I had something very strange happen on my range last week. 4 years ago, I purchased a bulk pack of 250 "Remanufactured" 115 grn FMJ 9mm loads at a local shooting range. I ran through a couple hundred at the range with no issues. The bulk tub of ammo was stashed in my powder/bullet cabinet, never to reappear since I finally found some 9mm dies and a wonderful 35-135A mold from Accurate molds. Well, last weekend I decided to run through those remaining FMJ's to free up the brass for loading my cast loads. To my surprise, both my son and I noted that they had a pretty sharp recoil but I assumed I had just gotten used to my cast 135's at 930 fps and these loads were "normal" for FMJ "factory/remanufactured" Then, my son let out a "What the <explative>!" His hands were coated in black soot and his face (wearing glasses fortunately) caught some debris. Upon inspecting the brass, we discovered it had blown out the side near the base. We cleaned things up and fortunately, his gun was no worse for the wear. Here's where I got really stupid... I assumed that had to be a fluke, possibly a double load, so I proceeded to shoot another mag of the ammo. After 6 or 7 rounds, I noticed that the loaded chamber indicator on my XDS 3.3 was sticking up further than it should. Sure enough, it was broken and when I inspected the pile of brass, I found another ruptured case.
I intend to reach out to the manufacturer, not because I feel they owe me anything, but to give them a heads-up and the lot number just in case there might be more of this stuff floating around and perhaps they can learn from my incident and re-examine their component choices. They have a substantial, ongoing business and website so it's not a fly-by-night guy in his basement that loaded these things.
So, with that background, I pulled the bullets on the remaining rounds and wanted to share a couple photos. The ammo was loaded with 115 grn FMJ's and the six rounds had about 20.5 grains of powder total (3.42 grains each). In 45 years of reloading, I've never had a round get "hotter" sitting on the shelf and I found nothing unusual when I pulled the bullets. I'd be curious to know if anyone else has experienced something like this and if anyone can identify the powder. Very small ball shape for the most part with a few random misshaped granuals throughout.
For the record, I do know - if something doesn't seem right, STOP and error on the side of caution. I was stupid and careless. We were fortunate - nobody got seriously hurt and replacing my loaded chamber indicator was about a 10-minute job.
Thanks in advance to anyone that can help with the powder ID.