What would you do with these "factory second" bullets

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Onewolf

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I ordered these 'factory second' bullets last week from Powder Valley. They are .224 55gr SBT (Sierra) bullets. I ordered 1000 of the 55gr SBT and 1000 of the 69gr HPBT. The 69gr HPBT appear to be flawless. In the past when I have ordered 'factory seconds' bullets from Midway or Powder Valley it was usually not very easy to determine why they are 'seconds'. However in this case it's pretty easy to see why they failed quality control. :what:

IMG_6351.jpg

If I wiggle the proboscis off the tip of the bullet it looks like this:

IMG_6358.jpg

As a "bonus" about 10-15% of the "55gr SBT" bullets appear to be .243 80gr SBT. Note the bullets on the far right:

IMG_6353.jpg

Any suggestions on how do efficiently 'fix' these (.224) bullets would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Doug
 
I would send a picture to P.V.I. Can't imagine they would find those exceptable.
 
I'd probably take my belt grinder to them after a snip job. Then again, I like to fool around with stuff like this :).

chuck them in a cordless drill and put them against a stationary file or sand paper.

Load them up, put them in a Lee trimmer and run them off a drill press or hand drill against an abrasive to true them up.

So many opportunities to fool time away here.
 
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How many .243 bullets are you looking at? I'd be willing to bet someone on this forum would be willing to give you a little scratch for your troubles on those.
 
If you look up my expensive soft point fixer on the neat things you have discovered thread, you might have a great time.
 
seconds

I've used bullet seconds like this for years. I'm actually thinking about picking some more up this weekend.
Just pinch off the extended lead tip, use them for everything except match shooting although they would probably work just as well for that anyway.
I've used seconds for hunting - coyote, deer and have never been disappointed.
They are great for plinking.
Where I buy seconds at they used to sell "mixed" bullets for $2.00 per pound and I'd but 10 or 20 pounds just for the fun of sorting them out to see what I would get. Sadly someone did something to make them jack the price to $12.00 per pound.

Anyway they are seconds and there may be some cosmetic defects or the weight maybe off.
 
Any "seconds" I have ever bought are just blemished, not distorted or oversize.

Selling bullets with warts or growths on them?? Come on!:eek:

Sure you can snip, clip, sand, grind whatever but how much savings is that. I called PVI before I bought some HPBT and specifically asked about deformities and such and they told me no.

Those are ridiculous even for "blems"
 
Snip them and shoot them. The tips aren't that important.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
I bet you won't see any negative effects accuracy wise. Not unless you're a bench rest shooter with very high standards.
For me, anything MOA or under is good, so I don't think I'd notice.
 
I would contact the seller about having 15% of the bullets being the wrong size and weight. Those are not seconds those are the wrong item.
 
Factory Second Bullets

I have Shot a Lot of Second Sierra Bullets with the Majority of them Having the
Small piece on the end. I just break it off, reload & shoot them. I have had no problem with Accuracy with their Bullets. I live not far from the Sierra Factory that is Located in Sedalia, Mo. where I can Buy them by the Pound at a good price. The Factory will not Ship any bullets which is not convent but not far to drive for me. I'm very happy with their Bullets, just break the small piece off, reload & shoot.
 
I'd send 'em back. Those are not the cosmetic flaws of factory seconds. Those are clearly rejects, and are unusable without modification. And, they're not even all the same caliber. This is absolutely unacceptable.

If PV won't take them back - including paying return shipping - after seeing those pictures, it's time to dispute the charges with your credit card company. You did not receive the product that you paid for.
 
Oh, for crying out loud! Those are factory seconds, period. I used to buy them just exactly like that from the Sierra factory when it was on Painter Blvd., in Whittier, CA, by the pound. In fact, they wouldn't tell you what the calibers were, just that they were "rifle seconds", or "handgun seconds", and they were all mixed calibers. I've still got some in my "examples" drawer on my bench.

Those who claim they're the wrong product, or should be returned, have either never bought factory seconds, or are novice reloaders. The factories have been selling those exact same type of bullets for over 50 years that I know of, since that's how long I've been buying them. That's why they're cheaper, they're seconds, and they're not offered as first quality bullets and you'll sometimes get a few that can't be used, but the majority will go downrange just fine, and are probably more accurate than the average shooter, anyway.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Some folks need a better understanding of what "factory seconds" are. An item pulled out because it doesn't meet the established standards and then sold to the public is a factory second. Some are better than others. I've bought and used many factory second bullets that I could not determine the reason they were pulled. They've all performed well.

I saw these listed on PV and almost bought some. Looking at these photos makes me think the $50/500 is a bit high for them. I wouldn't have a problem cleaning most of these up and shooting them.

Question is, did PV know the extent of the issues with these bullets when they priced them? The seconds I've bought from MidwayUSA were repackaged/labeled by Midway so they obviously saw the condition of the items they were selling as seconds.
 
Oh, for crying out loud! Those are factory seconds, period. I used to buy them just exactly like that from the Sierra factory when it was on Painter Blvd., in Whittier, CA, by the pound. In fact, they wouldn't tell you what the calibers were, just that they were "rifle seconds", or "handgun seconds", and they were all mixed calibers. I've still got some in my "examples" drawer on my bench.

Those who claim they're the wrong product, or should be returned, have either never bought factory seconds, or are novice reloaders. The factories have been selling those exact same type of bullets for over 50 years that I know of, since that's how long I've been buying them. That's why they're cheaper, they're seconds, and they're not offered as first quality bullets and you'll sometimes get a few that can't be used, but the majority will go downrange just fine, and are probably more accurate than the average shooter, anyway.

Hope this helps.

Fred
Click to expand...

On the PV website they are listed as ".224 55 GR SBT (500) (Major mfg factory seconds)"

Nowhere does it say that they are a box of mixed weight and caliber bullets. I would not be mad about the stuff on the tips of the bullets but I would be mad if 15% of my order were a totally different product than what I ordered.
As I said those are not factory seconds those are the wrong item being sent.
 
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