Yes, it appears that the bottom of the cartridge is MUCH thicker than the top. So thick, that I got out my measuring tools and went to work. This is a rough sketch of what I found;

I have never seen anything like this and I have been reloading 40+ years. These are definitely one piece (that isn't an insert). A few of the measurements were made with a Mitutoyo digital caliper. The rest were made with micrometers and for the .2845 measurement, a ball gauge and a micrometer.
Edit: I just noticed an error in the dimensions. Where the sketch is marked .0242 Thick, it should be .048 thick which would give a machined 'shelf' thickness of 035.

So far, I have found three of these. If anyone wants one for their collection or just to examine such an oddity, drop me a pm and I'll send one to you, at least till they are gone. With the reduced internal volume, I wouldn't even consider trying to reload one.

Bill.

 

[Kentos]

Interesting! Looked it up and a thread from 2016 mentions this.

Obviously a great way to give yourself a kaboom. Glad you were able to pick them out!

 

[nortac]

Yes, I remember that thread. I personally would toss them. Obviously you would have to tailor your powder charge to compensate for the reduced case volume to be safe. Personally not worth the effort, YMMV.

 

[jar_]

What I find interesting is it's a 'once fired' case. I would expect to see more signs of over pressure if they had been fired in the past.

 

[David57]

You can call MaxxTech and ask if they had a special purpose.

 

[Mhinagoya]

I finally got through all 2,000+ cases and have sorted out the damaged and 'odd' ones, including seven of these and the two that were Berdan primed. So, I have resized cases in an ammo can, 2,000 115 gr JRN bullets in another, two pounds of Nitro NF100 on the shelf earmarked for this project and will pick up two cartons of Winchester small pistol primers at Powder Valley this week.
I'm not really a 9mm fan, but using Armscor bullets and Nitro NF100, this is a very cheap way to put together a bunch of centerfire range ammo and my double stack 1911 eats them like candy. I have over 2,500 rounds of 45 ACP on the shelf and am ready to load 500 rounds of 40 S&W and at least that many of 10mm. Another 2,000 38 Super Comp completes the 'larder' and I haven't looked to see how much 22 lr I have. There are 4 cartons incoming.
Once I get through all this, I'll cover the press and shoot till I need to do it all again.

The shocker: I use a Redding single stage press. I'm retired. I have time to load on a single stage press. It isn't 'busy work' it is real work and I like feeling productive.

I had no idea I would have this much fun in retirement. I look forward to every day with excitement and have to force myself to 'take a day off' now and then. I promised myself that I wouldn't plant my southern half on the couch and sit there to rot. I haven't. I live the fullest and most pleasant life of anyone I know. This is just a small part of it and you guys are nice enough to go along for the ride. That's the icing on the cake. Thank you.

Bill

 

[jar_]

I finally got through all 2,000+ cases and have sorted out the damaged and 'odd' ones, including seven of these and the two that were Berdan primed. So, I have resized cases in an ammo can, 2,000 115 gr JRN bullets in another, two pounds of Nitro NF100 on the shelf earmarked for this project and will pick up two cartons of Winchester small pistol primers at Powder Valley this week.
I'm not really a 9mm fan, but using Armscor bullets and Nitro NF100, this is a very cheap way to put together a bunch of centerfire range ammo and my double stack 1911 eats them like candy. I have over 2,500 rounds of 45 ACP on the shelf and am ready to load 500 rounds of 40 S&W and at least that many of 10mm. Another 2,000 38 Super Comp completes the 'larder' and I haven't looked to see how much 22 lr I have. There are 4 cartons incoming.
Once I get through all this, I'll cover the press and shoot till I need to do it all again.

The shocker: I use a Redding single stage press. I'm retired. I have time to load on a single stage press. It isn't 'busy work' it is real work and I like feeling productive.

I had no idea I would have this much fun in retirement. I look forward to every day with excitement and have to force myself to 'take a day off' now and then. I promised myself that I wouldn't plant my southern half on the couch and sit there to rot. I haven't. I live the fullest and most pleasant life of anyone I know. This is just a small part of it and you guys are nice enough to go along for the ride. That's the icing on the cake. Thank you.

Bill

Had I known how nice retirement is I wouldn't have wasted all those decades working.

 

[Rob72]

MaxxTech specs their standard 115 gr ball at 1150, about 40fps less than WWB. I would guestimate chances of case head separation are basically nil with MaxxTech and they can probably use a bit less powder to achieve similar velocity. Assuming there is physical space for the extra powder, I would imagine these would be great cases to load up your own Cor-bon ~1400 fps rounds.

 

[Ad Astra]

Anything can happen, trust nothing. Machines make "typos."

I have a box of 300 BO from a good company that failed the checker. No bueno.

AA

 

[Mhinagoya]

MaxxTech specs their standard 115 gr ball at 1150, about 40fps less than WWB. I would guestimate chances of case head separation are basically nil with MaxxTech and they can probably use a bit less powder to achieve similar velocity. Assuming there is physical space for the extra powder, I would imagine these would be great cases to load up your own Cor-bon ~1400 fps rounds.

Doing a lot of digging, I found old references to this ammunition separating, leaving the 'mouth' of the cartridge firmly stuck in the chamber while the remainder would depart the area. I understand that some folks had a bit of a chore removing the offending piece. I can see this happening.
It might be fun to play with, but having the chance of part of the case stuck in the chamber, I think I will pass.

Drop me a message and I'll mail a couple of these to you for your collection. They are so odd, I haven't the heart to toss them.

Bill.

 

[Rudy Vey]

All stepped brass gets straight to the recycling container, and when full, I take it to the local metal place and get some $2 per lbs....I had some of this crap from Freedom Munitions years ago.

 

[Filudo]

Here is another "case" but a bit different. Radian Afterburner "system" (barrel+comp). Got one new, first round got jammed maybe 3mm short....was so so so hard to pull out. I tried 4 different bullets all did not seat well. They gave me a new one...., that one seems to have an OK chamber (sitting of different 115, 124 and 147 from different brands). Now look at the brass: these are all Brand new common used 9mm.

 

[Kentos]

Hmmm. Maybe I’ll wait on getting a Radian.

 

[Rob72]

Short chamber? If you got two, they're having troubles.

It certainly is not the Radian Uber-Comp, but I've switched completely over to Strike's Circle-comp. I'm very, very, happy with their offering.