Quote:
Originally Posted by Slidellkid
I have a good buddy that purchased two boxes of Hornady SST 139 grain ammunition for his 7mm-08. There appears to be a bad lot of bullets floating around out there. He had seven bullets fail to fire and none of the bullets would group at all - they were literally all over the paper.
To make sure it was not his rifle he purchased a box of Federal Fusions and his rifle printed a nice small group as it had been doing prior to picking up the SSTs. In fact, he had been using Hornady ammunition loaded with the GMX bullet and has taken four deer so far this year (in S.C.)
He called Hornady to let him know and they told him he must have oil on his firing pin. Then they told him he needs to clean his rifle. Pretty lame excuses if you ask me. Then they told him to gather up all the shells that have the indented primers and send them to them in the mail. Seems to me if one of those went off in the box it could easily start a fire or worse. I can't believe they told him to do that.
His duds came out of both boxes so it appears it was not an isolated incident.
Just thought I would let you guys know.
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A few things one can do to investigate misfires and show that the ammo is at fault rather than the rifle or firing pin.
1. Take a good picture of the primers of the dud rounds showing the dimple made by the impact of the firing pin. See the attached photo.
2. Test whether the loaded rounds contain powder. If the equipment is available, this can be done by pulling the bullet and dumping the powder, but it can also be done by weighing rounds. A 7mm-08 round with no powder will be 40-50 grains (about 3 grams) lighter than one with powder.
3. Test the rifle's misfire rate with another load. Because a lot of ammo is required for a good statistical test here, one should take the other steps also if only using a box or two for this test.
It's easy to blame the firing pin or headspace on a rifle, and these problems are more common than malformed or non-functioning lead-based primers from the US manufacturers. (DDNP or lead free primers have much higher failure rates). Since it is rare for US manufacturers to see real problems with their lead based primers, they tend to suspect the gun. However, I would not return ammunition before at least weighing every round and photographing the firing pin strikes on the primers.