Problems with Hornady Critical Defense .357

[Yelovitz_503]

I was recently shooting some of the 'Hornady critical defense' .357 mag rounds and it was having a lot of problems. The base of the cartridge was expanding and locked up the cylinder on my 686.. So I was unable to eject the rounds by hand, and ended up having to grab the cleaning rod off my AK and knock those spent cartridges out.

Against my better judgement I decided to try a few more and had the exact same issue with every single round I fired. I'm unhappy about this because Hornady is one of those companies with a good reputation, and this seemed like the whole batch was garbage. I was wondering if anyone else had this problem with these rounds, and if so did Hornady refund you? Were you compensated in some other way? I don't know what is the best course of action to pursue, should I even bother or just resign myself to being out X amount of money and keep moving?

Ideas, suggestions, or similar experiences?

 

[JohnKSa]

Is this a gun that you typically fire .38spl cartridges in? It may be that fouling rings have built up in the chambers which can make extraction sticky when you switch back to the longer .357Mag rounds.

It could also be that the chambers are bulged or badly cut and that's what's causing the cartridges to be sticky to eject.

And, it could be that something's wrong with the ammunition.

Once you eliminate gun-related issues, I would definitely contact Hornady. If it's a problem with the ammo, you deserve redress, and Hornady definitely needs to know about it.

 

[rswartsell]

I was a poster on another recent thread discussing problems with Hornady Critical Defense (CD). As a fan of Hornady's Leverevolution, I played the sceptic, but was informed that the internet is seeing an increasing wave of criticism.

I still don't have personal experience being a Speer "Gold Dot" user. I just want to point out complaints seem to be increasing (anecdotal, no hard data).

The complaint on the other thread was ignition failure (accompanied by a hsssst sound).

 

[Yelovitz_503]

JohnKSa: No this is a gun I primarily shoot .357 out of, it's a S&W 686 and hasn't ever had problems like this except with this ammo. I do put .38spl out of it fairly regularly but on the day where I was seeing this problem there were no malfunctions except on this Hornady ammo. I saved one of the spent cartridges and upon finally getting it out of the cylinder and could easily see that the base had physically expanded. The rounds fired but due to this expansion it was tougher than tough to get them out. We switched back to PMC and Sellier & Bellot with no issue whatsoever.

rswartsell: I've heard some talk around my usual gun store about people seeing this issue (only in passing, I didn't have time to figure out if we'd had the same problem but they were talking about the Hornady CD .357). My friend has Hornady CD for his .40 S&W and hasn't ever seen this issue. I've also used the Hornady FTX .357 ammo and had no issue with this type. It really seems like a problem with the casing, because they fired just fine, but the unloading got nasty.

 

[Owen Sparks]

Sounds like a pressure problem. I would try the same ammo in another revolver and see what happens. Could it be that your bore or chambers are a little tight?

 

[JohnKSa]

Yelovitz_503,

Based on your reply, I would contact Hornady and let them know what's going on. They need to know if there's a problem, and you deserve some ammo that works.

 

[ndh87]

no issues with it in my speed six