Factory Ammo is CRAP


redkneck

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You guys have problems with factory ammo? I'm not talking about the serious reloaders out there that talk about differences in charges measured in a grain or two, i'm talking about ammo that is just plain defective. A few years ago when i bought my weatherby, i got a box of weatherby ammo, which is supposed to be "Premium" when compared to some other brands. One of the bullets had an extra groove rolled into it out halfway between the brass and the tip. I pushed it back, reluctant to shoot it, thinking of writing weatherby a letter, but finally shot it this past season, blowing a bobcat to pieces. Also i had a box of Rem Core-locks. Three of the cases were split at the neck. After getting no response from the email i sent, i simply threw them away. Then for christmas i got the kids a .243 Rossi. We shot most of the box of Win power points and had about 5 to misfire. I thought maybe i had a rifle problem, but the more i look at the dimples and study the firing pin on my gun, i am pretty sure the ammo was just defective. This is outrageous considering the high cost of ammo. Three different brands, all three with big problems. These days i'm reaching past my 300 mag more and more during gun season to get my bow out of the closet, but when i grab a gun, i expect my ammo to perform for me. :mad:

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Ok, so apparently i'm the only one with 3 strikes in a row on ammo, lol!

So, to close this thread, i'll just agree with myself. :D:eek:

Oh no.........I have had my gripes with factory ammo. When I bought my Remington 700 Varmint, I bought a couple of boxes of Remington cartridges just so I could have something to shoot until I got some dies and brass. The first thing I noticed was that some had silver colored primers and some had brass colored primers. So if they were not indeed different brands of primers entirely, at least they were surely different lots stirred in. That sure didn't fill me with a whole lot of confidence. The groups reflected some severe variations causing a 1.5" group at 50 yards. Testing out my "home-loaded" bullets, the groups went down to just under 3/8" which is more what I expected for bench rested 50 yard groups. I don't remember what I paid for those boxes of Remingtons, but in hindsight, I could have saved myself a lot of anguish, frustration and doubt if I had just waited for the dies and grass to get here.

I have not always had such bad luck with factory ammo, but I can't remember any time when factory ammo out-performed my reloads.

The kinds of problems that you have had are far more severe than anything I have experienced, but when quality gets so bad that you are paying for split cases (possibly indicating that the brass may be used), and deformed bullets, I would be sending some rather irate letters or placing some hot phone calls to let them no that their slip-shod quality is not going un-noticed.

Doc

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Thanks, Doc. I've never had problems like this before either. I just posted this thinking that surely if i was getting this type of defects, then there must be more members out there too. I understand about the primers, that would concern me as well. But when you're payin top dollar for ammo, and your nine year old pulls a bullet out of the brass and says "this one's split, daddy", then THAT'S something to be really ticked about.

Long story short, i need to get into reloading. :)

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I've never had a problem with any centerfire or shotgun ammo in any of my guns. My last brick of Remington .22 Yellowjackets had a lot of duds in them though! I couldn't hardly shoot a whole clip without having one not fire for me. I know dang well the firing pin was hitting the case! Sure is irritating.

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Never had any issues with any brand of factory centerfire ammo...........shotshell or metallic. But I shoot a very small quantity of factory, metallic centerfire. Load my own for every caliber I have (except .25 ACP :rolleyes: ). Have had some misfires with 22 LR, 22 Mag and 5mm Mag .........all rimfire.

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The only problem with factory ammunition I have had was with Winchester Double A 12 ga target loads. At one time they changed the plastic formulation and the hull would split on the initial firing rendering it non reloadable. I would simply take these to a Winchester rep at the bigger shooting competitions and they would give me vouchers for free shells for my troubles. They did finally realize they had a problem and fixed it, though in the mean time I converted to the remington STS but that's another story.

I would have a gunsmith look at the Rossi first before blaming the ammo. Five miss fires in a box of twenty doent sound like an ammo problem. Anything from a weak firing pin spring, a burr in the firing pin hole and head spacing can also be a culprit.

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If I had one misfire from factory ammo, that company would get so many e mails and hand written letters until it was made good on.

I have had issues with military (Lake City .308) firing it out of my Ruger 77V. Military primers need a harder tap from the firing pin as opposed to commercial primers that ignite the charge relatively easy. I have also had some .22LR duds, those are cheap enough not to raise cane over and just toss 'em.

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At the risk of jinxing myself...I've never had a misfire on any ammunition in my lifetime.

I remember my Dad throwing an already fired shotshell into the lineup a few times. Just to see how I would handle a misfire if I had one in the future...but I've never heard the Click with a live cartridge in the chamber...so far.

The only centerfire manufacturers I have used are Federal Premium and Remington Corelokts.

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