Odd ammo, bullet information

[thewillweeks]

With the shortages I have branched out my interests and am now spending more time with my revolvers. I ran across some odd ammo and I hope a 357 expert can help me.

First, gratuitous picture of my one and only center fire revolver that I'm trying to feed with the ammo in question.

Now to the ammo. It is advertised on the box as fmj fn, which I interpreted as full metal jacket flat nose.

As you can see, it has exposed lead unlike I would expect from fmj. But it is unlike any hollow point or soft point I've seen either. Is this defective fmj? Mislabeled soft point? I haven't shot any yet, plan to do some shooting tomorrow to see if it expands or fragments more than fmj.

 

[Pat Riot]

I have seen bullets like that in some ammo I bought in Nevada about 10 years ago. I cannot remember who made it. If I think of it I will post later. It wasn’t RAM though.
No, I would not say it’s defective. It’s just not a mainstream design.

 

[Thomasss]

I would be very cautious in what I would do with that ammo. The bullet appears to be a round nose soft point hunting bullet. not a FMJ. That being the case, the ammo is in the wrong box and may not be from the factory.
It could be someone's reload. RAM is shut down. The CEO passed away.
IF it were mine, first, I would measure the base to the mouth. For revolver ammo the case should measure 1.290 with overall 1.590. If it is .357 Rem. Max(rifle) it would measure case1.605 with overall 1.890. From there I would probably sell at a gun show and get some ammo you can trust. I certainly would not want to damage a nice gun, like the one shown, on something unknown.

 

[thewillweeks]

I would be very cautious in what I would do with that ammo. The bullet appears to be a round nose soft point hunting bullet. not a FMJ. That being the case, the ammo is in the wrong box and may not be from the factory.
It could be someone's reload. RAM is shut down. The CEO passed away.
IF it were mine, first, I would measure the base to the mouth. For revolver ammo the case should measure 1.290 with overall 1.590. If it is .357 Rem. Max(rifle) it would measure case1.605 with overall 1.890. From there I would probably sell at a gun show and get some ammo you can trust. I certainly would not want to damage a nice gun, like the one shown, on something unknown.

Definitely too short for Max, it's the same oal near as the naked eye can tell to other 357 ammo. This ammo came from a pretty reputable shop, how long has RAM been shut down?

 

[Meeks36]

If you reload then disassemble them and reuse case and bullet. If you don’t reload maybe you have a buddy who does? Other wise maybe throw them out. Why sell them to someone else? That’s bad karma.

 

[ontarget]

Where did you acquire this ammo?
If it was from a trusted retailer such as Cabelas or Academy or similar I wouldn't worry about it.
If you got it from a garage sale I might be weary though.

 

[thewillweeks]

I got the ammo from a local non-chain store who I've had really good luck with in the past.

 

[Rexster]

FMJ is made with the lead being poured into the the open end of a copper cup. If the nose is a jacketed part of the bullet, as is familiar to us, it is the base of the bullet that is the open end. I am thinking that your ammo has a solid copper base, and the nose is where the lead is poured.

 

[thewillweeks]

Well, turns out my gut was right. I had an odd pop in the second cylinder. But no bore obstruction so I finished the cylinder. Below is my odd pop. No damage to the Ruger.

 

[ontarget]

Yikes! If I were you I would pull those bullets and dispose of the powder. Use the primed brass and maybe even the bullets as components to reload.
If you aren't a reloader, give them to someone that is.

 

[wcwhitey]

Always err on the side of caution. I am sure there are many such mishaps taking place with the ammo shortage. Good catch!

 

[thewillweeks]

I'm going to make contact with the shop, make sure they pull the rest of the ammo. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll take the unopened second box back to fight with th distributor over it. Maybe not.

 

[Pat Riot]

Glad you weren’t injured and there’s no damage to your gun.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

Wow i wonder why the casing cracked. I get that when the brass is worn out. Any chance the ammo is reman/reloaded?

 

[thewillweeks]

Wow i wonder why the casing cracked. I get that when the brass is worn out. Any chance the ammo is reman/reloaded?

Waiting on response from the manufacturer, the shop said they'll refund full price and take the ammo back to deal with the manufacturer on it.

 

[DarkswordDX]

RAM ammo is trash. Literally was loaded by a couple rednecks (the bad kind) in a room full of Dillon 650s. I had personal experience with their .45acp and .30 Carbine ammo back during the Obama panic and it was some awful, awful stuff. Rounds would misfire and then come apart in the chamber when you tried to eject the dud.

 

[thewillweeks]

Made it back to the shop, paid an extra $10 to swap the two 50 rnd boxes for 3 20rnd of Winchester 145gr Silvertip. Good to have cheaper hp than my home defense HST.

 

[sequins]

I don't see what was wrong with those projectiles. I've fired plenty of jacketed soft points. Maybe my eyes are no good but that just looks like 357 ammo to me.

Its definitely not FMJ, though.

 

[BobWright]

Some years back I bought Ruger Single Six .32 H&R Magnum. To get brass for it I bought four boxes of Federal factory loaded ammunition, two of JHP, and two lead. Upon firing the first time, I experienced many split cases, which was unusual as at that time Federal brass was of very high quality and long lived. I contacted Federal about this and they requested I return the cartridges to them. They paid my return charges, and immediately sent me the same amount of replacement ammunition.

The replacement ammunition worked without a hitch, and all was well. Then I got a response from Federal. They told me that the lot of ammuniton I had had been exposed to some caustic fumes, probably in shipment, and that exposure had indeed weakened the brass.

Greatly appreciated their response!

Bob Wright

 

[GooseGestapo]

Actually, the entire production lot was bad. It was improper annealing of the brass during manufacturing.
I had 5 splits in a box of .32 H&H Mag. It was early production from 1980’s.

The bullets in the Ram are some Sierra FMP (full metal profile). Circa 1990’s they were intended for use on metal silhouettes. Open tip reduces back splatters and ricochets.

It’s surprising at the “old stock” that has come out of hibernation due to ammo shortage.

Some years back I bought Ruger Single Six .32 H&R Magnum. To get brass for it I bought four boxes of Federal factory loaded ammunition, two of JHP, and two lead. Upon firing the first time, I experienced many split cases, which was unusual as at that time Federal brass was of very high quality and long lived. I contacted Federal about this and they requested I return the cartridges to them. They paid my return charges, and immediately sent me the same amount of replacement ammunition.

The replacement ammunition worked without a hitch, and all was well. Then I got a response from Federal. They told me that the lot of ammuniton I had had been exposed to some caustic fumes, probably in shipment, and that exposure had indeed weakened the brass.

Greatl

 

[Palladan44]

The few times I've tried unidentified ammunition under advice from grand-dad to just "burn em up", it has been sketchy. Sticky extractions and flattened primers on some 357s. And another time .38 special cases (which fired from 357 capable 586) which were clearly loaded to 357 pressures (aka. 38-44) Would not have been good if loaded into someones model 36 airweight w/ aluminum frame.....who knows, could have split the gun in 2!!

Also noted the XTP bullets were seated about 30 thou past the cannelure, indicating the reloader probably didn't know what they were doing......
But, the dumbest thing of all is ME for firing a few of them.

Unfortunately, if someone knowingly FUBARS a batch of reloads, there's a chance they may try to dump them on someone. I'd like to think that 99.9% of people wouldn't do such a thing.