Bad Ammo?

E

Emaroquin

Inactive
Hi, someone gave me a box of Armscor FMJ 9mm 124 grain ammo, so I went to shoot it with my STI GP6.

I used a pile of like 15 newspapers and shot from 3 meters away.
My first shot was with my 12 Gauge Shotgun, I used 00 Buckshot and it went into the newspaper and made a massive hole, no problem.
Then I used my .22 Magnum Rifle and shot the newspaper. Both bullets got inside the newspaper and expanded.
At last I used my 9mm pistol and shot 2 times. the first shot went into the newspaper and through 5 or 6 newspapers, the second bullet shocked me, it bounced off the newspaper! It bounced and was 5 meters from the place I shot the rounds. The round was intact, and had no deformation whatsoever

So this makes me think. Is this ammo defective? Do I have a big chance of having a squibload out of these rounds? Have you used Armscor ammo before?
 
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If a bullet fired from a factory 9mm cartridge bounces off of a stack of newspapers, yeah, it's safe to assume it was defective. If the cartridge was inadvertently assembled with no powder, I doubt that the primer alone would get the bullet that far. My guess is that it was loaded with insufficient powder, making it a "squib" load. In any event, I wouldn't be loading a pistol intended for self-defense with ammunition from the box in question. :eek:

I would do two things: First, I'd make certain that the person who gave you the ammunition did not reload it. Secondly, if it is in fact factory ammunition, I wouldn't shoot any more of it until I contacted the manufacturer and apprised them of the situation. Armscor will doubtless want to test the ammunition in question.
 
I have some of their .45 ball ammo and so far it's been reliable and powerful stuff.
No mishaps at all.
But anything mass produced can have faults.
Ask the car makers.
 
First, I'd make certain that the person who gave you the ammunition did not reload it. Secondly, if it is in fact factory ammunition, I wouldn't shoot any more of it until I contacted the manufacturer and apprised them of the situation.
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Good advice, that. If you find out it is reloaded, give it back so the giver can pull it down and reuse the components. I wouldn't accept reloads from that person. If you disregard all this advice and try to shoot it up, be very aware of the possibility of a squib. Any failure of the slide to cycle, a soft report or soft recoil, or failure to see a hole in the target, should be investigated by clearing, double checking the clear, then doing a field strip to look for an obstructed barrel. Squibs are dangerous to gun and shooter both.

Writing that makes me ask: Did the recoil and report seem normal? Bouncing off newspaper is pretty extreme.
 
Did the slide cycle?

Any chance the second shot hitting the newspapers caused the first bullet to be slung out of the newspapers (from the shock of the papers when the second bullet hit them)? Flimsy newspapers are going to deform, buckle and flail around when hit by something with that sort of velocity, and I could realistically see a bullet buried in there (the first one) being slung out.........
 
Was the first bullet still in the newspapers when you shot the 2nd bullet at them? I wouldn't expect a bullet to be deformed from shooting dry newspapers, especially if it's an FMJ/TMJ.
 
I find it hard to believe a charge strong enough to cycle the slide would be weak enough to bounce a bullet. So there was nothing odd about the felt recoil or the report of the second shot?

I'd also be rethinking your target. You're 3 meters away and it bounced 5 meters. Do the math. Next time it could be bouncing back at you and maybe it doesn't have as little force behind it as you think.
 
But you dont expect to bounce either
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That's my point............ It seems to me a more logical explanation that the first bullet was thrown out of the stack of papers by the shock of the 2nd bullet hitting the papers and causing them to flail about.

For instance, if you hang a blanket on a clothesline and tie a baseball to corner of it and then whack the blanket with a ball bat, the ball will fly off toward you because of the energy of the bat causing the edges of blanket to flail about.

Even if it was the first bullet that was thrown out of the papers, I wouldn't expect to see deformation from shooting it into dry newspapers.
 
Consider this...

If you have a demonstrated under power round one possibility is the round did not get the full charge of powder. Yes, there are several other possibilities, but just look at this one, for now...

If the round didn't get all the powder it was meant to have when it was made, where do you think the missing powder is???? On the floor under the machine that loaded the round? MAYBE.....or MAYBE its in another round in that batch????

MAYBE in the box of ammo you have????

Consider that, before shooting any more of that lot.
 
If you do decide to keep using that ammo, just do it slow and carefully.
I once got a batch of reloads at a gun show that was less than useful.
But rather than pound all the rounds apart with my trusty impact puller, I just shot them, one careful round at a time.
No harm and all made it out of the barrel.
It was kind of fun, actually, watching some of the bullets go down range, like king sized pellets.
Just be careful doing it.
And, yeah, like 44AMP sez, maybe not.
How lucky do you feel?
 
I'm thinking there has to be some evidence missing here. I have trouble accepting that a load was so light it bouced off newspapers, yet continued to cycle the action properly. I wasn't there to see everything, but I have to think something got missed that caused what you experienced.
 
I'm thinking there has to be some evidence missing here. I have trouble accepting that a load was so light it bouced off newspapers, yet continued to cycle the action properly.
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Agreed 100%.
 
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