Ammunition reliability

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dirtykid

dirtykid

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I have pushed about 700-800 rounds thru my Glock 27, and for the FIRST TIME EVER , I had a bad primer.
Center was clearly dimpled, and it looked like the firing pin indented as deep as shells that did go bang,
So my question to everybody is how often have you had factory-ammo not go boom ?? AND was it a specific brand ?? Mine was some REM 9MM that i bought at wally-world,, just wondering if i should stick to American Eagle like i usually use or is this just a fluke ? :confused:
 
It happens every once in a blue moon. For the most part, it is not brand specific. I see no need to shy away from Remington because you got one dud.
 
Yea, i actually fed-it back into another mag and it went bang, so im convinced its a VERY rare occurence,, I've fed that Glock more stuff than my garbage-disposal , different grain weights and brands of ammo all in same clip and it's NEVER even hiccuped until now.
 
While people on forums like this one are always advising that you should never carry handloads for self defense, I do after having personally seen factory ammo with primers inserted backwards and cases with no flash hole in them. And it doesn't help that I constantly read posts on forums regarding rounds setting back after one or two chamberings (this is now becoming commonly accepted as "it's just something that happens"). I cannot place 100% faith in their quality control. If you want it done right you really do have to do it yourself. Remington's ammo and components have to be some of the worst junk I have ever seen.
 
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I've had it happen with WWB and the cheap Remington. You sort of get what you pay for with range ammo and with range ammo it doesn't really matter.
 
It's happened quite a few times to me with steel cased crap, mostly TulAmmo and Wolf. Probably because the primers are harder, not because they're bad. Can't say its ever happened with WWB, Remmy, or Federal range fodder.
 
My co-worker theorizes that the primer wasnt "seated" completely and the first strike from firing pin pushed primer home , and second strike actually set it off, is it possible to dimple the steel on the primer without it firing ?
 
Interesting. I just received 200 rds of Remington 300 aac blackout ammo and it's the worst looking factory ammo I've ever seen. Cases felt dirty,burrs on the outside case mouths,brass looks like it's been annealed,dents in the cases and a few I had to pull and resize the case as the mouth looked to have been flared and not properly crimped. I admit I'm fussy how my reloads look and have had people think that they were factory rounds but this stuff looked like it was made in a cave somewhere. and at $20 a box of 20 to boot. Or am I being too fussy?
 
It's happened quite a few times to me with steel cased crap, mostly TulAmmo and Wolf. Probably because the primers are harder, not because they're bad. Can't say its ever happened with WWB, Remmy, or Federal range fodder.
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I've had just the opposite experience. Never had Tula ammo not fire but I've had a few WWB and Remingtons not fire and I've shot pretty close to 2,000 rounds of Tula through my Glocks.
 
It happens very infrequently with factory as well as handloads. I've made more than one mistake hand loading as have most others that roll their own..I'll take a bad primer over a double charge any time....Brand name high quality self defense ammo is a pretty safe bet,that is if your piece feeds them proper. What happened in your case is no reason to quit using a certain brand.

Like others have said ya gets what ya pays for.
 
highlander 5 said:
Interesting. I just received 200 rds of Remington 300 aac blackout ammo and it's the worst looking factory ammo I've ever seen. Cases felt dirty,burrs on the outside case mouths,brass looks like it's been annealed,dents in the cases and a few I had to pull and resize the case as the mouth looked to have been flared and not properly crimped. I admit I'm fussy how my reloads look and have had people think that they were factory rounds but this stuff looked like it was made in a cave somewhere. and at $20 a box of 20 to boot. Or am I being too fussy?
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The loaded rounds are 100% chamber gauged. Meaning, every one is dropped into a gauge resembling a SAAMI minimum chamber. They have hard case heads, and were tested to 10 reload cycles.

Remington 300 AAC BLACKOUT brass is of course annealed in the necks. The anneal marks are not polished out as per military requirements for visual confirmation of annealing. The factory warned me that there are people who associate highly polished brass with quality and I ignored their warning when I specified the brass. It was not that I did not think they were right but I was going after the military market and I thought there was enough consumers who would appreciate that. While you are the only person who has complained, as this gets more popular, there may be more people who want shiny. So I will keep an eye on what people think.
 
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makes me wish Glock would bring their 28 Newton striker springs to North America.

I use a Wolff 6lb striker spring, but I would much rather have a factory part for something that critical to the function of the gun.
 
One poster commented that the primer might not have been seated completely. This brings up the need for anyone using ammo of any source to closely examine it prior to loading their weapon.
Run a finger over the primer. Does it feel like it is standing a bit proud of the cartridge base? How does the neck look? Is the slug in square? Any significant dents in the cartridge?

Any self-respecting reloader does these and other checks to ensure their ammo is good. Even the guy who only buys premium factory ammo should do them too.
 
I've had that happen with Wally World WWB in 9MM too. I'll be staying away from that stuff from now on.
 
People always talk about their gun being 100% reliable but they forget the ammo in the equation. Nothing mechanical has 100% predictable performance, same with anything made by man.

Center fire ammo is very reliable for the most part. Often ammo that fails in one firearm will work fine in another. The number of commercial center fire factory rounds that have failed to fire in my guns over the last 45 years can be counted on one hand with fingers left over. Throw in rim fire and you would have to add more fingers and toes than a dozen people have.
 
Steve C said:
People always talk about their gun being 100% reliable but they forget the ammo in the equation. Nothing mechanical has 100% predictable performance, same with anything made by man.

Center fire ammo is very reliable for the most part. Often ammo that fails in one firearm will work fine in another. The number of commercial center fire factory rounds that have failed to fire in my guns over the last 45 years can be counted on one hand with fingers left over. Throw in rim fire and you would have to add more fingers and toes than a dozen people have.
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Nine pistols from various countries passed through my hands before I went back to S&W 37 with bobbed hammer and there is good reason for that change.
 
Interesting. I just received 200 rds of Remington 300 aac blackout ammo and it's the worst looking factory ammo I've ever seen.
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That statement really floors me, I absolutely believe you but I can't believe Remington would put out a product like you described. I have some of the new 300 Whisper from Hornady on backorder...will be interesting to see how it compares. btw...it can be used in the AAC as well and comes loaded with the great 208 grain A-Max bullet.

Each load is compatible with guns chambered for the 300 AAC BLACKOUT and functions reliably in both suppressed and unsuppressed platforms.
 
Like was said before, you pay for what you get...although I have shot alot of bargain priced 9mm, and have yet to have a failure to fire out of my Beretta 92FS (approx. 3000 rounds, Winchester and Remington).
No one has mentioned another biggiie...no matter a guns reputation for reliability, be sure it is clean! Especially my semi autos, after each range use, they are field stripped and scrubbed. How many rounds fired since the last thorough cleaning?
 
i actually fed-it back into another mag and it went bang,
A very strong argument for TDA or true DAO guns in the defensive role. Second strike capability isn't needed often, but could be very important........
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It seems like there's 2 kinds of people. Some have all kinds of dud rounds that always go off on the second trigger pull. Some have never seen this happen. I'm in the latter group.

I've had probably 8-10 misfires with centerfire ammo. Another 3-4 with rimfire.* All but two of these occurred in a hammer-fired gun. None went off on the second strike. Often, they fired if rechambered, so the primer was rotated - after having failed to light on a second/third strike (fully cocked, SA style, even). And some didn't go off even after rechambering. The other two happened in a Glock. After rechambering multiple times, they did not go off. I guess I've never encountered a primer that wasn't fully seated. The fact that he rechambered the round means we don't know if a second strike would have done anything but waste time.

A second strike not only hits the primer in the exact same spot, it is also weaker. The DA sear releases a bit earlier than in SA, in most action types.

I'd rather rack in a new cartridge, even if I felt there was a reasonable chance for a bang... which, based my my own experience, I don't. I see this as a very weak and unreasonable argument for TDA. The only time I'd attempt this is if 1) I were aware my ammo was highly prone to having this specific issue, in which case, I probably wouldn't be using it for SD. Or 2) if I happened to be carrying only 1 bullet in my gun. Because if the second strike does not work, you not only waste time, but you also alert your attacker to the fact that your gun is not functioning. Stupidity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Esp considering the chamber could be empty, the primer could be bad, etc.

Have fun learning to do a "aim, click, tap, rack, assess" drill. When that "click" happens to be a bang, it'll just confuse you even more. And hopefully you still aimed it just as carefully as you normally would have. You're responsible for every bullet that leaves the gun, whether or not you thought it would really go off.

*not including Golden Bullets. With those, I've had 50+ misfires (out of a single box). None fired after rechambering, but I stopped trying after the first 6-7.
 
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Has anyone ever had this happen with premium sd ammo (Hornady,Speer)? I shoot ALOT of ammo here at home that is the WWB and UMC stuff that Walmart sells on the cheap and have had this happen a few times. Ive fired some premium SD ammo, but not as many as I have the el cheapo rounds
 
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