mstreddy
Member
Hello all, finally got around to pulling some rounds apart from a couple of suspect boxes of Ultramax 9mm 125 gr LRN commercial reloads. I bought these some years ago in a couple of 250 round packs from a local sporting goods store that closed down a couple/three years ago.
I went through the first 250 pack with no issues. On the second pack, the 2nd and 3rd boxes of 50 started giving me some interesting issues. I had at least 3 rounds in those boxes that pretty much kaboomed on me in 2 separate guns a couple of years ago. I chalked the first one to a "HUH?" and checked out the gun - Glock 17, no real damage, the mag had blown down, some stinging and powder burns in my trigger finger from blowing out by the trigger opening. The case had ruptured at the Web/head area. But it wasn't one of those big kaboomed cases you see all over the net, just a small blow out. I threw the case away, (I should have kept it), stopped shooting, and checked the gun out thoroughly once I got home.
I should have stopped right there, but some weeks later, tried one of the other boxes and this time in my Beretta 92, had the same issue -- this time it bent the action/transfer bar and the extractor on that pistol and again, no serious damage. I had another one from the first box do the same again in my G17. This last case I kept. I put the rest of the Ultramax ammo, 2+ boxes away, and as I kept meaning to contact the company for refund/replacement, but figured it had been way too long since I had bought it.
So, this week I finally took all the rounds, my trusty kinetic hammer puller and decided to break down all 110 rounds remaining to check out the powder charge. Obviously I have no idea what powder they use, but I was curious as to the consistency of the loads as something wasn't right in that batch.
Now, the kinetic puller can be a little messy, so I can't guarantee the finite accuracy of the measured results, but below is a breakdown of the charges.
I am guesstimating a certain amount for spillage, but tried to be as precise as possible. I measured in 5+ round batches and for some just added the next 5 or 10 powder charges into the pan:
5 rounds 26 grns
10 rnds 52.46
20 rnd 105.6
next box:
5 rnds 25
10 rnds 45.9
probably a short loaded or nearly squib load
5 rnds 26.5
5 rnds 26.1
5 rnds 27.3
10 rnds 52.6
20 rnds 107.5
30 rnds 161.5
40 rnds 215.6
50 rnds 269.4
So, after all that, I can discern that one box averaged a load of 5.2x grains of powder, but the other box went all the way from 5.0 to as high as 5.5, this is by discarding/ignoring the batch with the squib load. That seems like quite a bit of variance for their loads.
Conclusion -- NEVER EVER buy Ultramax ammo. And next time I have a case failure, contact the manufacturer ASAP!
BTW, on my own crafted reloads the variance from one powder throw to the next is +/-.1 grain.
Has anyone had a similar experience with flaky ammo and recorded the powder charge variations?
Thanks,
Eddy
I went through the first 250 pack with no issues. On the second pack, the 2nd and 3rd boxes of 50 started giving me some interesting issues. I had at least 3 rounds in those boxes that pretty much kaboomed on me in 2 separate guns a couple of years ago. I chalked the first one to a "HUH?" and checked out the gun - Glock 17, no real damage, the mag had blown down, some stinging and powder burns in my trigger finger from blowing out by the trigger opening. The case had ruptured at the Web/head area. But it wasn't one of those big kaboomed cases you see all over the net, just a small blow out. I threw the case away, (I should have kept it), stopped shooting, and checked the gun out thoroughly once I got home.
I should have stopped right there, but some weeks later, tried one of the other boxes and this time in my Beretta 92, had the same issue -- this time it bent the action/transfer bar and the extractor on that pistol and again, no serious damage. I had another one from the first box do the same again in my G17. This last case I kept. I put the rest of the Ultramax ammo, 2+ boxes away, and as I kept meaning to contact the company for refund/replacement, but figured it had been way too long since I had bought it.
So, this week I finally took all the rounds, my trusty kinetic hammer puller and decided to break down all 110 rounds remaining to check out the powder charge. Obviously I have no idea what powder they use, but I was curious as to the consistency of the loads as something wasn't right in that batch.
Now, the kinetic puller can be a little messy, so I can't guarantee the finite accuracy of the measured results, but below is a breakdown of the charges.
I am guesstimating a certain amount for spillage, but tried to be as precise as possible. I measured in 5+ round batches and for some just added the next 5 or 10 powder charges into the pan:
5 rounds 26 grns
10 rnds 52.46
20 rnd 105.6
next box:
5 rnds 25
10 rnds 45.9
probably a short loaded or nearly squib load5 rnds 26.5
5 rnds 26.1
5 rnds 27.3
10 rnds 52.6
20 rnds 107.5
30 rnds 161.5
40 rnds 215.6
50 rnds 269.4
So, after all that, I can discern that one box averaged a load of 5.2x grains of powder, but the other box went all the way from 5.0 to as high as 5.5, this is by discarding/ignoring the batch with the squib load. That seems like quite a bit of variance for their loads.
Conclusion -- NEVER EVER buy Ultramax ammo. And next time I have a case failure, contact the manufacturer ASAP!
BTW, on my own crafted reloads the variance from one powder throw to the next is +/-.1 grain.
Has anyone had a similar experience with flaky ammo and recorded the powder charge variations?
Thanks,
Eddy
