Blemish bullets trouble

[Walkalong]

A few years ago I bought 600 "Blemished" what appeared to be 60 Gr XTPs from Midway. I finally got out a box to load. ( I had a couple of good loads from trying the regular ones.) The first bullet just fell into an expanded case. Hmmm, what's wrong? I figure out that it is not my dies but that they are .3085 instead of .315. The .312 bullets work fine. I got 30 good ones from the first hundred, 31 from the next, and 41 from the third box. Yea, 102 to load. a 70ish% failure rate though.

I figured out the undersized ones will "work" with an unexpanded case. No idea how they will shoot, but I guess that is how I'll have to load them.

I bought 600 to use one box of 100 for load experimentation with the intention of loading the other 500 to put away. I can scratch that plan.

Just a heads up to anyone who has some of these squirreled away. Might want to check them.

And a reminder to us all to be careful and check everything when setting up for a run of something.

Drat.

 

[plmitch]

I've bought alot of blems over the years but have never run into that before. Just got lucky I guess.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

Any chance they're a bullet intended for .30 Mauser and that the .312 bullets are the ones that are actually the true blems? I'm sure an experienced reloader like yourself already checked the weights, but if you haven't that might be a wise thing to do.

 

[Rule3]

When you bought those, (I also bought some other weights) the explanation was they are "all within specs" just that they have blemish such as tarnish.

Now Midway says that they should be measured. I bought a bunch back then and now just purchased some more (different type) I am not looking forward to measuring over 1K bullets!!

I have some 110 gr 30 cal for the Carbine and all the lengths are different!

Under their "tips"

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/43...boat-tail-box-of-100-bulk-packaged?cm_vc=U112

 

[MarshallDodge]

Thanks for the heads up.

I have purchased quite a few blemished .224 and .264 bullets from Midway without an issue but now you have me wondering about a future purchase.

 

[Walkalong]

When you bought those, (I also bought some other weights) the explanation was they are "all within specs" just that they have blemish such as tarnish.

That is exactly right. They should be sized correctly and usable under normal load procedures.

Any chance they're a bullet intended for .30 Mauser and that the .312 bullets are the ones that are actually the true blems?

A good thought, and although I pondered what they might be useful for, the thought they were intended for something else did not occur to me. But your right, I checked the weights too. Not all of the handful I checked were dead on, but they were all close.
.

 

[Poper]

I also bought 300 .308 cal. 168g blems and 300 .277 cal. 130g blems.
I weight matched all of the bullets to within .1 grain (167.9g to 168.1g) and got a 45% yield with the .308's with an extreme spread of 9.3 grains. (A low of 162.0g and a high of 171.4g.)

I did the same with the .277 dia. bullets and had a 31% yield and a wider extreme spread than the .308's.

Not so hot all around. Now you've got me thinking because I haven't measured them for diameter. I think I will now, though, just for my own information.

Thanks for the heads up, Walkalong!

Poper

 

[Otto]

Assuming this is .32ACP that's not surprising. .32 ACP bullets can be anywhere between .308-.312" despite what SAAMI says.
I've run into Remingtons that were .308" and dropped right to the bottom of the case like you've experienced. Solution is to use heavier walled cases like the European brass (Fiocchi, S&B, Prvi Partizan) etc. In recent years the industry has standardized on .311"
Why Midway sent you a mix of diameters is strange....maybe it's their variety pack .

 

[Walkalong]

The Tip Rule3 linked to at Midway:

Blemished Bullet Reloading Tip
Since these bullets do have slight blemishes it is always better to check bullets for defects in diameter before loading

Me thinks they have had some feedback. Hmm.

Assuming this is .32ACP

Yep, my bad.

I have not had this problem with the Hornady, Magtech, or Berrys 71 Gr RN.

But you are right about the different in brass wall thicknesses in .32 ACP. It is all over the place.

Problem is, expanders are set up for .312 bullets, and I am not going to sort cases by wall thickness. I'll just load the rest with no expansion of the case, and hope it works OK. I have a home made expander for a Lee expander die that does not expand, and only bells a bit. I am going to try it.

 

[Slamfire]

What your experience tells me, is that "blemished bullets" have issues other than tarnish.

Don't know what happened at the factory, but I would not expect very good accuracy with the things.

 

[Upstater]

I could never find the stones to pull the trigger on blems, always just bothered me, the idea of spending money on something that could possibly not be the perfect size and the pressure problems (both high and low) that I might experience.

 

[oldcelt]

Blemished I would assume would be superficial defects, not over or under size. Misleading to say the least

 

[mdm]

Several months back I bought .243 blems from MidwayUSA. 80 gr, 87 gr, and 100 gr - 200 of each. I haven't worked any of the 80 gr yet but the 87 and 100 have been excellent. Length and diameter are very consistant. As far as weight, I've seen +/- 2 gr with most being within 1 gr. I've loaded them with no regard to the weight differences and they have done well.