Federal Top Gun Ammo with Bad Primers

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Dreaming100Straight

New member
I experienced 2 failures to fire out of a single box of Federal Top Gun this past week and another shooter had 2 of a single box the week before. We were both shooting Citori's and the failures were in the lower barrels. I know that is a common problem if the pins are worn or crudded up, but I pulled mine and they looked fine and clean. The primers appear to have been too deeply seated. Has anyone else recently experienced primer failures with Federal Top Gun ammo?
 
Yes, I hear guys are having some issues with it .....

.....its Federals cheap promo ammo .../ about the same as their Estate brand in my view...( I'm not surprised you're having some issues show up with it )...

I'm not shooting any of it...I reload...Rem STS or Nitro hulls ( I still have powder ...)..:D

( and the hulls don't reload very well ...they crack easily ...)
 
Due to the lack of powder, I have been buying the valupaks from WalMart without issue, but I bought these at the range (which gave me the choice of them or Estates for the same $8.50). I think it is the particular lot, but given that I am struggling learning skeet it really stunk to have two ftf, of which one was the 1st of a double and I almost had a game going. I don't need them yet, but since I will eventually need them, I may as well order a set of firing pins.

I mentioned the problem at the office, and they pretended that they hadn't heard about issues with it. Another reason to drive a bit further to another range, as I am pretty certain others are complaining.
 
I really doubt you have a firing pin problem....on the Citori.

I have well over 500,000 shells thru my Citori 12 ga XS skeet, and I've never changed a firing pin..../ and at least 100,000 shells thru my other gagues of Citori XS Skeet models ....even my old field grade Citori Lightnings...I've never changed a firing pin on any of them....

There was a time - around the year 2000 ....where some Citori's were having firing pin issues...but it seemed to relate back to guys that were shooting a lot of cheap imported shells that might have had corrosive primers...and some of the talk was that Chedite primers were causing it .../ but maybe the firing pins were not hardened correctly.....but I've used a lot of Chedite primers in all 4 gagues of my shells with no issues.../ but all that talk went away after a couple of years...

So I would not even buy replacement firing pins for the gun...

Just shoot up the shells you have .....and try Rio's or maybe Remington Gun club as a cheaper alternative ....maybe go back to WalMart if you have to / or just buy 10 cases of REM STS ...and save the hulls ( I think we'll have more powder in the pipeline by spring or summer of 2015...)...from Hodgon in the Clays family...
 
I think you are right. As for cleanliness, the lower firing pin cavity wan't even that dirty. Still, I removed the pins and cleaned everything with CRC, blew it out, sprayed lightly with RemOil, and lightly greased the surface of the hammers where the sear rides. I have been shooting either my Gun Club reloads, the WalMart ValuPaks, or Gun Clubs that I can get at a decent price if I am in the area of a wholesaler. Those misfires were from a box I bought when I ran out, but a buddy showed up late in the day and I was caught short of ammo. Paying the range (I hate to call it a club) price for crappy ammo, when I could buy better stuff elsewhere, was adding insult to injury.

Supposedly powder MAY be loosening up, but there is so much back ordered it will still be a while until there is enough. I have noticed a lot more pistol and rifle ammo at my local WalMart.
 
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I've been lucky / some guys in my area were overstocked on shotgun powder - especially Universal and Clays...

....and I traded them 8 lb kegs of handgun powder - for 8 lb kegs of Hodgdon Clays and Universal....

( so I'm set thru 2015 --- especially in 3/4 oz loads for the 28ga...).
 
at the two clubs i shoot shotgun at there has been no problems at all with the federal value packs(marked multi-purpose loads, not top gun ammo) of 100 for 19.94 from wally world,i have bought 2600 rounds and several other shooters have also bought large amounts with no problems at all yet. i see more problems with members reloads than any factory shells, we have a long ram rod to push the stuck wads out hanging on the gun rack. they did just raise the price to 24.85 for the value packs at wally world. i to use the rem sts-gold nitro cases for reloading. eastbank.
 
Same here, no problem with the 100 count Federal Valu-Paks, but the Federal Top Gun.

When I finally got a brass weight for clearing bloopers (when the primer fires but there is insufficient powder so that the wad clears the muzzle), they stopped. I only had about 1 every 2,000 and I think they were all reloads that I had botched before I got my reload procedure smoothed out.
 
All that "clean living" is finally paying off ...!! ;)

( but then, I have powder, I can afford to gloat ...at least a little ...)...

I've even shared with my local buddies ....so we're adapting to this shortage pretty well ( but we're all shooting more 3/4 oz loads in 12ga, 20ga and 28ga of course...)...
 
Pictures of one of the two Top Gun shells that failed and a picture of an unfired Gun Club. It may be hard to see from these, but the TG is recessed significantly deeper than the GC (disregarding the rounded surface of the TG and different materials.)

GunPrimer2001_zps98079299.jpg


GunPrimer2002_zps49266ab7.jpg
 
It happens with all of them eventually Dreamer. If you have a case of that ammo you may get a few more. But you may not have another misfire for 10 years either. I had three in a case of AA's about ten years ago, but I haven't had one since. My buddy had one yesterday with an Estate 20 gauge shell. If your gun doesn't fire and you don't fall down, that means you have good shooting posture! LOL!
 
I fired them today out of my top barrel and of course they went boom. Had to resort to Winchester valupak loads from Wally World and they all went boom, but God it is filthy stuff. I don't care what anyone says, two failures in one box (not a case, as I only bought two boxes and I the failures were in one of them) is too much and, from what I hear and observe, Top Guns are a problem they shouldn't be having if the line wasn't sped up out of greed by the manufacturers of those shells.

At least now is the time to have failures to fire, when I most likely would have missed had they gone boom.

As for falling down, I can do that quite well whether or not the thing goes boom.
 
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