A long while ago I purchased some 9mm, 115Gr FMJ ammo from what seemed to be a large scale reloader. They had a nice booth and lots of complete ammo for a decent price. Forward a dozen years and that ammo finally came up in my quasi first in-first out ammo rotation. I found that 1 in every 15 rounds had a detonation, blowing out the back of the case. I had it happen in 4 different guns before I figured out it was the ammo. I tried to identify if there were any way to isolate the bad rounds and couldn't find any external signs (like cracks or damaged cases). Just recently I got an ammo puller and expected to find some rounds with a double charge of powder, but could find anything obvious. So, does anyone have any ideas of the cause, so I don't repeat it?
The Brass failed at the base of the brass right above the rim. Several completely separated the base (rim), but most had a small hole blow out. None showed any blow out through the primer.
Overall length was the same (so no squashed bullet over pressure). No visible signs of damaged brass.
Powder that I pulled from the opened bullets varied from about 4.5 Grain to 5.2 grains. I don't know what powder that was used and I tried to weight the charges that were left in the bullet puller hammer, so there may be some variation there. 5.2 grains doesn't seem like an over pressure volume unless it was a very fast powder and then it doesn't seem excessive, but someone else might have more experience. I didn't see any case bulging or primer bulging, just the hole.
Could the cases have been reloaded one too many times or was there a over pressure from too much fast powder?