[doctor_cop]

I never thought it could happen, but I had a total case head seperation while firing my .40 S & W P99 this morning. I am not hurt, shaken up a bit, but the gun is trashed. I figure the gun saved my butt (actually my face and hands). On the Walther, the extractor is broken with a spring protruding from it and the frame is badly cracked. I found the case head about 10 feet away, the body of the case is still in the chamber. I have contacted both Walther USA and the cartridge company by e-mail. I was firing "guaranteed remanufactured ammo" from a company here in Texas. God, I hate that this happened.

 

[slug]

Who is the remanufacturer of this ammo ?
Keep us posted on developments with ammo maker and Walther .
Glad nothing happened to you , sorry about your gun .
Vic

 

[doctor_cop]

Houston Cartridge Company. So far as I know they have a good reputation. I'll keep ya'll up.

 

[M700Police]

Sorry to hear about that.

Can you take any pics of the gun? I would like to see how it held up.

 

[SVRider]

Wow, glad to hear you're OK. I'd really be interested in seeing pictures as well. I've never heard about a Walther doing this before, just Glocks. And one confirmed USP on HKPro, although that was a .45ACP (there was another one that probably was a hoax).

Is it just me or does this seem to happen mostly to .40S&W handguns? I know, the .40 was designed to be a high pressure round from the beginning. I've never really cared for this caliber, it reminds me of all the people driving around in CRVs and RAV4s. They don't know if they want an SUV or a compact car so they get something that tries to be both.

 

[BreakerMorant]

The .40 S&W is a good round; however, both Browning and Glock specifically recommend not using reloaded .40 S&W because its tolerances are too tight. I had mentioned this post to a guy at the range who does a lot of reloading and he said that the rim of the cartridge is under a lot more pressure when it is being extracted than most other rounds, given the thickness of the brass. -I can't vouch for it, but he said that Glocks extract the casing with more force than most other .40's and weaken it, thus allowing such a thing to happen when it is reloaded and fired in another gun.

-That said, The important thing is that you're able to walk away from this with no injuries. I suspect that your best recourse is against the company that reloaded the ammunition and guarantees their work. Every gun manufacturer that I can think of regards the use of reloaded ammunition as voiding the warranty. The manual that the Walther P99 comes with states, in its warnings section: "Old or reloaded ammo may be dangerous. Don't use it." (Page 24).

Good luck. Please let us know how it pans out.

 

[voodoo17]

Glad to here you are "just" shaken up. I have a 40S&W so please post followup info. Again, glad you are OK and sorry about the gun.

 

[doctor_cop]

Sorry it has taken me so long to update this. My sister passed away unexpectedly and I have been out of town and have had other things on my mind.

The service center got back to me within 24 hours instructing me to Fed Ex the pistol to them at their expense. They advised that they would determine whether the fault was the gun or the ammo. If the gun, they advised that they would repair or replace; if the ammo, they would advise of costs before proceeding. I shipped it 2/6, they received it but they have not gotten back to me, I suspect the big snow storm has something to do with that.

Meanwhile, the owner of Houston Cartridge Company also responded back advising that if it was the ammo he would pay to repair or replace the pistol as necessary so long as he gets the gun and the remaining ammo I had that day. Seems fair on both company's part.

I'll update as this progresses.

 

[BreakerMorant]

-There's no need to apologize for the delay on your end. You have my condolences regarding your sister. Such a loss tends to make one re-focus and take stock about what is truly important. As much fun as the forum and the hobby is, it is a distant second to family.

 

[esquif]

my condoelence for your sister and your gun. i have a p99 in .40 and i am very interested to know what cause the probleme as you are the first KB i ever heard about in a P99. Could it be a bullet that got stock into the barell ? anyway keep us posted

 

[BrokenArrow]

Last summer (2002) at a local range, several Glocks and a Walther had case failure kBs that cracked the frames on the gun. Ammo was the same in all or them; factory new PMC 165/40 FMJ/FP.

Some SIGS, USP, and XDs had the similar case failures, but shrugged it off with no damage. Doesn't prove anything, but does suggest thicker chamber walls and more case support is a good thing to have?

 

[P88]

I have seen this a lot with PMC .40 ammo. I know of 3 P99's having kB's from reloaded ammo using PMC brass. Thus I threw away all my PMC brass. This is the first I've heard of brand new PMC manufactured ammo causing kB's.

I've not heard of any problems with other PMC calibers.

 

[BrokenArrow]

PMC had some problems with early lots of 180/40 too. Apparently they still haven't got the hang of loading for the forty yet?

 

[doctor_cop]

Well, folks, here is, hopefully, the end of my KB story. Smith and Wesson did not advise who they regarded as fault, but they Fed-exed me a brand new Walther p99 which I received Monday. The fit and finish are as good as the previous one and it does have the German proof marks. The slide is marked Smith and Wesson on the right side though.
Lessons learned:
Using reloads over which you have no control is a bad idea.
Using commerical reloads in a very expensive weapon is a false economy.
Do not reload PMC brass (and I am not to keen on new PMC either).
Avoid 180 grain bullets.
I cannot say enough good things about the way the folks at Smith and Wesson treated me. This was outstanding cutomer service.

 

[BrokenArrow]

Sounds good except for the "avoid 180s". No reason to do that at all. I've seen and heard more probs from factory ammo in 155/165 than 180 for example. Might as well avoid the 40 in general if you're gonna generalize from a few bad cases...

That avoid the 180s got started at the Calibers web page. Some of that info was taken from an article by Charles E. Petty about pressure, setback, etc. I asked CEP about it and he said it went too far, he sees no reason to avoid 180s in the 40.