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Posted: 8/28/2012 4:49:04 AM EDT
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I purchased a box of ammo, 480 rounds, and shot around 25% of it (I have exact round count in my book if needed, but pretty sure it was 4 mags I fired). Almost 10% of this ammo failed to fire. Am I OK to post the brand of ammo on here? Not looking to flame any company or brand, but I think others should know. I couldn't believe that so many rounds did not fire. The strike on the primer was centered and looks plenty strong enough to me. But I'd certainly be happy to post pictures of the rounds that did not fire. I kept all of them.
Mods, pls let me know if OK to post the brand. My rifle is pretty new and it's entirely possible the strike was not strong enough. Which is why I offered to post pictures. But I don't think that's the problem. It's a common brand that you see for sale all the time. Maybe they just had a bad lot. It happens. But I know I won't be buying any more of that brand any time soon! |
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First thing to do is notify the company of the bad lot. If it's a well-known company I wouldn't be surprised if they replaced it for you with a different lot and pulled down a quantity for QA inspection.
How old is your rifle? How many rounds of different ammo have you shot through it? Have you ever shot this brand of ammo before? |
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I suppose I could notify the mfg. Wouldn't hurt. But I'd rather let others know of the problem than just replace my 480 rounds.
As I said, the rifle is pretty new. I've only fired, including these rounds, 200-250 rounds. I can get my book and tell for sure. I've only tried two brands other than these. No problems at all with the other two brands. And as I said, the strike on the primer on these bad rounds is centered and looks solid to me. I'm heading to the range one day this week (if the rain will ever stop for a day!) and will try out other brands, but I am pretty comfortable it's not the rifle. I have not ever shot this brand of ammo in .223 But I have shot it in other calibers before and no problems. So I do suspect it's a bad lot. |
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I'd be happy to send pics to someone's cell phone if they can post them for me. I don't believe I've ever tried to post a pic on here.
I'm not saying the ammo is bad, because it is possible that it's my weapon. As I said, it's fairly new and no, I have not checked headspace. I've hardly had time to get to the range to fire it some! It's a Daniel Defense upper on a Spikes lower. But the fact I fired the other brands of ammo, about the same number of rounds as the PMC, without any misfires at all, would certainly make me think that it's the ammo. If you guys can confirm that the primer has a solid strike, then I'll feel pretty certain it's the ammo. Or when I get to the range later this week (if the rain will stop long enough to dry the range out some), I'll compare some primers that did fire to those that didn't fire. I don't think I'll see any difference. |
| Didn't address the fire control group... yes, it's stock. But, again, if the other ammo fired just fine, and 10 out of 116 of the other brand didn't fire, wouldn't that tend to point to the ammo? No, it certainly cannot be confirmed at this point that it's the ammo. I am absolutely not saying that. Hopefully you guys can make a call after seeing pics. |
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Quoted:
Didn't address the fire control group... yes, it's stock. But, again, if the other ammo fired just fine, and 10 out of 116 of the other brand didn't fire, wouldn't that tend to point to the ammo? No, it certainly cannot be confirmed at this point that it's the ammo. I am absolutely not saying that. Hopefully you guys can make a call after seeing pics. It's an easy check, but check to make sure that your Hammer Spring is not broken. If you are not familiar with how it is supposed to look, the Spring has two tails that rest on top of the trigger pins along the inside of the receiver. If one of those tails breaks off it will weaking the strike enough that can cause some misfires. |
| Very timely topic! I just got back from South Dakota shooting prairie dogs and gave my brother PMC Bronze ammo in .223 and he had an exactly 10% failure rate out of the 240 rounds fired (very bad prairie dog trip!) he had 24 FTF. He was shooting a Remington 700 and all of the rounds had dimpled primers. I rechambered a few of the rounds into my RRA Varmint A4 and none of them fired. I don't have the lot number handy (I will post it later) but the ammo can I grabbed the boxes from was labeled that I bought the ammo in 2008 (yes it was a pre-obama stock up). The really odd thing is I had been using the ammo in this can as range ammo over the past few months firing it out of my RRA and I have never had a miss fire using the same PMC Bronze and lot number. Very odd. |
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tnek, you lost the bet. Finally got to the range today. Shot two mags of PMC Bronze and two mags of Fiocchi. 4 FTF on the first 30 rd PMC mag. Loaded Fiocchi 55g into the same mag. Zero FTF. Used another (different) mag loaded with PMC Bronze. 8 FTF out of 30 in that mag. Loaded that same mag with another 30 Fiocchi and zero FTF.
Not a big sample, but all I had time to do today. Enough to convince me it's a bad lot and not the rifle. PMC did offer to take back the case and replace it. So good customer service on their part. I had thought I wouldn't worry about sending anything back, as it's too much hassle. After today, not so sure. |
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send it back and get a new lot, its better to spend some bucks on shipping than a sh** ton of bucks on another case Quoted: tnek, you lost the bet. Finally got to the range today. Shot two mags of PMC Bronze and two mags of Fiocchi. 4 FTF on the first 30 rd PMC mag. Loaded Fiocchi 55g into the same mag. Zero FTF. Used another (different) mag loaded with PMC Bronze. 8 FTF out of 30 in that mag. Loaded that same mag with another 30 Fiocchi and zero FTF. Not a big sample, but all I had time to do today. Enough to convince me it's a bad lot and not the rifle. PMC did offer to take back the case and replace it. So good customer service on their part. I had thought I wouldn't worry about sending anything back, as it's too much hassle. After today, not so sure. |
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Quoted:
tnek, you lost the bet. Finally got to the range today. Shot two mags of PMC Bronze and two mags of Fiocchi. 4 FTF on the first 30 rd PMC mag. Loaded Fiocchi 55g into the same mag. Zero FTF. Used another (different) mag loaded with PMC Bronze. 8 FTF out of 30 in that mag. Loaded that same mag with another 30 Fiocchi and zero FTF. Not a big sample, but all I had time to do today. Enough to convince me it's a bad lot and not the rifle. PMC did offer to take back the case and replace it. So good customer service on their part. I had thought I wouldn't worry about sending anything back, as it's too much hassle. After today, not so sure. I didnt see it mentioned but did you have someone else try some of it in their gun? Or a couple guys? I'm also curious if PMC has some hard primers out there if more reports come in and if so will PMC put out a notice for recall. Hope your problem is solved but I think everyone would rather see a easily fixed problem with one rifle than thousands of rounds of ammo out there. |
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Well, I only bought a half case of 420 rounds. So if I assume a 10% failure rate (which is what I was thinking until today), that's only 42 rounds. Not worth the hassle for me to have to box it up and and drive several miles to ship it back for 42 rounds. After today, I'm wondering if I won't end up closer to a 20% failure rate. I guess I'd go to the trouble of returning it for 84 rounds.
No, didn't get anyone else to fire any, as I was the only one at the range today. Which is more often than not the case. At least on the rifle section. If the weather cools down a little and the rain will hold off, I'll try to get back out there again next week and will fire some more of some other brands, along with more of the PMC. I bought the PMC to store away, but now it can only be used for range practice. So might as well practice with it. I was wondering about a lot with hard primers myself. I'll look and see if I can see any difference in the Fiocchi primers and the PMC primers. I don't reload, but we have to pick up our brass at my range, so I should have most of what I fired. I know I kept all the PMC misfires. But should have all, or most, of the Fiocchi as well. All mixed in with the various .22LR, .22 Mag, 7.62, .270, .25, .45, and 9mm that I fired today too! One thing I noticed today... I enjoyed shooting that AR more than any other gun, even with the misfires (and it did give me a chance to do clearing drills). That one, and the .45, which is just a super accurate, smooth gun for a handgun. Hot as heck, but a good day at the range. |
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