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Balloon Head Case Saftey (Read 243 times)

HG Participating Member Offline Posts: 42 Location: Jacksonville AR Joined: Dec 31^st, 2011	Balloon Head Case Saftey Mar 1^st, 2026 at 8:48pm	Print Post
	I found some really clean R&P 30-40 Krag cases that were fired and cleaned and not deprimed. Upon depriming I discovered the flash holes were double or more in size. On further examination I realized they are balloon head cases. My intent is to blow out and reform to 38-50 and use them for black powder. At what point is the flash hole to big for BP loads? HG


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steveu Full Member Offline Posts: 111 Joined: Aug 21^st, 2023	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #1 - yesterday at 9:12am	Print Post
	Larry Gibson has done experiments with flash holes opened up to .140” for cast loads and BP. What size are the holes you have? I have opened my BP cases to .096” with no issues, I got this idea from Spencer Wolfe’s Trapdoor book. These are with solid case heads! Cheers, Steve
	« Last Edit: yesterday* at 9:20am by steveu* »

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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 17767 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #2 - yesterday at 10:02am	Print Post
	Simply get a punch the right size and punch out some wads from cheap coffee filters to drop into each case before charging them with powder. That will keep the powder off of direct contact with the primers and may even improve accuracy. I do this with all my BP loads regardless of primer hole size.

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HG Participating Member Offline Posts: 42 Location: Jacksonville AR Joined: Dec 31^st, 2011	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #3 - yesterday at 11:04am	Print Post
	Holes are irregular, some normal, most half as large as the primer. A few are almost primer size. My thinking is to take the 5 of largest hole sizes and make the hole uniform then load it with coffee filter wad over flash hole inside the case and then normal load of BP, wad, compression then bullet and see what happens. I would expect nothing other than normal. Headspace is tight and I have some White River primers that seem much harder than all others. Worst case would be blowing a primer which would be contained but I really don't see that happening. Logical thinking says toss 'em but there are 80 pieces. HG


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gnoahhh Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 1029 Location: Gaithersburg, MD Joined: Mar 31^st, 2010	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #4 - yesterday at 1:21pm	Print Post
	I'm really surprised to hear that there was R-P headstamped brass that's balloon head in nature. They started using that headstamp after the merger of Peters and Remington which was looong after the industry-wide abandonment of the awful balloon head. (Not to mention my surprise in hearing of balloon head .30-40 brass at all - I never heard of such a thing. I thought that the Army spec'ed solid head brass from the git-go and that the commercial boys followed suit.) Balloon head = viable for pistol ammo and BP rifle stuff, doubtful for 40K+psi smokeless ammo, IMO. Personally, I wouldn't mess with such stuff, not to mention the wildly varying flash holes you describe. Modern .30-40 brass, while unfortunately not common anymore, is certainly not rare either. Beat the bushes, I bet plenty will fall into your lap!
	« Last Edit: yesterday* at 1:26pm by gnoahhh* »

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HG Participating Member Offline Posts: 42 Location: Jacksonville AR Joined: Dec 31^st, 2011	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #5 - yesterday at 1:50pm	Print Post
	I was surprised that it was head stamped R P also. I cut a case in half and discovered it is not balloon head. It had been blown out to 38 caliber or more likely resized from 40 something to 38 because it has a shoulder. I bet it was stretched and the brass flowed from the head . It is only .10" from the bottom of the primer pocket to the inside case. Not very uniform either. Mystery solved maybe. Not worth the work or risk to salvage. Thanks for the replies. HG


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 17767 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #6 - yesterday at 2:27pm	Print Post
	.303 British brass also works, and is cheaper and easier to find. Last batch of new .303 British I bought for my .40-50SS cases worked out to .50 cents each.

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art_ruggiero Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 1214 Location: CT Joined: Dec 14^th, 2008	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #7 - yesterday at 2:31pm	Print Post
	don't build a load around junk brass


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bullshop Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 296 Joined: Sep 14^th, 2017	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #8 - yesterday at 2:45pm	Print Post
	Very likely brittle due to corrosive priming.


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HG Participating Member Offline Posts: 42 Location: Jacksonville AR Joined: Dec 31^st, 2011	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #9 - yesterday at 2:58pm	Print Post
	I've had one 38-50 Hepburn per Dan Theodore specs and if I remember correctly the 303 British came up a little short after total fire forming. I have some 303. I will give it a go and find out. HG


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 17767 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #10 - yesterday at 3:41pm	Print Post
	HG wrote yesterday at 2:58pm: I've had one 38-50 Hepburn per Dan Theodore specs and if I remember correctly the 303 British came up a little short after total fire forming. I have some 303. I will give it a go and find out. HG .30-40 Krag are 2.31" long, .303 British are 2.222" long. .38-50 are 2.23" long, so the .303 British aren't short enough to be an issue, unless a particular chamber reamer made the chamber longer. A case neck stretcher could also be run in the case and get the minor difference quickly.

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gnoahhh Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 1029 Location: Gaithersburg, MD Joined: Mar 31^st, 2010	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #11 - yesterday at 4:17pm	Print Post
	bullshop wrote yesterday at 2:45pm: Very likely brittle due to corrosive priming. Corrosive priming won't hurt brass. It's the old mercuric priming that caused embrittlement, and that stuff was phased out before WWI by and large.


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Oldman1950 Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 262 Location: Virginia Joined: Feb 8^th, 2014	Re: Balloon Head Case Saftey Reply #12 - yesterday at 9:08pm	Print Post
	Why risk the chance of something going wrong with lousy brass as the results could be at minimum a face full of hot gas and just maybe your rifle becoming a pile of parts. A. J. Palik


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