Jason M
Member
For those of you in the central Florida area, heed this warning.
I’ve been buying ammunition from an independent ammunition company named Space Coast Bullets in Melbourne, Florida. They are located off of Dow road in that industrial area. I’ve purchased from them for about a year now to fill my needs for .40S&W, .45ACP and .357SIG. Their prices are attractive, but here is my warning:
If you value the working condition of your firearms AT ALL, refrain from making ammunition purchases from them. Buy all the components from them you wish, but do not buy their loaded ammunition until you read this:
I was at the range yesterday shooting my Sig P226. I was shooting .357Sig ammo I bought from Space Coast Bullets. The fourth shot put my gun out of commission for a while. The rear of the casing exploded from the rest of the casing, causing a catastrophic failure of the extractor. He extractor was blown off of the gun and subsequently the detent pin and spring left the gun as well. I also received the normal shower of brass flake and unburned powder to my face and hands. I was wearing eye glasses and no injuries were sustained, unless you count my damaged Sig 226 (which I do!).
In addition to this, about 4 months ago, a .32ACP casing ruptured in a friend’s Kel-Tec P32 (hopefully he will chime in after my post here to corroborate my warning). The casing in that event did not come completely apart, but he had the same shower of brass bits and unburned powder to the face/hands as I did.
This makes two separate accounts of catastrophic casing failure from two entirely separate calibers on two separate manufacturing lots. One failure may be “acceptable” as chance, but two makes it repeatable and unacceptable. They are an ammunition manufacturer/remanufacturer and unless I am mistaken, their ammo only carries with it the standard warning that you should only use the ammo in a “firearm in good working condition for the caliber being used.” It seems as though their quality control has become lax as of late. Furthermore, I still have approximately 400 rounds of ammo from them in various calibers. I will be attempting to return the unopened packages this Saturday.
This situation is made further frustrating by the mere fact that I have shot reloaded ammunition of all kinds (.223, .270, .45ACP, 9mm) that myself, a friend and his father loaded up and we never had a single brass failure because we had some resemblance of quality control. Space Coast Bullets must be taking in any brass they get from nameless people who are looking to sell their extra brass for the $0.01 each they will buy it for.
Take this warning as you will, but please be warned.
-Jason
PS - The cost in parts for a P226 Extractor, Pin and Spring is approximately $45. Inexpensive compared to what the costs could have been--mechanically and medically!
I’ve been buying ammunition from an independent ammunition company named Space Coast Bullets in Melbourne, Florida. They are located off of Dow road in that industrial area. I’ve purchased from them for about a year now to fill my needs for .40S&W, .45ACP and .357SIG. Their prices are attractive, but here is my warning:
If you value the working condition of your firearms AT ALL, refrain from making ammunition purchases from them. Buy all the components from them you wish, but do not buy their loaded ammunition until you read this:
I was at the range yesterday shooting my Sig P226. I was shooting .357Sig ammo I bought from Space Coast Bullets. The fourth shot put my gun out of commission for a while. The rear of the casing exploded from the rest of the casing, causing a catastrophic failure of the extractor. He extractor was blown off of the gun and subsequently the detent pin and spring left the gun as well. I also received the normal shower of brass flake and unburned powder to my face and hands. I was wearing eye glasses and no injuries were sustained, unless you count my damaged Sig 226 (which I do!).
In addition to this, about 4 months ago, a .32ACP casing ruptured in a friend’s Kel-Tec P32 (hopefully he will chime in after my post here to corroborate my warning). The casing in that event did not come completely apart, but he had the same shower of brass bits and unburned powder to the face/hands as I did.
This makes two separate accounts of catastrophic casing failure from two entirely separate calibers on two separate manufacturing lots. One failure may be “acceptable” as chance, but two makes it repeatable and unacceptable. They are an ammunition manufacturer/remanufacturer and unless I am mistaken, their ammo only carries with it the standard warning that you should only use the ammo in a “firearm in good working condition for the caliber being used.” It seems as though their quality control has become lax as of late. Furthermore, I still have approximately 400 rounds of ammo from them in various calibers. I will be attempting to return the unopened packages this Saturday.
This situation is made further frustrating by the mere fact that I have shot reloaded ammunition of all kinds (.223, .270, .45ACP, 9mm) that myself, a friend and his father loaded up and we never had a single brass failure because we had some resemblance of quality control. Space Coast Bullets must be taking in any brass they get from nameless people who are looking to sell their extra brass for the $0.01 each they will buy it for.
Take this warning as you will, but please be warned.
-Jason
PS - The cost in parts for a P226 Extractor, Pin and Spring is approximately $45. Inexpensive compared to what the costs could have been--mechanically and medically!
