EllisWyatt
Member
First, the boring part, for context:
I took my Kimber .45 out to the range Saturday. Ran through everything I'd brought with me:
- 144 rounds of of WWB 230 FMJ
- 20 rounds of Federal Hydrashok 230
Also six rounds of Silver Bear JHP from the guy in the next lane (traded for the other six WWB's to sort out his feeding problems).
No trouble with any of these, except that the Silver Bear left my mag so dirty it wouldn't drop on its own.
The Kimber was still hungry so I stepped into the range office for a few more boxes. All they had on hand was Magtech and American in 230 FMJ, neither of which I'd ever used before. I got a box of each, for $11.50 and $10.60 respectively.
Now the interesting part:
I started with the American, loaded up three mags and walked to the line. In the first mag one round failed to chamber, with the slide about 1.5 mm short of battery. I initially figured the round had gotten ahead of the extractor, but pulling the slide back ejected the round. I glanced into the chamber to make sure daylight was coming through the barrel (ie, no squib obstructions), shrugged, and kept on shooting. There were two more failures to chamber in the third magazine, same scenario.
I examined the three rounds. The cases were visibly bulged around the bullets, so that it looked like someone had crammed .460 bullets into a .45 case. (I doubt this is what happened, but that's what it looked like. The area of the case containing the charge was normal looking, it just suddenly bulged out around the bullet.
After examining the pistol I loaded up another full magzine with the two rounds mixed in randomly. I ran the entire magazine through the pistol by hand, and sure enough all but three rounds chambered. All the other rounds were normal looking. I then ran some Magtech from the same magazine without difficulty.
The (now different) fellow in the next lane agreed they looked abnormal, and I asked if he would try to chamber them in his Glock 21. The first round was hand chambered -- didn't drop the slide, just pushed the round into the chamber by hand. It was a tight fit, but went all the way in. It wouldn't fall free, but tapping the butt against a table let it drop. We loaded the three rounds into a magazine and racked all three through without difficulty. Back into the magazine with them, and tried to shoot all three. No problem! Chambered cleanly, ejected cleanly, and went right to point of aim. (In retrospect, firing them was probably unwise. Failing to collect the brass for examination, doubly so.)
Back in my lane, I ran through the box of Magtech, then decided I might as well finish off the box of American. All goes well until the last magazine, out of which two rounds fail to chamber, same symptoms.
I showed these to the attendant in the office, who agreed they were unusual. He opened a fresh box of American, and the first round he pulled out was similarly bulged. Four other rounds looked okay. We marked both boxes and set them aside for the range owner to examine when he gets back.
Okay, so this is the cheap stuff, I don't expect perfection. But 10% failure rate? And sure, they chambered in the Glock, so perhaps the crap left in my pistol from the Silver Bear had something to do with it -- but that's no excuse for these to pass QC in the first place, they were visibly and obviously abnormal. Has anyone else had an experience like this before? The guy with the Glock and the range officer both said they'd seen bad handloads look like that, but never commercial ammo.
I've already sent an email to American Ammunition about this. I don't expect I'll ever trust their stuff again, at $.90 cheaper than Magtech and $1.50 cheaper than WWB, it isn't worthwhile. My concern is that the company is owned by Federal, IIRC. I trust Federal Hydra-Shok with my life. This shakes my confidence a bit!
Similar experiences? Outcomes? Opinions?
EllisWyatt
I took my Kimber .45 out to the range Saturday. Ran through everything I'd brought with me:
- 144 rounds of of WWB 230 FMJ
- 20 rounds of Federal Hydrashok 230
Also six rounds of Silver Bear JHP from the guy in the next lane (traded for the other six WWB's to sort out his feeding problems).
No trouble with any of these, except that the Silver Bear left my mag so dirty it wouldn't drop on its own.
The Kimber was still hungry so I stepped into the range office for a few more boxes. All they had on hand was Magtech and American in 230 FMJ, neither of which I'd ever used before. I got a box of each, for $11.50 and $10.60 respectively.
Now the interesting part:
I started with the American, loaded up three mags and walked to the line. In the first mag one round failed to chamber, with the slide about 1.5 mm short of battery. I initially figured the round had gotten ahead of the extractor, but pulling the slide back ejected the round. I glanced into the chamber to make sure daylight was coming through the barrel (ie, no squib obstructions), shrugged, and kept on shooting. There were two more failures to chamber in the third magazine, same scenario.
I examined the three rounds. The cases were visibly bulged around the bullets, so that it looked like someone had crammed .460 bullets into a .45 case. (I doubt this is what happened, but that's what it looked like. The area of the case containing the charge was normal looking, it just suddenly bulged out around the bullet.
After examining the pistol I loaded up another full magzine with the two rounds mixed in randomly. I ran the entire magazine through the pistol by hand, and sure enough all but three rounds chambered. All the other rounds were normal looking. I then ran some Magtech from the same magazine without difficulty.
The (now different) fellow in the next lane agreed they looked abnormal, and I asked if he would try to chamber them in his Glock 21. The first round was hand chambered -- didn't drop the slide, just pushed the round into the chamber by hand. It was a tight fit, but went all the way in. It wouldn't fall free, but tapping the butt against a table let it drop. We loaded the three rounds into a magazine and racked all three through without difficulty. Back into the magazine with them, and tried to shoot all three. No problem! Chambered cleanly, ejected cleanly, and went right to point of aim. (In retrospect, firing them was probably unwise. Failing to collect the brass for examination, doubly so.)
Back in my lane, I ran through the box of Magtech, then decided I might as well finish off the box of American. All goes well until the last magazine, out of which two rounds fail to chamber, same symptoms.
I showed these to the attendant in the office, who agreed they were unusual. He opened a fresh box of American, and the first round he pulled out was similarly bulged. Four other rounds looked okay. We marked both boxes and set them aside for the range owner to examine when he gets back.
Okay, so this is the cheap stuff, I don't expect perfection. But 10% failure rate? And sure, they chambered in the Glock, so perhaps the crap left in my pistol from the Silver Bear had something to do with it -- but that's no excuse for these to pass QC in the first place, they were visibly and obviously abnormal. Has anyone else had an experience like this before? The guy with the Glock and the range officer both said they'd seen bad handloads look like that, but never commercial ammo.
I've already sent an email to American Ammunition about this. I don't expect I'll ever trust their stuff again, at $.90 cheaper than Magtech and $1.50 cheaper than WWB, it isn't worthwhile. My concern is that the company is owned by Federal, IIRC. I trust Federal Hydra-Shok with my life. This shakes my confidence a bit!
Similar experiences? Outcomes? Opinions?
EllisWyatt
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