7-8 years ago I bought a few hundred rounds, via Cabellas, of Herter's steel cased .308.  I fired it in my M1 Garand (in .308), which I’ve since found out isn’t something you should do.  I had a case head separate after firing, and have since read of other’s having gun explosions and such.

I swore it off in my M1, but fired a few rounds out from my Remington 700 without issues.  The primers felt a little higher than the back of the case, but I can’t say I’ve compared them to other fired rounds.

So, have others had issues with this ammo, in bolt action rifles?  Is the general consensus that this ammo was often loaded to too high pressures, which is what causes the problems with the M1 or M1A pattern, or is it something to do with the steel case, which the Springfield Armory manual for my M1A says in bold letters not to use?

I had just thrown the ammo in the bottom of the ammo dump, and had for zombie attacks only.  But now with ammo being like Gollum’s ring (My Precious!!!), I’m temped to bust it out again and fire it off from a bolt action.  Baring something like the ammo being loaded to such high pressures it blows the chamber up and or shears out the bolt lugs, what would the signs be if the ammo is too hot?

Bulged out primers – are we talking big bulges or just a little proud of the back of the case?
Blown out primers, or primers with holes in them?
Separated cases, as before?

I don’t want to damage my gun or me, but with a few hundred rounds of this left, I don’t want to pitch it just all from a single issue with a semi-auto rifle, than may have been from the steel case, not the loading.

Thanks,

I’ve seen 3 examples of Tula (Herter’s is imported Tula) .308 blowing up rifles. I wouldn’t put it in any rifle I cared about.

What type of rifles?  Semis or bolt actions?  Are the rounds loaded to too high pressures, is that what the issue is, or are the steel cases failing?

Tula is the same as Wolf right?  I fired a bunch of Tula and Wolf out of my M1A Scout between 8-12 years ago, never noticed any problems.  Wasn't accurate for anything, but it functioned.

I've only seen pictures of kabooms with Tula and other cheap steel case in semi-autos.  I've personally seen squibs, duds, rounds that showed signs of excessive pressure, and such, and I've never been able to get decent groups out of any rifle with that ammo.

I won't let anyone shoot that out of my rifles, and don't shoot it myself anymore.  Pistols occasionally, but I try to avoid it.  Someone gave me two boxes of Tula 9mm the other day, and I'm really low on 9mm, so that'll be shot, but typically I won't do that.

Wolf is one of the few steel-case brands that I find to be fairly decent and am willing to use.

I have some POF .303 that's even worse than the Tula (except there are no rounds showing signs of excessive pressures), but I have so much of it.  I kinda just wanna find someone with a Bren or Vickers and burn it up that way instead of in a rifle.

The best thing to do with the POF .303 is to pull down the bullets, scrap the brass, and feed the powder to your lawn. I don’t know anyone with a Bren or Vickers(yes, I know people who own both)who would let you anywhere near their guns with POF ammo. It was crap when it was a nickel a round, causing my SMLE to fire like a wet flintlock(CLICK............ SSS.... BOOM)or not at all. Lots and lots of duds, hang-fires, split cases, and primer ruptures.

Seriously, in this time of ammo shortages, somebody will buy the projectiles from you. Just don’t pass it off to an unsuspecting buyer as good ammo, because it’s not.