Factory ammo screw up!

S

Southla1

Member In Memoriam
Seeing that this was a rifle cartridge I guess it goes in the "rifle" forum. At least 70% of the time when hunting whitetail in any kind of semi-open country, I usualy grab my Rem. 700 25-06. I had a chance yesterday for just a short while (after being relieved from helping take care of my ailing dad)to take to a deer stand for a late afternoon hunt. I grabbed the 25-06 and a handful of factory ammo. I had lucked onto Remington brand 120 grain PSP CoreLock's on sale at a store going out of business years ago for $2.95 a box! I bought all they had which was 11 boxes. This was the same ammo I grabbed. I loaded 4 in the mag. and left the barrel empty until I got in the stand. After it got dark (no deer) I took the round out of the chamber, put it in my shirt pocket, closed the bolt on an empty chamber and returned home. At home I emptied the magazine cleaned and put up the rifle, put the 4 rounds out of the magazine and the one that had been in the chamber back in the box. Then I reached in my pants pocket for the other 5 rounds and felt powder! one of the rounds had "lost" the bullet. I put the bullet and empty case on my bench, went and cleaned the powder out of the pocket then started to check out matters. When I put the bullet in the case mouth except for the crimp it was very loose. I tried a .257 bullet out of a box of Sierras on the loading bench and it was tight. I then miked the bullet VIOLA .243 diameter! I then weighed it........105 grains! I have never owned, or had on hand any .243 caliber bullets. The case is/was factory. Never been reloaded, it was factory all the way. It was evident that the crimp was more than the crimp is on other bullets in those boxes. All I can see is that somehow at the factory that 105 grain .243 bullet got mixed in with the 120 grain .257's and it managed to stay in place long enough for the crimping stage of the loading process to crimp it in place. This held it until it got jiggled around in my pocket. With my luck it's a wonder I did not have that one in the chamber, have a 10 point step out 50 yards away, me fire at it, and the bullet rattle down the barrel drop out of the muzzle and fall on my foot! I am not condemning Remington, but its a good idea to check all ammo, factory ammo included.
 
I concur. A few years ago I bought a brand spanking new Browning A Bolt rifle. I purchased a box of Federal ammo to sight it in. about 4 shots into my session, the bolt locked up. It refused to close, I could feed the round but I could not close the bolt. I thought it was the rifle, I tried the next round in the box, same thing. I was sure it was the rifle now. I was bent out of shape. Come to find out those TWO rounds were out of tolerance by a few thousandths. I could have been really screwed if I had been hunting. I dont hold it against Federal, those things will happen in any manufacturing process from time to time. I still buy Federal ammo. Youre right about inspecting it, could save the hunt.
 
I just recently saw a box of new Remington .300 Ultra Mag ammo that had one of the rounds with the primer smashed in side ways.
 
A while back, at a local conservation range, a buncha folks were sighting in just before deer season. One guy had some sorta remchester semi-auto rifle, chambered in .30-06.

He had a box of ammo that the guy at the store had sold him. If I recall correctly, they were 220 grain roundnoses, and would not even begin to chamber in his rifle. I told him to take 'em back, yell at the guy (the guy had specifically said that "yup, these is good deer rounds"), and come back out with some 165 or 180 grain loads...
 
At least you still have your rifle. I shot some 38spcl (Federal) out of a Colt Cobra, and it went BOOM in a big way...lifted the topstrap slightly. Now, I only shoot handloads in that gun......and I avoid Federal like the plague.
 
Factory Ammo.....

Got 2 boxes of Remington 7.62x39 to try in my new Ruger MKII early this year. As I shot I noticed a definite difference in recoil round to round. The bolt was also hard to operate, then easy. On the paper I had a (rough) group 5" high & a group 3" low.
I returned the ammo to Remington, they answered that the loading machine had messed up the neck tension. (i.e. equivalent of shooting crimped & uncrimped ammo)
They returned my money & assured me that this issue had been addressed. Hey, everyone has a bad day, just not a real great feeling when it is your ammo that has "Monday / Friday sydrome.
 
check the other rounds

Just to be on the safe side you should look at the other rounds before you hunt with them. Besides measuring, you can try to spin the bullet in the case. If it is loose be wary. I'm assuming all the boxes were from the same lot, plus I'm cautious when it comes to hunting rounds. I figure for the few shots I get per year I can afford to be picky about ammo.
 
I did check em griz, and yes they are all the same lot number. I had been using this ammo for a years for hunting deer and using handloads for targets and playing around, but I guess this time I took from a different end or the box or possibly it was a different box. After I discovered the problem I checked every round out of every box that I have left, and it was all ok. I don't think that I am as good as Remington but I never had that problem with a hand load :D.
 
RE: Fed/Rem ammo

The ONLY fed or Rem ammo i'll use is shotgun ammo...and it's not my first preference. Too many misfires in both brands from .22 to .357 for my taste.
 
I too had a misfire with Federal ammo. I had a .308 Gold Medal match round not fire. Tried it again and no luck. Still have the round with the lot number, the rest of the lot I purchased shot fine.
 
I once bought a box of Remington-manufactured 170-grain .30/30 Winchester that had one round loaded up without a primer.
 
I've always used 150 grain Rem corelokt in my 30-30 and have had nothing but good to say about them - until last week. Unloaded after dark and went home. Put the rounds on the bench. Later my son says- Hey look at these bullets! All five had the bullets pushed into the case. Checked the box and two were so loose you could wiggle the bullet in the case. I will now check any purchased bullet prior to loading. What do you think about applying another crimp to factory loads "just to be sure?"
 
Hey cuz! Long Time No See! Good to see you back. I don't see where it could hurt to put a little more crimp on the factory stuff. You might also want to mike those 30-30 bullets just to make sure they are .308 in dia.
 
I have been around - just have been super busy getting ready for deer season, honey dos, etc. Back to the ammo- the reason I shoot factory stuff is because it would seem to be more reliable. But now that my reloading skills are what they are, I'm having many second thoughts. What do you think would have happened if I had shot one of those rounds off? I'm guessing the bullet base was actually compressing the cartridge powder. The rifle is a lever winchester 30-30.
 
It may not have hurt anything. The reason being, that as the bullet goes down in the case it gets that much farther away from the rifling in the bore thus inreasing freebore this has a tendency to lower pressure while compressing the bullet in the case would tend to raise pressure. I really think that the 2 would balance out and no harm would be done. Do not use 4 letter words like honeydo's in front of my virgin ears :D :D :D. I have a list 4 miles long waiting for me, but I have managed to dodge most of em so far! :D
 
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