Sometimes things can happen ...
Frequent proper training can help instill the necessary recognition & patterned responses which may be necessary to resolve many of the more commonly anticipated problems which can occur when using pistols.
With that mouthful out of the way ...
Having training kick in to help resolve 'unexpected' problems when pucker-factor is present is a good thing ...
Over the years I've experienced, and/or observed with other folks on our range, failure-to-ignite situations involving both reloaded/handloaded/remanufactured ammunition ... as well as brand new ammunition made by at least 3 of the major American ammunition manufacturers, and a couple of the foreign ones.
Things can happen.
Sometimes I've determined that improper cleaning/contaminants were involved in a particular situation, and sometimes I've eliminated that as a contributing factor, finding the pistol properly maintained without any contaminating liquids being present in places where they would potentially affect the ammunition being used or carried.
Not all ammunition is necessarily the same, either.
Some of the major maker's lower cost ammunition lines may not use the same components, or be subjected to the same sort of quality control inspections, as their higher cost, 'premium' lines. Also, sometimes a particular L/E or military contract specification may require a higher QC inspection process than that used in the same ammunition when sold in commercial venues.
I've been on the range when rounds didn't fire, even though they exhibited heavy primer cup indentations/firing pin hits, when Federal American Eagle, Winchester USA/Subsonic Duty/Personal Protection and Remington Express ammunition was being used. Sometimes I've bothered to test the rounds for ignition after a further hit, and had both continued failures-to-ignite as well as the rounds fire.
Interestingly enough, I carried Federal 147gr Hydra-Shok ammunition as an issued duty load for several years, and whenever I fired off older duty rounds or new-in-box rounds (we trained with less expensive 147gr ammunition) of it, it never exhibited any failures-to-ignite. I have a bit less experience with the Classic Hi-Shok 147gr & 115gr ammunition (mostly we used the American Eagle line, since it was on the state contract at the time).
I've had rounds fail to fire after exposure to lubricants inside magazines which were carried on uniform duty belts (big surprise), and remember one case where several rounds of W-W Silver Tips failed to fire after the user returned them for new ammunition during an exchange one time. On close examination many of the rounds exhibited contamination by a lubricant/solvent.
I've disassembled many service magazines being carried by folks and discovered significant solvent & lubricant contamination. I've allowed it to slowly drip out of a magazine upon occasion. Some owners/users seem to forget to occasional clean their magazines and leave them completely DRY, devoid of any lubricant/solvent/CLP liquid.
I generally use Winchester T-Series, Speer Gold Dot and Remington Golden Sabre as preferred carry ammunition ... (T-Series is the current issued round) ... although I'll sometimes briefly use the less costly W-W Personal Protection & Remington Express ammunition for my off-duty weapons, since that's what's on hand for training ammunition and it's easily available after I clean my various pistols.
Bottom line, when it comes to personally owned off-duty pistols I try to use the best quality ammunition I can ... and practice/review proper pistols skills related to resolving malfunctions, including ammunition-related problems such as 'bad rounds'.
When you consider that millions of rounds of ammunition come off production lines, it's hardly surprising that some of them may occasionally contain defective components such as hard, or inert, primers. I used to have the occasional inert primer back when I was a reloader, too.
I had a few instances where the cases of rounds were just enough out-of-spec, lengthwise, in some contract L/E ammunition ... from two different, major manufacturers, BTW ... for them to properly chamber in .40 S&W pistols. The overly long cases weren't easily apparent until I later carefully compared them to other unfired rounds in good lighting, at which time it was easy to see that the cases were slightly too long.
Sometimes things can happen ...
You can certainly call Federal and ask about it, though.
It wouldn't be the first time (or the last time) a particular production lot of ammunition was manufactured with some component or production condition which was later discovered to be problematic, or below the quality standards commonly acceptable to the manufacturer ... and which wasn't discovered until after the ammunition had been shipped/sold.
Frequent proper training can help instill the necessary recognition & patterned responses which may be necessary to resolve many of the more commonly anticipated problems which can occur when using pistols.
With that mouthful out of the way ...
Having training kick in to help resolve 'unexpected' problems when pucker-factor is present is a good thing ...
Over the years I've experienced, and/or observed with other folks on our range, failure-to-ignite situations involving both reloaded/handloaded/remanufactured ammunition ... as well as brand new ammunition made by at least 3 of the major American ammunition manufacturers, and a couple of the foreign ones.
Things can happen.
Sometimes I've determined that improper cleaning/contaminants were involved in a particular situation, and sometimes I've eliminated that as a contributing factor, finding the pistol properly maintained without any contaminating liquids being present in places where they would potentially affect the ammunition being used or carried.
Not all ammunition is necessarily the same, either.
Some of the major maker's lower cost ammunition lines may not use the same components, or be subjected to the same sort of quality control inspections, as their higher cost, 'premium' lines. Also, sometimes a particular L/E or military contract specification may require a higher QC inspection process than that used in the same ammunition when sold in commercial venues.
I've been on the range when rounds didn't fire, even though they exhibited heavy primer cup indentations/firing pin hits, when Federal American Eagle, Winchester USA/Subsonic Duty/Personal Protection and Remington Express ammunition was being used. Sometimes I've bothered to test the rounds for ignition after a further hit, and had both continued failures-to-ignite as well as the rounds fire.
Interestingly enough, I carried Federal 147gr Hydra-Shok ammunition as an issued duty load for several years, and whenever I fired off older duty rounds or new-in-box rounds (we trained with less expensive 147gr ammunition) of it, it never exhibited any failures-to-ignite. I have a bit less experience with the Classic Hi-Shok 147gr & 115gr ammunition (mostly we used the American Eagle line, since it was on the state contract at the time).
I've had rounds fail to fire after exposure to lubricants inside magazines which were carried on uniform duty belts (big surprise), and remember one case where several rounds of W-W Silver Tips failed to fire after the user returned them for new ammunition during an exchange one time. On close examination many of the rounds exhibited contamination by a lubricant/solvent.
I've disassembled many service magazines being carried by folks and discovered significant solvent & lubricant contamination. I've allowed it to slowly drip out of a magazine upon occasion. Some owners/users seem to forget to occasional clean their magazines and leave them completely DRY, devoid of any lubricant/solvent/CLP liquid.
I generally use Winchester T-Series, Speer Gold Dot and Remington Golden Sabre as preferred carry ammunition ... (T-Series is the current issued round) ... although I'll sometimes briefly use the less costly W-W Personal Protection & Remington Express ammunition for my off-duty weapons, since that's what's on hand for training ammunition and it's easily available after I clean my various pistols.
Bottom line, when it comes to personally owned off-duty pistols I try to use the best quality ammunition I can ... and practice/review proper pistols skills related to resolving malfunctions, including ammunition-related problems such as 'bad rounds'.
When you consider that millions of rounds of ammunition come off production lines, it's hardly surprising that some of them may occasionally contain defective components such as hard, or inert, primers. I used to have the occasional inert primer back when I was a reloader, too.
I had a few instances where the cases of rounds were just enough out-of-spec, lengthwise, in some contract L/E ammunition ... from two different, major manufacturers, BTW ... for them to properly chamber in .40 S&W pistols. The overly long cases weren't easily apparent until I later carefully compared them to other unfired rounds in good lighting, at which time it was easy to see that the cases were slightly too long.
Sometimes things can happen ...
You can certainly call Federal and ask about it, though.
It wouldn't be the first time (or the last time) a particular production lot of ammunition was manufactured with some component or production condition which was later discovered to be problematic, or below the quality standards commonly acceptable to the manufacturer ... and which wasn't discovered until after the ammunition had been shipped/sold.