Inspecting Factory Ammo

[MCMXIautomatic]

How many of you inspect factory ammo before using it? I'm probably going to start being more disciplined about this with all the ammo that I buy, especially ammo that's toward the lower end of the quality spectrum. I was just recently reminded of how important this can be.

A couple of days ago, I got one of the 9mm Winchester 100 rd. value packs that Wal-Mart sells, and I decided to give the cartridges a brief look over. I soon found what appeared to be a military spec round. I continued to look at the cartridges and found some more with NATO headstamps. In total, exactly 25 of these rounds were found. I'm glad I got them sorted out, because I'd rather not shoot any high pressure ammo in my Hi-Power. I doubt that my gun was made to tolerate much shooting with hot ammo and I think I remember reading on Stephen Camp's website that even just a few mags of +P could possibly upset the locking lugs or crack the slide.

This also got me thinking that I could have just as easily found defective rounds with improperly seated primers, loose bullets, cracked cases, etc. As I understand it, Winchester's manufacturing process for this ammo is completely automated, so I imagine that there's probably a greater potential for error. I think its good practice to spend a little time to inspect ammo, especially defense ammo, since the problems it might help you avoid make it well worthwhile.

On a side note, does anyone know how this NATO stuff might have ended up being mixed into a box of range ammo? I also wonder if maybe all the cartridges were loaded to the same specs, but some of the cases just happened to have NATO headstamps for some reason.

 

[Jeff F]

I inspect each and every round of center fire ammo before it gets loaded into magazines or the cylinders of my revolvers. I have found a few factory defective rounds over the years.

 

[Jim Watson]

It would be interesting to chronograph that box of ammunition and KNOW what was in there.
I THINK your last theory is close; this is econo-ball and they used some NATO headstamp brass because that was what they had on hand to finish the production run.

 

[Mike1234567]

I check every round before loading. I "should" check them at the store counter but I never do.

 

[TexasRifleman]

I only check factory rounds that I am going to load for defensive use, for range stuff I just shoot it as it comes out of the box. Luckily I've never run across anything particularly wacky. Maybe I shouldn't be so trusting.

I bet the OP's NATO rounds are just using leftover brass, but would be interesting to chrono them as Jim Watson suggests, just to see. I would think Winchester would want to know if they really are loaded to NATO spec.

 

[BADUNAME37]

I don't inspect factory ammo, mainly because I don't buy much of it. However, with that being said, I have had problems with Winchester Wildcat white-box Super X .22 Long Rifle 40g lead round nose (non copper-coated), where the rim is adequately stricken by the firing pin, yet the round fails to fire! I have un-chambered the unfired cartridge and tried turning it a bit, some of them as many as five times, to see if they would detonate on another portion of rim -- to no avail.

I got to wondering if there is even priming material in the rim! I think, next time it happens, I will carefully pull the pill off, dump the powder (if there is any) and see if there is a priming mixture in the rim. It has happened with the frequency of about two or three rounds out of 50!

On the same note, I was shooting some Remington .410 rifled slugs and had one fail to detonate! I looked at the primer and it was well-dented, any more and it would have probably had a piercing through it! I tried several more times to fire it, turning it each time, as the firing pin was a tad off-center, also to no avail.

When I was young, in the 60's, 70's and 80's, I never recall EVER having a fail-to-fire of a factory round, and I used to shoot boxes upon boxes of bullets, shells, etc! I would estimate in about thirty years' time I easily shot several hundred thousand rounds, and, not once do I recall ever having one go "click" on me!

I think today things are put out faster than they should be which results in lower overall quality of the item, whatever it is!

 

[Clifford]

I'd be willing to bet your HP would suffer no ill effects from a couple magazines of NATO spec ammo. But, I believe the late Mr. Camp did advise to keep the round count of +P and NATO stuff to a minimum due to the exact reasons you've mentioned. If I remember correctly he advised to put a heavier recoil spring in the HP even with standard pressure ammo.

I agree with some of the previous posters, grab a chrony and see what kind of velocity you get outta the NATO stamped brass. I'd be surprised if that ammo was loaded any hotter than the rest of the lot. Winchester probably had ran outta brass with the correct headstamp and simply used what was on hand to finish the batch.

I do wonder, is NATO brass built heavier than standard 9MM brass? If the charge is the same in both cases the NATO brass will have slightly higher pressure due to decreased case capacity. In theory, you should see slightly higher velocities.

Anyway, good catch. You should always give the ammo a once over, to look for obvious problem. Personally, I load all my own except for rimfire and shotgun shell. Even my practice, bulk ammo gets a once over. I load a batch of 100, load them into a MTM box, inspect the primers and mark the shells (that's just something to help keep track of my brass at matches), then I flip them over into another MTM box and inspect the projectile end of things. If everything passes they get dumped into a large ammo can.

 

[buck460XVR]

I always inspect ANY ammo before it goes into my firearm, whether it be my reloads or factory. Not a big thing to roll them around in your hand and glance to make sure they haven't been damaged and that they are all the same. I too doubt the difference in headstamps is any big deal, but would still contact the manufacturer before using them.......just in case.

 

[Jonah71]

A few weeks ago, while loading a 9mm., I found 3 rounds that were "shorter" than the rest in a 100 rnd box of Winchester range rounds. That was a first for me.

 

[Mike1234567]

A few weeks ago, while loading a 9mm., I found 3 rounds that were "shorter" than the rest in a 100 rnd box of Winchester range rounds. That was a first for me.

I won't buy ANY Winchester ammo until they've completely removed all their manufacturing problems, reestablish appropriate QC, and prove themselves with a long run of reliability. Even then, I'll think twice about giving them one red cent and especially before trusting my life on their product.

 

[Atom Smasher]

I usually don't bother checking stuff like .22lr, but for centerfire rounds I check everything with a quick once-over. Maybe not a detailed look, but just to ensure everything looks normal.

 

[animator]

I inspect factory rounds... but I don't get anal about it. Just a quick glance and all's good.


Worst I've ever found was a flipped primer.

 

[bigfatdave]

I repack the 100 round WWB into 50 or 100 round trays to go to the range most of the time, unless I intend to expend the entire 100-pack ... the boxes don't hold up well once opened, in my experience.
I've never come up short, although I have spotted some really dinged-up bullets and some rough spots and minor corrosion. And lately half the rounds have crud in the grooves, as if they were rolled around on the range floor for a while before packing.
But the funny thing is, I've never found a box with less than 100, but I frequently get 101 or 102, and the last one I re-packed had 103!
... I'll continue to run WWB, though. It isn't pretty, but it is reliable, and it is more than accurate enough for casual pistol shooting or feeding a 9x19 carbine.

I've had two Wolf 9x19 rounds with sideways primers (finally found a way to make that XD9sc the wife carries malfunction!)
I've had an Aguila .30carbine round with the brass peeled back from the front (from the CMP, sort of a surprise)
I've had who knows how many cheap bulk .22lr rounds not have primer, I started counting them in the boxes and have determined that Fed550 is the least dud-filled bulk box. (Win555 is OK, Rem GB550 is right out) ... I even had a few mini-mags that wouldn't fire until rotated.
I've found a .22lr shell with priming compound, but no bullet or powder ... no, it wasn't an empty that was ejected into the box.
I had one round of .32acp that was oddly long, don't remember brand, do remember that it fired fine.

Don't remember any oddities with .45acp, 7.62x25tok, 9x18mak, or .22wmr

I think that at least giving factory ammo a once-over is a good idea, though. If nothing else, compare height if the packaging helps with that and then dump it onto a clean surface and look for anything weird. Chamber checking rounds for defensive use in an autoloader is a good idea, too. (I really should do that with my seasonal ammo changes)

 

[HOOfan_1]

I check every round before loading. I "should" check them at the store counter but I never do.

Yeah, I inspect centerfire ammo before I buy. After seeing pictures on this website, I would be remiss not to. Rimfire bulk packs would be a little difficult, although I have never seen any visually defective rimfire in the bulk packs I have bought.

I did forget to inspect some White Box .22-250 rounds I bought once and one of them had a piece of brass that was missing a bit around the primer. Not so bad I won't fire it...but bad enough I won't reload it.

Makes me question why some people would turst factory ammo more than their own reloads.

 

[beatledog7]

Currently I have a box of 100 (only about 90 now) Federal .223 55gr FMJ, that are all headstamped FC, as one would expect, except one stamped RP. I find that rather odd.

FWIW, I once bought factory new Winchester .223 brass; 1 out of 200 that had an overly thick base so that it would not fit into a shellholder. Not even close with a Lee, almost on a Hornady. It's worthless.

 

[stonecutter2]

Just wanted to add that I also found NATO headstamped brass in a 50 round WWB sometime back (late last year).

I don't recall any of the rounds feeling more powerful, i think it was just the brass they had handy. But seeing that little circled cross made me go

I did separate out the NATO marked rounds, and fired them separately. Seemed fine to me.

I've fired NATO rounds before and they definitely have some more "pop" to them.