A little heads up warning....

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Project355

Project355

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Been loading since before 1978. First time I've ever seen this "gotcha", so I thought I'd pass it along.

Was loading up some 165g cast bullets for my .44 Boomer. Brand new, package of 500 from a big name bullet casting company. I'm not here to trash the company, because mistakes happen. I'm here to tell ya what could have been a really bad thing.

About half way thru the first block of 50 loads, I noticed that one of the bullets has a deformed cannelure section. So I look... and the first thing I think of is, crap, I got one of my 45 bullets mixed in with the .44's. Well that didn't happen, but I wasn't thinking at the moment, because I didn't even consider it was a fresh opened box. So I looked at the finished round... decided to measure the OD of each one, since I was using the same JAG brass if there was a caliber mix, it would show. Was .453 to about .4545 on random rounds, including the oddball.

There was just a little bit of exposed full diameter of each bullet exposed above the crimp groove. Both were .430 inches. I gave up on the 45 mixup at that point. Had some coffee. Came back, looked in the box of 44 bullets to see if I could see anything, and remembered, hey... that was a new box I just opened (duh). At that point... I knew something else was different but what.

So I weighed 'em. Rounds with the "regular" bullets - from the box - were damn near 100g less than that oddball (I didn't balance the scale, didn't have to, as it was pretty damn obvious as to the weight difference). So far, I've not been able to find another odd bullet in the box, its tedious going, but... they crimped the same, just one was taller, or deeper rather, "inside" the case.

If I hadn't noticed the slight "ring" from the seater stem on the edge of the exposed bullet... and fired that in my little Boomer, it would have become a KA-Boomer I'm sure.

Lesson for the seasoned loaders and especially the newbies - keep your wits about you. If something is a little different, a bit odd, just "not right".... stop and investigate! The life you save may be your handguns!

As far as the casting company goes... I think its a fluke. You just NEVER hear of issues with their product, they're well known here, and have a stellar reputation - which is why I don't wanna mention 'em. I'm sure they have measures in place to prevent such cross pollinization, but... we still can't take things for granted.
 
20201219_092948.jpg

After I took this photo, put the 250 gr bullet in with the shorter 200 gr. Loaded the 250 gr as if it was the 200 gr.

Caught my mistake. Could not pull the bullet. So, cut bullet flush with case mouth, making a full wad cutter. Shot it. 44mag, 700X 4.3 gr ,lite target load.



The long "bullet" was said to be loaded into this factory round. A normal bullet is shown for comparison.

StrangeBullet.jpg
 
Project355 said:
Been loading since before 1978. First time I've ever seen this "gotcha", so I thought I'd pass it along.

Was loading up some 165g cast bullets for my .44 Boomer. Brand new, package of 500 from a big name bullet casting company. I'm not here to trash the company, because mistakes happen. I'm here to tell ya what could have been a really bad thing.

About half way thru the first block of 50 loads, I noticed that one of the bullets has a deformed cannelure section. So I look... and the first thing I think of is, crap, I got one of my 45 bullets mixed in with the .44's. Well that didn't happen, but I wasn't thinking at the moment, because I didn't even consider it was a fresh opened box. So I looked at the finished round... decided to measure the OD of each one, since I was using the same JAG brass if there was a caliber mix, it would show. Was .453 to about .4545 on random rounds, including the oddball.

There was just a little bit of exposed full diameter of each bullet exposed above the crimp groove. Both were .430 inches. I gave up on the 45 mixup at that point. Had some coffee. Came back, looked in the box of 44 bullets to see if I could see anything, and remembered, hey... that was a new box I just opened (duh). At that point... I knew something else was different but what.

So I weighed 'em. Rounds with the "regular" bullets - from the box - were damn near 100g less than that oddball (I didn't balance the scale, didn't have to, as it was pretty damn obvious as to the weight difference). So far, I've not been able to find another odd bullet in the box, its tedious going, but... they crimped the same, just one was taller, or deeper rather, "inside" the case.

If I hadn't noticed the slight "ring" from the seater stem on the edge of the exposed bullet... and fired that in my little Boomer, it would have become a KA-Boomer I'm sure.

Lesson for the seasoned loaders and especially the newbies - keep your wits about you. If something is a little different, a bit odd, just "not right".... stop and investigate! The life you save may be your handguns!

As far as the casting company goes... I think its a fluke. You just NEVER hear of issues with their product, they're well known here, and have a stellar reputation - which is why I don't wanna mention 'em. I'm sure they have measures in place to prevent such cross pollinization, but... we still can't take things for granted.
Click to expand...
Mistakes happen. That’s why we learn to watch and triple check. Motorcycle riders say there’s two kinds: riders who have dropped a bike and riders who haven’t dropped a bike yet. Something similar in reloading applies I’m afraid. You just dodged the bullet. Pun intended.
 
That 224 long bullet looks like a nope noodle after someone fired a 300 blackout in a .223/5.56 barrel...

Weight would check out, too, as there are plenty of 110-130gr 300 blowup rounds. And the rifling marks.
 
Project355 said:
Been loading since before 1978. First time I've ever seen this "gotcha", so I thought I'd pass it along.

Was loading up some 165g cast bullets for my .44 Boomer. Brand new, package of 500 from a big name bullet casting company. I'm not here to trash the company, because mistakes happen. I'm here to tell ya what could have been a really bad thing.

About half way thru the first block of 50 loads, I noticed that one of the bullets has a deformed cannelure section. So I look... and the first thing I think of is, crap, I got one of my 45 bullets mixed in with the .44's. Well that didn't happen, but I wasn't thinking at the moment, because I didn't even consider it was a fresh opened box. So I looked at the finished round... decided to measure the OD of each one, since I was using the same JAG brass if there was a caliber mix, it would show. Was .453 to about .4545 on random rounds, including the oddball.

There was just a little bit of exposed full diameter of each bullet exposed above the crimp groove. Both were .430 inches. I gave up on the 45 mixup at that point. Had some coffee. Came back, looked in the box of 44 bullets to see if I could see anything, and remembered, hey... that was a new box I just opened (duh). At that point... I knew something else was different but what.

So I weighed 'em. Rounds with the "regular" bullets - from the box - were damn near 100g less than that oddball (I didn't balance the scale, didn't have to, as it was pretty damn obvious as to the weight difference). So far, I've not been able to find another odd bullet in the box, its tedious going, but... they crimped the same, just one was taller, or deeper rather, "inside" the case.

If I hadn't noticed the slight "ring" from the seater stem on the edge of the exposed bullet... and fired that in my little Boomer, it would have become a KA-Boomer I'm sure.

Lesson for the seasoned loaders and especially the newbies - keep your wits about you. If something is a little different, a bit odd, just "not right".... stop and investigate! The life you save may be your handguns!

As far as the casting company goes... I think its a fluke. You just NEVER hear of issues with their product, they're well known here, and have a stellar reputation - which is why I don't wanna mention 'em. I'm sure they have measures in place to prevent such cross pollinization, but... we still can't take things for granted.
Click to expand...


Pictures are needed.:)
 
This the second story of a bad batch of bullets from a big name supplier. T think they are in such a rush to fill orders and are behind in every area that seconds or blemishes or rejects are being sent out to market.Going to be more observant in the future.
 
I don't think that it's bashing to point out a 'miss' from a factory's QC. It could help motivate someone to look a little closer at their own batch.
 
I buy de-milled from American Reloading. They say right up-front that there may be some oddballs mixed in. Learned to weigh five-at-a-time - if the weight isn't within 5 grains, there is something wrong.

It's totally crap-tastic to also have to weigh commercial boolitz. Kind of defeats the purpose of buying "factory" components.

"trust but verify", my friends.
 
Well, this isn't a "bad batch", or a blemish, or a reject. And if I was paying attention, I would have caught it - before - it got seated and crimped. There was no need to weigh commercial bullets either. Fact is, the heavy bullet (I'm thinking it was 250-ish grain) had a very similar shape to the lighter bullet. The light ones have a straight edged, truncated cone. The heavy one was almost like that, with just a tiny amount of curve to the edge of the cone. And it was way longer - that SHOULD have tipped me off, but it didn't. I was happily loading rounds, and in a bit of a groove doing so. So, how did that bullet get mixed up? I've seen pictures of the operation at this casting company... its a very "clean" operation for a casting house. The only scenario is somehow it ended up on the floor, and somebody picked it up and tossed it in where they "thought it was supposed to go" (which was the wrong bin). In other words, simple human error. I went through the other 450 bullets, and they were as they should be.

This thread is about keeping one's spidey senses awake, wasn't meant to be about any vendor. The only reason I really mentioned vendors and such is that it was a new fresh box, and that we can't take things for granted.

@Rule3 wanted pictures..... sorry to disappoint, but I tried pulling the bullet the bubba way with pliers in the press... didn't get hold of it well enough and really made a mess of it. After that I just clipped as much protruding bullet off the case as I could, and re-weighed it. It was 33 grains lighter than the light bullet rounds. A quick pass thru taper crimp die, and the remnants of the bullet are now doing their best to resupply the earth's lead deposits, in my backyard. In other words, I shot it! :)
 
Some years back I bought some new production 40 gr plastic tip .224 bullets. I was very familiar with the 40gr BT bullet but never saw the new ones from this other company. They looked unusual to me so I was curious what they really weighed. They were 50 gr, not 40 gr like it said on the box. Went back to the shop where I bought them and we opened another 19 boxes, they were all 50 gr bullets, not 40gr bullets. I called the company and got customer service. After explaining the situation the guy just laughed and told me that it was no big deal. I said: “Seriously? Packaging bullets 25% heavier than on the label is no big deal?” It is to me! He wanted me to send them back to them. I said BS. It’s your screw up, you should just send me the correct bullets and I’ll just keep these too. He reluctantly agreed and did send me the 40 gr bullets. They were a much different profile than the BTs I was used to. They didn’t shoot for crap either so I never tried any more. The 50 gr shoot great in my 222 though. Never assume what is printed on the box is what’s in the box, weigh and measure them.
 
Project355 said:
Well, this isn't a "bad batch", or a blemish, or a reject. And if I was paying attention, I would have caught it - before - it got seated and crimped. There was no need to weigh commercial bullets either. Fact is, the heavy bullet (I'm thinking it was 250-ish grain) had a very similar shape to the lighter bullet. The light ones have a straight edged, truncated cone. The heavy one was almost like that, with just a tiny amount of curve to the edge of the cone. And it was way longer - that SHOULD have tipped me off, but it didn't. I was happily loading rounds, and in a bit of a groove doing so. So, how did that bullet get mixed up? I've seen pictures of the operation at this casting company... its a very "clean" operation for a casting house. The only scenario is somehow it ended up on the floor, and somebody picked it up and tossed it in where they "thought it was supposed to go" (which was the wrong bin). In other words, simple human error. I went through the other 450 bullets, and they were as they should be.

This thread is about keeping one's spidey senses awake, wasn't meant to be about any vendor. The only reason I really mentioned vendors and such is that it was a new fresh box, and that we can't take things for granted.

@Rule3 wanted pictures..... sorry to disappoint, but I tried pulling the bullet the bubba way with pliers in the press... didn't get hold of it well enough and really made a mess of it. After that I just clipped as much protruding bullet off the case as I could, and re-weighed it. It was 33 grains lighter than the light bullet rounds. A quick pass thru taper crimp die, and the remnants of the bullet are now doing their best to resupply the earth's lead deposits, in my backyard. In other words, I shot it! :)
Click to expand...
——
I’ve had inconsistent bullets in boxes from big names - companies with names starting with an H, R, S, and even an N - which is why we check, double check, triple check, then have the dog sniff it just to be sure before seating the bullet.
No offense to other critters people. If you’d rather get your bullets a cat scan, that works too.
 
deja vu - Hard to believe 2 reloaders did almost the same thing, with in days of each other. :confused:
Project355 said:
I shot it
Click to expand...

Me too. Was about 220 grs after cutting the nose off. It and 4 other 200 gr bullets were on target at 25 yards.

Wish now I had taken a photo of the "full wadcutter"
Project355 said:
This thread is about keeping one's spidey senses awake
Click to expand...
+1.
 
I'm sorry to say, I do not own a proper bullet puller. In the very old days, my ace machinist friend (EDM guru) made up some plates to hold various calibers of handgun ammo. The "holding" plate had a "retaining" plate that twisted into place, and the whole thing was made on a short shank that fit on pneumatic hammer (like they use with pickle forks for ball joints). Load up the plate, twist the locker, put the little pin in place so it didn't untwist and burrrp it into an old tire. Bullets came out easy in a second. We had very very few "duds" of our own "range reloads", but we sometimes got "trade in ammo". Never used it, just held it for disassembly on a slow day. Even then, we had to decap the brass manually because we didn't want to chance live decapping on the automated machinery. That was at the range. At home... I used to have an RCBS kinetic puller, but I can't find it, ain't seen it in 15 years or more. I'll have to get another, as my "take apart" box has a few specimens to salvage.
 
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