Not happy with ammo purchase

[DIY-Pete]

I recently purchased some reload 223 ammo and have found a ton of defects (42 out of 250 rounds sorted). I have sent the vendor an email with pics and am waiting to here back from them. I will post the pics now, however I am going to withhold the name of the vendor until we reach a resolution. I have six images showing 4 different defects one of which jammed my AR up tight. I ended up having to knock a live round out of the chamber with a cleaning rod. Not the safest thing I've done today.

Pete

 

[DIY-Pete]

Rest of the pics.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Wow.

Please let us know who this is so others don't make the same mistake of buying that bad ammo!!

 

[9mmepiphany]

I don't think the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th pictures are defects...that is just the method they used to crimp in the bullet. The 5th and 6th pictures would be a QC issue they should address and likely replace.

The first picture is the result of an untrimmed case that you likely should have caught when you ran them through a Case Gauge...assuming you case gauged them before using them. Gauging or even just inspecting the rounds before using them would have likely picked up that torn neck also.

Just a reminder to folks that anytime you decide to use reloaded ammo, you should minimally visually inspect each round before loading it into your magazines

 

[DIY-Pete]

I don't think the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th pictures are defects...that is just the method they used to crimp in the bullet. The 5th and 6th pictures would be a QC issue they should address and likely replace.

The first picture is the result of an untrimmed case that you likely should have caught when you ran them through a Case Gauge...assuming you case gauged them before using them. Gauging or even just inspecting the rounds before using them would have likely picked up that torn neck also.

Just a reminder to folks that anytime you decide to use reloaded ammo, you should minimally visually inspect each round before loading it into your magazines

I'll give you number 2 but the third and fourth pictures are the same case and I know it's hard to see in the pic but the case is split/cracked. You are correct that this is a very good reminder to closely inspect more than just a few cases when purchasing reloaded ammo. If I had been more through I would have found the bad rounds before one made it into my gun.

Pete

 

[Shaq]

Using ammo that you didn't personally reload is risky. You have no way of knowing who loaded the ammo or how careful they were and your fingers and eyes are in their hands.

I once visited a gun shop that sold reloaded ammo. As I walked to the parking lot at the back of the store, someone mistakenly left the rear door ajar. I saw several CHILDREN around 8-10 years old loading ammo on six presses.

Before I started handloading 40 years ago, the only problem I ever had was with a range's reloads. The bullet & case separated & the powder burned outside the ejection port, burning off the hair on my arm. Luckily, that was my only injury. That's when I started reloading. Never had a problem with MY handloads.

 

[GRIZ22]

Shaq, kids reloading ammo? Sounds like Pakistan. Where did you see that? State will do.

 

[Jackal]

Looks like the garbage Global Arms & Ammunition were shipping out during the last ammo crunch....

 

[Shaq]

Shaq, kids reloading ammo? Sounds like Pakistan. Where did you see that? State will do.

Gun shop (now closed) was in Northridge, CA. I don't remember the name.

 

[SwampWolf]

QUOTE: "...Using ammo that you didn't personally reload is risky. You have no way of knowing who loaded the ammo or how careful they were and your fingers and eyes are in their hands..."

I agree 100%. The only reloads I shoot are the ones I assemble and nobody else's.

 

[RainDodger]

Pay your money and take your chances with reloads.... and the buyer beware.

 

[Zerodefect]

There's a shmuck at our local gun show selling reloads for MORE than the price of factory new ammo.

 

[Dr T]

I will never shoot someone else's Reloads (not even factory re-manufactured). And (except for some very specific, well tested loads) will I allow someone else to shoot mine.

 

[hdwhit]

I agree with DIY-Pete, picture #2 is not a defect in the case.

I just got some mixed headstamp brass in last week and maybe 10% of the cases had similar markings. PMC, IVI, CBC headstamps all had it on some (but not all) cases so I assumed it was attributable to something specific about the rifle the rounds had been shot out of; kind of like the fluted chambers on the old Heckler & Koch roller locked rifles.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I really don't think it is from the rifle but from the loading process they used.

It looks a lot like these crimped rounds (not mine, from a google search).

[resize=500] [/resize]

It appears that they might not have trimmed the OP's cases after resizing.

 

[hdwhit]

I really don't think it is from the rifle but from the loading process they used.

In the case of the CBC headstamp brass, the fired primers were still staked into the primer pockets and I had to remove the staking to prime the case, so I believe the brass was truly once-fired and had not been through an intermediate reloading.

If I accept that staked primers are indicative of the round having not been previously reloaded, then if these marks were due to the crimping process then that crimp was applied at the factory and I would expect it to be present on all rounds from the same manufacturer, not here and there across just a few samples of each of numerous headstamps.

 

[9mmepiphany]

If I accept that staked primers are indicative of the round having not been previously reloaded, then if these marks were due to the crimping process then that crimp was applied at the factory and I would expect it to be present on all rounds from the same manufacturer, not here and there across just a few samples of each of numerous headstamps.

Unless the original bullets were pulled and the cases reloaded...with the original primers still intact

 

[Panzerschwein]

I sure avoid that gun show reloaded stuff. It is ALWAYS more expensive than the stuff from Wal-Mart or off the internet and God knows how careful they were or were not when making it.

 

[DIY-Pete]

From the vendors website: (name left out) is licensed by the ATF as a Type 06 Small Arms Ammunition Manufacturer.

I have not heard back from them yet. I am going to send another note and give them until Monday. As they say a satisfied customer will tell 10 people about their good experience but a dissatisfied customer will tell everyone about their bad experience.

For what it's worth I did get out the calipers and measure 5 rounds at random the COAL was in spec as well as the case length.

Pete

 

[Dr T]

You actually may want to let the ATF know about the QC issues...

 

[M1key]

Pete,

FWIW, the crimp in picture #2 looks just like a lot of various factory/military rounds I've seen.

M

 

[DIY-Pete]

You actually may want to let the ATF know about the QC issues...

One thing I am going to do is pull a few of the bullets on the really bad rounds and see if the powder weights are consistent. If they are I will sort the ammo and shoot the rounds that don't have defects.

I don't like pissing in anyone Cheerios but I will keep your suggestion in mind depending on how the vendor acts, if they take my concerns seriously.

Pete

 

[Sistema1927]

You actually may want to let the ATF know about the QC issues...

Please don't. First, the ATF isn't the Better Business Bureau or Chamber of Commerce. It isn't a consumer advocacy agency.

Second, when people involve the ATF it invariably leads to unintended consequences that bite all of us in the behind.

 

[bayou5252]

Like others who've posted, it is my rule to never shoot any ammunition reloaded by anyone else, even if commercially marketed.

On the other hand, I exclusively shoot my own reloads - not even factory ammo.

Bayou

 

[Jackal]

Factory reloads/re manufactured ammo should be as good or better than original factory ammo. A lot of companies popped up seemingly overnight during the last panic. A lot of those shipped out poor quality or even dangerous ammo. Global Arms & Ammunition (who has since changed their name) shipped me a couple thousand rounds of 5.56 "factory reloaded" and it had bent bullets, loose primers, powder charges ranging from hot to primer only, smeared case mouths/necks, etc. I never could get ahold of them on the phone or email. I simply culled out about 15% of the rounds both visually inspecting and weighing every single round.

Now I stick with factory loaded or Freedom Munitions "reman" ammo. The Freedom reman shoots better than almost every other bulk fmj.