I've put several boxes of .380 CD through a Keltec, Beretta m84BB, and a P232.  No problems.  All fired, extracted and ejected perfectly.

"

Thats EXCELLENT advise! I'm glad there are people always thinking safety and practice, practice, practice out there.

Carrying ammo in your holster shouldn't affect ammo reliability, sometimes I've found the cheaper ammo such as 1000 rounds of loose bulk Centurian M193 .223 I bought has fired hundreds of rounds without a glitch.

When I went away for a few days last Spring, Cabella's sent an order earlier that I expected, my neighbor dropped the ball and failed to watch for UPS when they drop shipped 20 boxes/50 rounds each of  Winchester .357 Magnum JHP and I think American Eagle and Remington 38Sp. defense and range ammo, it rained for two days, when I came home the 50% of the ammo boxes were soaked through, 25% were 1/2 damp, the rest was ok. The didn't want to know nothing, I was stuck with it; had to go through each cartridge and wipe them down, had to dry the boxes and repackage the ammo. Placed them in a dry storage box with two Silica packs, since then have fired roughly 400 rounds with only two failures.

On the flip side, I've bought many boxes of pricy defense ammo from Federal Premium, Hornady, expensive Cor-Bon, etc..., each one I'd experience something with.

If you've read any of my other posts, you'de have read that I have great concerns regarding gun and ammo companies slipping on QC, especially since the November elections. These guys are going 24/7 trying to keep up with orders and they're running full speed but still haven't caught up, many without retooling or hiring more qualified people, and for good reason. Fears of heavy Federal and State taxes, import teriffs and bans, taxes on brass and cartridge components, bans on lead, and anti-gun laws on everything across the board; threats to list semi-auto pistols as assault weapons...so I'd figure, why would any smart business spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars retooling, only to be wacked by Obama, Holder, Napalitano, IRS, anti-gun Bloomberg/Feinstein creeps months, not years down the road.

I can understand how QC could slip, even with the most reputable companies, I've had, and still am experiencing big problems with each one of my five firearms I've bought in the past 10 months, right out of the new boxes, each one from highly reputable manufacturers. On top of defects, theres miscommunication, returned firearms with the same problems requiring having to reship them back again. Customer service departments not doing the things I ask even when I send a gun back with a big note of the problems experienced and want to spend more money for  them to do a factory upgrade...but they return the gun without the upgrade, a/o the problem not resolved, a/o they ship the wrong part.

But, we have to be understanding, just repeat what we want or need, put it in writing, and just try and be patient. Our Gun and ammo companies are facing something much like they've never had to face before, on top of massive supply and demand, economic crisis, two wars, and now a government full of radical revolutionary progressives, even communists, Marxists, Socialists, radical Islamic Sharia Law...and the UN trying to affect our Constitution...I can't imagine it must be for them. For crying out loud, our military and law enforcement personnel have to use electronic video simulation and dummy rounds for practice its so bad.

I have a box.  After seeing this thread, I shot the 10 rounds I had in my carry mag while at the range (left the rest of the box at home).  All the rounds fired perfectly with no issues.  Gun was a SW9VE.  Rounds were bought back in October.

Really?  The first thing I thought was, "this is why you practice for hangfires." You do practice for that, right?  That kind of thing can happen with ANY ammunition - factory or otherwise.  

Any news from Hornady on this? I have a box that I haven't shot any out of yet. I will have to make sure to bring it to the range next time to check it out.

A poster on another forum had some discussion with Hornady about this. He was told that his gun (a Kahr CW-9, I think) is the problem. This even though he apparently has fired many, many different types of ammo through this gun without issue.  They did replace some ammo he sent them to examine.

I bought 1 box of CD 380 for my LCP. The gun has over 200 rounds of assorted ammo including reloads and Hydrshocks. Never had a FTF. Out of the 20, I had 11 FTF on 1st strike and only 3 or 4 fired on 2nd strike. The remaining duds were put thru my PPK and Mak 380 with no bang. I also observed that these rounds were grossly deformed from being fed into chamber. The jacket is to thin and is getting mashed as they are being striped from mag and hiting the ramp.
I have yet to call Hornady. I will demand a full refund for this crap. No excusses should be passed on to there other venders. They should've found this thru good quality controll.

Odd, I put a box through my PPK with no FTF or other weirdness last weekend.

Maybe these Critical Defense issues are with specific lot numbers or a specific production period.  For those who have had problems, what was the lot number?  I'll check the lot number on the 9mm stuff I have and post it later.

I shot my box (25 rounds purchased in late November) of .380 at the range this afternoon with no problems at all. I would like to purchase some more Critical Defense before using them as my carry round.

I have run hundreds of both tap and cd ammo in 9 & 10mm w/o a hitch. I don't use it for carry as there are better choices available.

Hornady kinda lost me when I paid almost $1.00/round for their 9x18Mak self defense load which turned out to be not quite as effective as cheap, current production Russian HP.

Hornady generally makes a good product and much of their reputation is well-deserved. However, their products are not blessed by the touch of Thor himself (although they are priced that way) and like all manufacturers, there will be some failures.

Just because the box says Hornady and you paid a lot for it does not mean you can assume it is G-T-G.

I bought a box of Critical Defense in 9mm about a month ago, and then I read this thread. So this weekend I took my Ruger SR9, which is my carry gun, and fed all 25 rounds of CD through it while I did some shooting drills - no problems whatsoever. I'd like to see if this all ends up as some bad lot #s or something along those lines.

Bought 60rds  of CD for my G22 and 27 Love this stuff will buy more, Also picked up a box for my LCP again
no big deal pistol fire better then FMJ.

I recently put a box of this through my G19; no problems whatever.
I bought it a couple of months ago at a gun show. The Lot # is 31000040 (kept the box with the saved brass).

This thread reminds me that one of our training sgts likes to say that Hornady TAP has one thing going for it.....a great advertising campaign. We not only test .40S&W duty ammo periodically but .223 ammo also. We're dropping .223 TAP and switching to Gold Dot .223. Too many issues with misfires and other problems so the officers have no confidence in Hornady ammo.

Hmmm... wonder if this is a rationale for carrying different ammo in a different (backup) mag?

No kidding. I got the same stuff. I use it exclusively at the range. At least it doesn't leak buffer [because it has none].

If OCP/Omni Consumer Products ATK doesn't make it, I keep looking.

I'm an avid hand loader for my self defense ammo, I like Hornady handgun bullets.

I weigh my bullets before I load them, If the weight is off by more than 1%, or the cavity or some other feature isn't formed perfect I don't use it.

Now what does this have to do with factory ammo?

Returns...  I save the box's and when I have enough bad bullets I send them back with an explanation of why they don't pass my QC.

Hornady always sends me back more replacement bullets than I sent them in a quantity that covers my return shipping costs.






This is very important.

QC and customer service requires the aid of both parties.  If you don't let the MFR know that there is a problem they won't know to fix it.

If I got bad bullets back as replacement I'd call Hornady and let them know exactly what happened, I'd ask if I could talk to a rep in the QC department.  I'd make sure I had the lot numbers for the ammo and everything so that rep can find out where the problem is coming from.

I have been employed at Hunting Shack Munitions (HSM) and have personal experience with the operations at Bitteroot Vally Ammunition Company (BVAC).  The automated equipment can get out of adjustment, the primers could get contaminated any where from the original MFR to the loading machine.

QC will catch about 99.9% of it.  But there is no way to test a lot of primers without firing the ammo, and nether HSM or BVAC have facilities to formally test ammo by firing it.  Guys who work there my take a few rounds home and shoot it from time to time (ammo with blemished/stained cases that QC kicks back for aesthetic reasons.)

In short, even Hornady won't know if they got a lot of bad primers unless enough customers call with issues.

I wouldn't use it for self defense but if they are going to keep sending me free boxes of replacement ammo, I'll keep "testing" it for them and contacting them after with my results.

Well, I read this thread a day late.
Interested to see if the .38 spl CD I bought goes bang.

MF

Does, e.g. the CD 115gr 9mm, even meet the 12" minimum penetration?

if you still have the cartridges and box, contact hornady and see what they can do for you.  i'm sure they want to know which lot number the ammo came out of and what not.

Ive spray WD40 on a 9mm and it was a dud
Ive also seen the TEST @  Box of truth so go figure

When I ever had a DUD a second strike never worked for me EVER
Ive been shooting for awhile

If I run into a DUD Im going to chamber the next load
screw double strikeing the primmer its a Bad Habit to get into