Big D
Member
Hey yall. Just wanted to give yall a heads up about Freedom Munitions, out of Lewiston, Idaho. As a caveat, I must say I only purchased this ammo as I had good experience with their 115gr 9mm FMJ and .38spl rounds in the past.
During the last week of May I purchased a Colt O1991 .45ACP from Buds Gun Shop. In addition to this, I purchased 1,500 rounds (1,250 230gr FMJ along with 250 rnds of Freedom Munitions 230gr HP) of re-manufactured ammo from Freedom to run through my new Colt.
Last week, on 06/04/2015, I had been shooting the new Colt, which had been performing flawlessly with the ammo to that point. I had approximately 350 rounds downrange as of that morning. I loaded a magazine (Brownells brand Metalform) with a mixture of the Freedoms FMJ and HP, and began shooting again. I had fired approximately 4-5 rounds, with no noticeable change in report (semi-rapid fire), when the Colt just blew out of my hands. I saw a bloom of what appeared to be blue smoke, and felt metal fragments pepper the left side of my face. I immediately checked my face, discovered my left and right eye was fine, but found several fragments had embedded into my cheek and under my left eye. I will admit I had forgotten my shooting glasses that morning (which are dark tinted), as it was overcast and raining (I know no excuse). A larger fragment had embedded into the side of my cheek, which was bleeding.
After checking myself, I went back to retrieve my 1911, which I found was out of battery approximately 1/4'', and would not reciprocate (i.e. the action was jammed shut, and no amount of force I could muster would locked it open). I looked down directly in front of where I was shooting (private property and I am the only person who shoots there), and discovered a severely bulged and disformed case with a blown primer. Next to the casing was a severely disformed HP bullet with no rifling contact grooves. I then cleared the magazine from the weapon, and found two rounds remaining inside, which exhibited carbon residue in addition to being disformed and set back in their cases. The magazine follower was stuck approximately a quarter of the way down the tube, and upon closer inspection I discovered the base plate was bent outward, and one of the welds was broken.
Upon returning home, I found that the weapon did not had any bore obstructions, but a spent casing was lodged into the chamber, which was locking the action up. I did notice a hairline crack at the base of the round in the chamber, which I could only view from the muzzle. I had taken photographs of my injuries, the weapon and rounds and sent them to the customer service supervisor of Freedom by e-mail. At this point, I contacted Freedom Munitions, which took forever to get a hold of someone as a result of the time difference (Georgia here).
I finally managed to make contact with an admin in a Freedom store in Houston, Tx, how I do not know. He listened and advised he would forward this to his supervisors. Shortly thereafter, I received a call from a Mr. Jansen Jones, VP of Sales/Marketing. I explained the incident to Mr. Jones, who of course apologized for the mishap. He assured me I would be reimbursed for the ammo and my weapon would be purchased by the company for retail value as he wanted to see exactly what had happened to the weapon. He advised me I would be contacted by a customer service rep later that day (06/04/2015). I was not contacted until 06/05/2015, by e-mail from customer service.
I was advised by customer service I would be reimbursed for the ammo, with free return shipping. Here is where the story deepens. The rep told me I would need to take my weapon to a gunsmith to determine whether or not it was repairable. At that point, I stopped the rep and advised that was in stark contrast to what Mr. Jones had told me just one day earlier. The rep advised she would be e-mailing the shipping labels for the ammo, and I told her I would be in contact with the VP about my weapon. After contacting Mr. Jones again, I advised him of the discrepancy between his statement and the customer service rep in reference to my handgun.
After I explained my disappointment in receiving two differing stories, he advised I could either, 1. Take the gun to a 'smith, at no charge or 2. He would personally see that my weapon was purchased by the company and I would fully reimbursed for said weapon. I chose the latter of those two options, and was advised to forward an e-mail with my receipt of purchase, which I did. On 06/08/2015, I contacted customer service, to verify they had received the receipt for my handgun. The rep advised me she had, and had forwarded the receipt to her supervisor, who would be handling the weapon claim.
I contacted the supervisor on 06/09/2015, left a voicemail and inquired as to the status of my claim and an explanation of the claim process so I could have an idea of how long it would take. I did the same on 06/10/2015, and sent an e-mail. I have yet to receive a response to the e-mail nor phone calls. My intention here is not to smear the company, if I wanted to do that I would have sought out a lawyer from the get go. I only wish them to stand by their product, and adequately compensate me for the damages to my weapon and reimburse my ammo.
So far it seems the ball is rolling in the right direction, but I am disappointed in the lack of communication from customer service. I can understand them wanting to communicate by e-mail (leaves a paper trail), but receiving a phone call is not too much to ask for. So far my only communication by phone with the company has involved me having to call and ask questions (with the exception of the first call from the VP). I will be posting the photographs I sent to Freedom. I am not saying all their ammo is bad, but it only takes one bad round to ruin your day.
During the last week of May I purchased a Colt O1991 .45ACP from Buds Gun Shop. In addition to this, I purchased 1,500 rounds (1,250 230gr FMJ along with 250 rnds of Freedom Munitions 230gr HP) of re-manufactured ammo from Freedom to run through my new Colt.
Last week, on 06/04/2015, I had been shooting the new Colt, which had been performing flawlessly with the ammo to that point. I had approximately 350 rounds downrange as of that morning. I loaded a magazine (Brownells brand Metalform) with a mixture of the Freedoms FMJ and HP, and began shooting again. I had fired approximately 4-5 rounds, with no noticeable change in report (semi-rapid fire), when the Colt just blew out of my hands. I saw a bloom of what appeared to be blue smoke, and felt metal fragments pepper the left side of my face. I immediately checked my face, discovered my left and right eye was fine, but found several fragments had embedded into my cheek and under my left eye. I will admit I had forgotten my shooting glasses that morning (which are dark tinted), as it was overcast and raining (I know no excuse). A larger fragment had embedded into the side of my cheek, which was bleeding.
After checking myself, I went back to retrieve my 1911, which I found was out of battery approximately 1/4'', and would not reciprocate (i.e. the action was jammed shut, and no amount of force I could muster would locked it open). I looked down directly in front of where I was shooting (private property and I am the only person who shoots there), and discovered a severely bulged and disformed case with a blown primer. Next to the casing was a severely disformed HP bullet with no rifling contact grooves. I then cleared the magazine from the weapon, and found two rounds remaining inside, which exhibited carbon residue in addition to being disformed and set back in their cases. The magazine follower was stuck approximately a quarter of the way down the tube, and upon closer inspection I discovered the base plate was bent outward, and one of the welds was broken.
Upon returning home, I found that the weapon did not had any bore obstructions, but a spent casing was lodged into the chamber, which was locking the action up. I did notice a hairline crack at the base of the round in the chamber, which I could only view from the muzzle. I had taken photographs of my injuries, the weapon and rounds and sent them to the customer service supervisor of Freedom by e-mail. At this point, I contacted Freedom Munitions, which took forever to get a hold of someone as a result of the time difference (Georgia here).
I finally managed to make contact with an admin in a Freedom store in Houston, Tx, how I do not know. He listened and advised he would forward this to his supervisors. Shortly thereafter, I received a call from a Mr. Jansen Jones, VP of Sales/Marketing. I explained the incident to Mr. Jones, who of course apologized for the mishap. He assured me I would be reimbursed for the ammo and my weapon would be purchased by the company for retail value as he wanted to see exactly what had happened to the weapon. He advised me I would be contacted by a customer service rep later that day (06/04/2015). I was not contacted until 06/05/2015, by e-mail from customer service.
I was advised by customer service I would be reimbursed for the ammo, with free return shipping. Here is where the story deepens. The rep told me I would need to take my weapon to a gunsmith to determine whether or not it was repairable. At that point, I stopped the rep and advised that was in stark contrast to what Mr. Jones had told me just one day earlier. The rep advised she would be e-mailing the shipping labels for the ammo, and I told her I would be in contact with the VP about my weapon. After contacting Mr. Jones again, I advised him of the discrepancy between his statement and the customer service rep in reference to my handgun.
After I explained my disappointment in receiving two differing stories, he advised I could either, 1. Take the gun to a 'smith, at no charge or 2. He would personally see that my weapon was purchased by the company and I would fully reimbursed for said weapon. I chose the latter of those two options, and was advised to forward an e-mail with my receipt of purchase, which I did. On 06/08/2015, I contacted customer service, to verify they had received the receipt for my handgun. The rep advised me she had, and had forwarded the receipt to her supervisor, who would be handling the weapon claim.
I contacted the supervisor on 06/09/2015, left a voicemail and inquired as to the status of my claim and an explanation of the claim process so I could have an idea of how long it would take. I did the same on 06/10/2015, and sent an e-mail. I have yet to receive a response to the e-mail nor phone calls. My intention here is not to smear the company, if I wanted to do that I would have sought out a lawyer from the get go. I only wish them to stand by their product, and adequately compensate me for the damages to my weapon and reimburse my ammo.
So far it seems the ball is rolling in the right direction, but I am disappointed in the lack of communication from customer service. I can understand them wanting to communicate by e-mail (leaves a paper trail), but receiving a phone call is not too much to ask for. So far my only communication by phone with the company has involved me having to call and ask questions (with the exception of the first call from the VP). I will be posting the photographs I sent to Freedom. I am not saying all their ammo is bad, but it only takes one bad round to ruin your day.
I will happily put my QC work up against any factory any day. I'm not selling the stuff - I am going to shoot it in my guns - in my hands. I won't carry any factory ammo for defensive use and this is why. I have been carrying my reloads for over 35 years. I haven't had one single round blow up a gun or fail to fire. Show me one factory that can say that.
