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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - My AR15 KaBoomed - from Maine Cartridge Co. SS109 (Updated Page 14 More Lying/More Stupidity) (Page 4 of 7)
The mag well is slightly bent outward on the left/port side of the lower. It can be "fixed" with light useage of a vise. It will still lock and eject magazines. So I'm essentially out one complete carrier/charging handle and an upper reciever ( I have a flattop upper I picked up for 80 bucks). The barrel may be salvageable - need to have the round removed and the barrel inspected. All other parts are good. It wasn't my only AR15. It served as a valuable lesson. A) Don't get too attached to your stuff B) Buy quality ammunition or reload your own C) Safety - you never know |
That is a bullshit answer - it isnt backed up with facts, and that should keep ANYONE from buying MMC ammo in the future. If that "gunsmith" thinks that the AR fired out of battery, and it wasnt a fault of the ammo for an OOB firing, then he is an idiot or a "company man" (i.e. LIAR). If that "gunsmith" states that because the bullet was left in the bore, and therefore the rifle could not have been in battery, he is an idiot, and is ignorant of failures in the AR system. If that "gunsmith" thinks the firing pin struck the primer OOB, then he is a fucking moron. And that's that. All of these can be refute with a little research, and thrown right back in MCC's face. Id say the guy is a crook if he is going to let this stand. |
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The business is in Cardville, Maine. If I remember correctly, there is virtually nothing there. I grew up in Maine and doubt any well known "gunsmiths" work in that area. Its the blame game. He didn't blame me but somehow the parts are to blame in his mind. I doubt Bushmaster would agree. But I'm not spending another $30 on shipping when I could be rebuilding. |
You make a valid point but I'm tired of dealing with the bullshit and am not spending anymore money on the matter. If I had a normal job/life and paperwork to back me up - I'd pursue this further - but I am about to deploy in CONUS again sometime soon. Too much of a headache. I just want people to know what happened so they don't buy this subpar ammunition. |
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Just smile to yourself and know that this thread has cost him waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than the few bucks that he would have spent in fixing your gun. IF he would have replaced it instead of feeding you BS, they could have saved some face, but now....fuck 'em. Someone needs to forward them this thread so they know they screwed up. |
I was about to place an order for some of their ammo. Sorry to hear about what happened and I'm glad you are ok. I will never buy their ammo again! |
Did you identify the headstamp on the brass? There should have been enough remaining to do an identification plus enough to measure the web thickness which is the most probable cause. Do you have any other unfired rounds with the same headstamp? This might prove telling. How much of this lot of ammo had you fired? And finally, had it been an out of battery condition, there will be damage to the buffer tube and possibly your shoulder. And the buffer spring will look like hammered dog poo. |
Can you send it to Bushmaster or other non-interested party with the experience to find out conclusively what went wrong? I'm not saying MCC is strait up lying to you, but they are certainly biased, and aren't looking to find fault in their products... |
+1 I'd lawyer up... you could have been killed... these guys had a chance to do the right thing, and being a business owner let me tell you they are dumb, cause now you got to sue them for restitution and it would of cost them a bunch less to not admit any wrong doing but gracefully replace your rifle and offer some more ammo... I'd make sure they leaned this by getting a lawer working for me (free of course cause they can smell the opportunity here for sure)... But thats just my .02 USD |
Jesus, do we have to put up with this shit from YOU too? 
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Yeah - just glad I wasn't injured. The company should have the rifle and a sample of the ammo this coming week. Just hope the guy has integrity when he looks at it.
Their ammo consists of multiple headstamps from different lots of Lake City and WCC brass so there is no way to narrow anything down to a specific lot. Initially, I had a case of 1,000 rnds back around 1999 or 2000. I had had some quality control problems before as mentioned - dented casings and rounds not properly seated in the case. Should have raised a lot of flags before but I felt safe by just checking the ammo prior to loading it into mags - mistake #1. I think I'm going to repost this thread on some LEO boards and other websites and contact the distributors of MCC ammunition. I'm done spending money though to pursue a cause which may be a dead end. I can move on -but I'll be damned if MCC moves on with financial success after this. I believe the owner of MCC assumes I am a typical gun owner who knows little of their weapon and feels safe in feeding me whatever line of bullshit he has contrived. Its a mute point to argue with the guy. His refusal to admit wrongdoing and reimburse me for meer parts will result in his loss of business. Unfortunately, I can't help people (MCC) stuck on stupid. |
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You might contact them and ask them for the names/contact information of their "gunsmiths." If he first replies, "Yabada Yabada" you'll know he was BSing you. I'd probably tell him that my back was apparently injured when I fell back off the reloading bench after the KB.  But that's just me. |
I'm confused - after the incident, was the bolt still in battery or out of battery? |
You sir, have been fed a line of shit. Sorry you can't get anywhere with this. Perhaps you could sue the builder of the rifle??? I'm sure you'll end up a very rich man!
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Thanks for the heads up then. I'll be sure to NEVER TO BUY FROM MCC. I hope you told that liar that his comments were posted on a technical forum for the AR-15 with thousands of subscribers. The only OOB firing I have heard of would come from a high/soft primer and that would be HIS problem now wouldn't it. He "checked the headspace for high pressure" huh? Right. |
Not only do I hope people from MCC see this, but I also want them to know that I will spread the word about their lousy ammo, and the pack of lies which surrounds them, to every shooter I ever shoot with. Hopefully this thread will prove to them that truth would have been cheaper. Honesty goes alot further than a dollar ever will. I'm like a poet with this stuff. |
Not defending MCC, but it sure would be nice to hear what Bushmaster has to say about it. MCC probably destroyed any useful info BM could have gotten from it, though. This just confirms my decision, though, to pony up for new ammo from big manufacturers. You still might get squat from Federal or WCC but at least you stand a better chance (I hope!) of a good analysis and a call from a lawyer asking you what needs to be done to satisfy you. Have you contacted Bushmaster AT ALL? Surely they must be interested in seeing one of their rifles that has had a failure. Can I ask why you sent it to MCC rather than BM? |
The gun is pretty much all stock Bushmaster parts less the barrel. I *think* the bolt carrier is from Bushmaster but am not 100% sure - it could have been Bushmaster factory or CMT. This is the fifth or sixth AR15 I've built and the gun had about 200-300rnds through it already. However, it is not a "stock" rifle so I'm not sure how obligated Bushmaster is to look at it. I did IM them and will follow up with an email or phone call. I don't consider it the responsibility of Bushmaster to assess this situation. Bushmaster specifically warns of the EXACT situation I had in their FAQ - its as if their FAQ describes MCC without explicitly naming the company. In any case, I'll make sure I hear back from Bushmaster. Like I said - its not a stock rifle so I don't consider them responsible in any way, shape, or form. Here is what Bushmaster Firearms website states - its like a proverbial "I told you so" Beware the dangers of CHEAP AMMO! Abstract If you shoot enough cheap ammo, it'll happen to you. The rifle is just ticking along, then BAM! The bolt is stuck forward and the magazine blows down out of the rifle. Looking up into the mag. well, you see a crack in the bottom of the bolt carrier. You've just had a case head separation. If you are shooting reloads or surplus ammo, you're out of luck. If you have factory ammo, and the box the shells came in, you can write a letter or call the factory, and they will tell you what to do. We have seen case head failures from overloaded ammo, and from bad brass. There is almost no difference in the result, though. When the case head fails in an AR, the gases flow back into the action. They usually bend or break the extractor, flow along the extractor slot, and crack or break the bottom pad of the bolt carrier. The gases vent out mostly through the mag well, usually wrecking the magazine on the way out. Sometimes the bolt cracks, sometimes it doesn't. In extreme cases, it can crack or break the barrel extension. Many times the bolt catch will break off and the upper receiver will crack by the ejection port. Usually the lower will survive, but sometimes they crack somewhere at the top of the mag well, usually in the front. The front half of the case will remain stuck in the chamber. This is a sure sign of an ammunition failure. If the rifle had failed, the bolt lugs would all be sheared off, the stock would be blown off, the gun would probably be blown in half. We've never seen it happen, and we hope we never do. |
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I posted a link on another forum, hopefully it gets a little more visibility. I had considered purchasing from MCC, but after reading this thread there is no way in hell I would purchase anything from them. Bad cases happen, but failure to stand behind a product is unacceptable. Thanks again for posting this J_Smith. Have you sent a link to the @$$hats at MCC? |
Trying to find their email addy - if they even have one. If not, I'll eventually send them a letter of the threads. I'd like to give them the option to respond on the internet - though it would seem foolish for them to continue to stick to their fairy tale of out of battery conditions. |
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Looks like they have made some friends onn Sigforums.com sigforum.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/410601935/m/307106604/p/1 |
Link doesn't work. |
Good call, forgot about that one.
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The upside is J. Smith was uninjured and we all got a nice reminder/lesson without losing any blood ourselves. Stop with the lawyer talk, hell, we can't hardly afford nothing now because of the lawyers. I despise lawyers and you all are talking about giving them a raise. Besides, you can't get blood out of a turnip. Jeeminy, that's one tough scope mount....looks like it might of saved your bacon.  I'm sure LaRue would love to replace that with a new one just to get his dick-beaters and dial-indicators all over it. 
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Bushmaster has generously offered to exam the rifle at no cost and cover shipping costs both ways for the rifle. I deploy soon for a month (stateside LE) so I may not have any updates here till sometime in May. But Bushmaster will be examing the rifle whenever I get the opportunity to mail the rifle. I'll be certain to update here with any new news. **regarding post above** the LaRue Mount and SWFA Super Sniper Scope are totally fine - not even a scratch |
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I had issues with their 223 and 30 carbine several years ago. While I didnt manage to blow anything up. I remember them telling me the carbine I was shooting had a headspace issue. Funny thing was I had just watched a retired Marine armorer that had worked with there rifle team and had EVERY GI gauge you can imagine as well as commerial gages install the barrel and check the head space. This guy has forgotten more about building GI weapons than most will ever know. I thought he was going to fly to maine an kick someones ass when I told him their response. We checked it again and they were FOS. The 223 wouldnt even fit in a check gauge since it was improperly (too little) resized. I guess I got lucky there since it wouldnt even chamber in my AR! Bottom line I got all of my $ back after being a dick and involving a fed prosecuter (uncle) threatening them. MMC sucks. theyre expensive and have shitty QC. I liken buying their ammo to paying double price on Indian surplus. |
Not quite proverbial, more "prophetic". Have you sent that link/article/information to MCC in response to their response? Maybe it would lead them to get a new gunsmith... |
J_Smith, thank you for doing a public service on the crappy MCC ammo and the even more shitty customer support from them. Rest assured you did get somewhere and that is to help spread the word on these asshats. I will not buy from them based on your report. Thanks for your effort in letting us all know the crap MCC is passing off in ammo and customer service. |
[ARCHIVED THREAD] - My AR15 KaBoomed - from Maine Cartridge Co. SS109 (Updated Page 14 More Lying/More Stupidity) (Page 4 of 7)
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