I am through buying...

A

ActivShootr

New member
Hornady ammo. I have four boxes from three different lot numbers and they all contain rounds that don't seem to be crimped tightly. The bullets get set back into the cases when chambered then unchambered. I have never had this problem with any other ammo. I have contacted the company's customer service and they sent me a new box of ammo but it has the same problem.

Would the bullet setback cause higher than normal or dangerous pressure?

Anyone else had this problem with Hornady's 185gr. XTP in .45acp?
 
ActivShootr,

Have you contacted Hornady with your problems? They might send you some freebees to make it up to you (like free boxes of ammo) and they might even send a UPS pickup tag so you can send the rest of the ammo to them so they can check it out and see what kind of issue there is with it.

Why do you keep chambering/unchambering rounds?
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Could be his carry gun and ammo and he unloads the gun before cleaning it every month or week or whatever, not to mention the possibility of taking out the carry ammo to practice with less expensive ammo.

Could be that when he is hunting he unloads his firearm before getting in his vehicle at the end of the day, then reloads the next morning before starting out.

Could be he is rotating the ammo in his mags.

Seems to me there are plenty of valid reasons to unload a firearm and then load it again.
 
Why do you keep chambering/unchambering rounds?
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Why does it matter? I should be able to load and unload my firearm without damage to the ammo.

I first noticed it when I unloaded it to put it in my travel case. I ejected the chambered round and noticed it looked shorter than the others. It was shorter. I put the magazine back in the pistol and racked through it. Three out of 7 rounds were set back.
 
People often load their pistols for the day, then unload them at night or for storage. This would explain the loading and unloading.

As noted, it can cause dangerously high pressures, especially on hot loaded ammo.
 
What type of handgun are you experiencing this with? If it's happening the first time you load the round into the gun with a new cartridge, I would say your handgun isn't properly tuned for feeding hollowpoints.

When you slowly cycle the action and load a round, does the nose of the bullet dive as the slide starts to pushing it into the chamber?
 
I carry my pistol, one or the other, daily. I don't unload them at night, so that's why I asked. I've had the issue with a 1911, as their feeding is a little harsher on a round than my GLOCK. I'll add my 1911 didn't have a ramped barrel.

Why does it matter? I should be able to load and unload my firearm without damage to the ammo.
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It's the nature of the beast sometimes. It's a bullet, you're going to shoot it down range anyhow. I'd toss it and stop losing sleep over it.
 
I'm using a Kimber Eclipse Custom II that I have had for several years. I have never seen this problem before on this gun so I'm pretty sure it is an ammo problem.

I have used Federal, Remington, Winchester, and various handloads in this gun without any problems.
 
I carry a 1911 too, but when I'm home and take my gun off, I unload it and put it in the safe (I don't keep loaded firearms in my safe).

So, any given week I will load and unload my carry 1911 several times.
 
I can't say with any certainty what the issue is as I don't have any XTP 185's to play with.

In this situation, I would continue to use the flavor of ammo that works properly in your 1911 and avoid the use of XTP's.
 
Yeah, I have switched back to the WWB "for personal defense" for now. The local wal-mart was out of Golden Sabers.
 
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Heck, even when you buy factory ammo for defense, you can crimp it yourself.

Now that I think of it, you could buy a Lee Hand Press and a factory crimp die for 45 ACP for probably less than $50 and crimp all your ammo in that caliber.
 
I tend to rotate the top round in the magazine so that the same round doesn't get the "unload / rechamber" drill more than once.

Probably not needed but I'd bet a lot of us Garand owners do that with handgun magazines just out of habit. SKS folks probably behave similarly.
 
I should be able to load and unload my firearm without damage to the ammo.
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It doesn't work like that. Most manufacturers will tell you that the crimp will only hold through 3 or 4 chamberings. If you continually rechamber a round, figure on it starting to show setback after that many chamberings.

There's no way around it, if you crimp the bullet too tightly it will result in decreased accuracy and possibly higher discharge pressures.

If you are in a situation where you must rechamber frequently then you need to keep track of the rounds and when a round has been rechambered 3 or 4 times it's time to retire it to the range bag to shoot on your next trip to the range. It may not be ideal but that's just the way it is--no amount of complaining to the manufacturer will change it.

It is true that some ammunition is more susceptible to this--I've noticed the Blazer aluminum sets back very easily. I've not noticed a problem with other brands.

The bottom line is that even if you find a brand that doesn't set back easily, you still need to limit the number of times you chamber/eject/rechamber a particular round.
 
set back

I had a problem like that with the Winchester silver tips from one cycling. I just quit using them and switched to hand loads, no more problems :D (put a tight crimp on them)
Some types of ammo does not have a tight crimp and the bullet tends to slide backwards when cycling the action.
I will cycle a round about twice then it goes to the bottom of the mag until I either shoot it or I have cycled all the way thru the mag (haven't made it thru an entire mag yet :D )
 
Most manufacturers will tell you that the crimp will only hold through 3 or 4 chamberings. If you continually rechamber a round, figure on it starting to show setback after that many chamberings.
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This is happening after one chambering. Here is my procedure: Insert mag, rack slide, rack again, observe defective round.

I might expect it to happen after 3 or 4 but not one.
 
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