[ARCHIVED THREAD] - For your safety and mine! Disassembled ~400 rounds Hornady Frontier 5.56 results inside... (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 7/4/2019 1:15:34 PM EDT
Yesterday I read another post about Hornady Frontier blowing up someones gun.
I spent my morning pulling down about 400 rounds of Hornady Frontier 5.56 55 grain FMJ ammo. Unfortunately I don't have the original boxes or lot numbers as I put most of my ammo on stripper clips when I get them. I had purchased 500 rounds about 6 months ago and read reviews after buying it, NOT GOOD!! I did shoot about 100 rounds without any problems. So here's what I did: Weighed every powder charge in every case. Low was 27.4 grains, High was 28.1 grains Weighed approx every 25 bullets. Low was 54.6 grains, High was 55.2 grains Checked every piece of brass in Lyman chamber checker. Every one of them would have chambered properly. What I did notice when pulling bullets, about every 25 rounds I would get one that was EXTREMELY hard to pull out!! Basically from what I saw the powder weight was a little sketchy, bullet weight was very consistent, brass all would have chambered properly, and no odd looking primers. My conclusion: maybe the bullets that were really hard to pull out create extra pressure when shooting? Personally I will never buy this stuff again based off how many posts I've read about them blowing up peoples guns. My results seem like it would have been safe, but who knows about the next batch!? Be safe, and Happy Independence Day!!! ETA: Just measured every piece of brass, the longest I found was 1.762" shortest was 1.752". Checked bullet diameters ranged from .2230 to .2245 
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Are you saying you weighed the powder charge while in the case? I would assume that you then weighed the case to arrive at the charge weight. Is that correct? I've weighed cases before and they can be inconsistent. |
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What are you planning to do with the components? I know I'll use the bullets for sure. And probably the brass. I'll wait for more responses to find out maybe if the powder is the culprit? Nobody has really figured out why their guns blow up using this stuff and that's what I was trying to do here. |
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I would reassemble a few of the rounds that were difficult to pull. Moderate load, fire, then check inside neck diameter of the fired cases. I'll bet they would need to be reamed. |
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I'm not sure. I know I'll use the bullets for sure. And probably the brass. I'll wait for more responses to find out maybe if the powder is the culprit? Nobody has really figured out why their guns blow up using this stuff and that's what I was trying to do here. Quoted:
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What are you planning to do with the components? I know I'll use the bullets for sure. And probably the brass. I'll wait for more responses to find out maybe if the powder is the culprit? Nobody has really figured out why their guns blow up using this stuff and that's what I was trying to do here. |
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Yesterday I read another post about Hornady Frontier blowing up someones gun.
I spent my morning pulling down about 400 rounds of Hornady Frontier 5.56 55 grain FMJ ammo. Unfortunately I don't have the original boxes or lot numbers as I put most of my ammo on stripper clips when I get them. I had purchased 500 rounds about 6 months ago and read reviews after buying it, NOT GOOD!! I did shoot about 100 rounds without any problems. So here's what I did: Weighed every powder charge in every case. Low was 27.4 grains, High was 28.1 grains Weighed approx every 25 bullets. Low was 54.6 grains, High was 55.2 grains Checked every piece of brass in Lyman chamber checker. Every one of them would have chambered properly. What I did notice when pulling bullets, about every 25 rounds I would get one that was EXTREMELY hard to pull out!! Basically from what I saw the powder weight was a little sketchy, bullet weight was very consistent, brass all would have chambered properly, and no odd looking primers. My conclusion: maybe the bullets that were really hard to pull out create extra pressure when shooting? Personally I will never buy this stuff again based off how many posts I've read about them blowing up peoples guns. My results seem like it would have been safe, but who knows about the next batch!? Be safe, and Happy Independence Day!!! https://i.imgur.com/mjBJV5V.jpg They have told me that they used to make a lot of stuff for Hornady. Soooo....if Olin moved a large chunk of their operation out of Alton, IL down south to Alabama or Mississippi (labor costs were apparently too high here in southern Illinois)... I would not be surprised if quality has slipped. Whether Olin was or is making complete loaded rounds or just components for Hornady....I have no idea??? |
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That's kinda what I was thinking, but since it's Independence Day I might throw the powder in my fire pit and light it with a LONG stick!  Quoted:
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I think I'd just toss the powder and reload. Maybe chamfer the case. 
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Why toss the powder? Load it back up with 25gr But I don't really know for sure. And other than being hard to pull a few bullets and powder weight variance I really didn't discover much... |
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@thorn653
dude! you have one of the cleanest/neatest/most organized reloading bench tops I have ever seen! How do you like the Hornady cam lock bullet puller? I have the RCBS (die based) bullet puller which is threaded to caliber specific collets. I have never used it yet....rather...I just throw my reject rounds into a big glass fishbowl...for now... I'll get around to pulling them apart one of these days. |
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Why toss the powder? Load it back up with 25gr I don't know which from-a-reloading-powder-can-gunpowder it most resembles....(vs. commercial cannister powders) but I was under the impression that 25.0 grains of H335 under a 55gr FMJ seated out to 2.25" or 2.26" long was kind of a standard/common or "rule of thumb" load for .223 . |
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@thorn653 dude! you have one of the cleanest/neatest/most organized reloading bench tops I have ever seen! How do you like the Hornady cam lock bullet puller? I have the RCBS (die based) bullet puller which is threaded to caliber specific collets. I have never used it yet....rather...I just throw my reject rounds into a big glass fishbowl...for now... I'll get around to pulling them apart one of these days. You should see the upper half, not so organized.
The cam lock puller is a bitch to set up but once it's set up it's pretty quick. |
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I have had exactly one round blow up in a gun in all my years of shooting. Probably 300-500K rounds total...that includes rifle, pistol, shotgun. The one round that blew up was in an AR15, and trashed the upper receiver making it look like a banana peel. Barrel was fine, I tossed the bolt just so I wouldn't worry about cracked lugs.
The round that blew was a round I made using new brass. I contacted the powder manufacturer, and they said that the powder was designed for 5.56 so that there was no way possible to over charge a case. They said a person could scoop as much powder into a case as possible, and jam a bullet on top, and it still wouldn't generate enough power to hit the max SAAMI pressures. They wanted the blown brass plus some rounds to disassemble and test. The case that blew up looked as if the primer pocket had been EDM machined from the pocket right through the rim. I sent in the requested material. The said that while max SAAMI pressures were 60,000 CUP (IIRC, but it has been a very long time ago), all my rounds were around 52,000 CUP. They said my velocities were extremely consistent with very low extreme spreads (under 25 fps). They surmised that I got a bad case that allowed the primer to vent sideways. Since then, I closely inspect all primer pockets on all new brass, and in the ensuing 25 years, haven't had another incident. (knock on wood). Fortunately, although the upper receiver was trashed, no one was injured, just frightened. |
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@45-Seventy
More than likely people just like you are going to be spending lots of money on fireworks. Now that's a waste of money! I just pulled these rounds so I didn't potentially blow up my gun. (a potential savings of gun components and eyeballs) So I could either reload these rounds and hope for the best or start the powder on fire for a few seconds of oooooo's and ahhhhh's. Have a good day! |
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Did you check the bullet diameters on the hard to pull rounds?
Did you measure OAL case length and compare the hard pullers to the rest? If the case OAL is too great, it can cause a super heavy crimp as it engages more of the crimping feature in the die. An oversized bullet can cause the same thing. SCIENCE!!!! 
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Thanks for doing this. With the consistency of the powder weights,only thought would be related to crimp pressure. Do you know which cases were harder to pull, compare their lengths? Also, Lake City loads this for Hornady. |
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Yes, that heavy crimp can cause pressure spikes. A bullet leaving the case is much like finding the sweet spot when timing a performance engine. Leaves too soon, it can affect velocity. Leaves too late, it can create enough pressure to damage the firearm. As mothers have said, reuse the powder at 25gr per case, and use it for plinking/training rounds. |
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I really don't want to waste it, as it's not cheap, but I was hoping to figure out why this blows up peoples guns. I would assume the powder is fine. But I don't really know for sure. And other than being hard to pull a few bullets and powder weight variance I really didn't discover much... Quoted:
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Why toss the powder? Load it back up with 25gr But I don't really know for sure. And other than being hard to pull a few bullets and powder weight variance I really didn't discover much... Chris |
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@45-Seventy More than likely people just like you are going to be spending lots of money on fireworks. Now that's a waste of money! I just pulled these rounds so I didn't potentially blow up my gun. (a potential savings of gun components and eyeballs) So I could either reload these rounds and hope for the best or start the powder on fire for a few seconds of oooooo's and ahhhhh's. Have a good day! Relax. |
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I really don't want to waste it, as it's not cheap, but I was hoping to figure out why this blows up peoples guns. I would assume the powder is fine. But I don't really know for sure. And other than being hard to pull a few bullets and powder weight variance I really didn't discover much... From 27.4 grains to 28.1 grains is a pretty significant charge weight difference (0.7 grains), a lot more than I would expect but I haven't weighed any commercial charges so maybe it's common for that much difference. As has been stated the difference in tension to pull the bullets could be significant since that will cause a pressure spike. It would be very coincidental but there is a possibility that a tight-fitting bullet and a higher-than-normal powder charge met in the same cartridge at some point. |
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I really don't want to waste it, as it's not cheap, but I was hoping to figure out why this blows up peoples guns. I would assume the powder is fine. But I don't really know for sure. And other than being hard to pull a few bullets and powder weight variance I really didn't discover much... Load it to 27 grains and check results. |
| No expert or special knowledge at all in blown up guns or reloading. However, what usually lets go first? The Cartridge Case. Its possible when they extruded and formed the cases, some may be too thin at the base. Maybe not, but I would be hesitant to use any of those cases. |