Situation: I was at the "Pit" in Michigan, an outdoor area of state land with a large gravel pit that is steeply banked on three sides. Temp was about 25F, and there were light snow showers.

Equipment: At the time in question I was shooting my Fulton AR-15 20" 1/9 5.56 match chambered rifle. I had shot it about 100 times since the last time I cleaned it prior to the pit shoot, and had shot about 100 rounds slow to rapid fire in the 1/2 hour prior to the blowup. All shots were with the same wolf ammo and lot.

Ammo: All shots with the rifle since the last cleaning were Wolf Poly .223 55gr FMJ Lot P 169-03. The same lot was the failure round. I also shot several hundred rounds of that lot in another rifle prior to the failure. There were no failures of any kind with the lot or the rifle prior to the event.

Event: While shoulder firing the rifle, with a full magazine, about halfway through the string of fire there was a 'click' that in retrospect was slightly louder then a normal firing pin fall as heard through muffs. Waiting 10 seconds, I then ejected the round and allowed it to lay in the snow for about one minute.

Ammo failure: There was a deep and normal firing pin strike on the middle of the primer, and running roughly straight across and nearly perfectly opposed, the lower 1/3 and the upper 1/5 of the primer were missing, and there was a soot type material in the areas missing and slightly outside the breaks.

My guess: No primer hole to the load resulted in the primer blowing itself up.

Aftermath: I shook the rifle with the bolt back and and then field stripped the bolt and BC out. I found no trace of the primer or any visible damage.

No rifle damage. So....

...you're good to go.

You went to the pit & didn't invite me!?!?!

Anyway, man thats weird. glad nothing happened to you or the gun.

I had a failure like this with American Eagle 7.62x39.   A quieter bang, and lots of smoke pouring out
of my receiver.  When I looked at the round I saw no more primer, but three holes in the shell where
a primer should have ignited the powder.  The powder never ignited, but I tested it later and it was fine.

so? that sort of thing happens on occasion.  wolf just plain old kicks ass in general especially at half the cost of 193 or 855 lake city

Wolf rules...4 cases, no failure.

Update: Pictures

It looks to me that the primer is seated in sideways.

Over about 18 years as a firearms instructor I have a 1/3 full sandwich bag of defective ammo.  Bullets seated back wards, no primer, sideways primer, case rolled in when the bullet was seated.

I tell all who I instruct...

inspect EACH round of ammunition as you load the magazine.

count the rounds as you load so you know exactly how many are in the magazine.

Anyway... from the photo it looks like the primer is seated sideways, and that is the most common defect I have seen in the years I have stocked ammo for LE use. (something like 300,000 to 500,000 rounds over the years I'd guess)

No, the primer was fine when it went in the mag, and the missing parts were blown off. I guess it didn't come out well in the picture.

The part remaining is the middle of a normally sitting primer.

Steel casings, no thanks.

Flame away.

Quoted: Steel casings, no thanks. Flame away.

wuss

Dude, I posted about it for a week.

Quoted: You went to the pit & didn't invite me!?!?! Anyway, man thats weird. glad nothing happened to you or the gun.

Quoted: No, the primer was fine when it went in the mag, and the missing parts were blown off. I guess it didn't come out well in the picture. The part remaining is the middle of a normally sitting primer.

Why don't you pry out the spent primer and see if there is a primer hole?

Doesn't really matter, but just for education.

Why exactly do you call this a blow up?  Shitty round doesn't fire, you eject it and move on.

No damage to the rifle... I'm confused.  Where is the "blow up"?

Waiting to hear what Wolf wants me to do with it first. They may want it intact.

Quoted: Quoted: No, the primer was fine when it went in the mag, and the missing parts were blown off. I guess it didn't come out well in the picture. The part remaining is the middle of a normally sitting primer. Why don't you pry out the spent primer and see if there is a primer hole? Doesn't really matter, but just for education.

Quoted: Steel casings, no thanks. Flame away.

+1  
I won't shoot wolf in my ar's.... only my ak, sks, and romak3's

On a side note, I wonder if Wolf is going to make 45GAP ammo. Damn that ammo is expensive.

Quoted: Waiting to hear what Wolf wants me to do with it first. They may want it intact.

I'm betting you are going to be waiting for a long time. Do you really think that Wolf or any other ammo manufacturer gives a flying shit about 1 defective round with no damage or injuries involved? Are you going to to send a single round of defective ammunition to Russia ?

The only company that didn't give a shit about defective ammo was Talon. Lucky for me I bought it from ammoman, who made it right even when Talon wouldn't.

Winchester and Federal, the only other bad ammo I have run across, both went out of their way to make it right and to look into the problem (but note Winnie was a Q3131 problem, and they tried to play it off by blaming my rifle, even though they sent me a box full of Q3131A.)

Quoted: Quoted: Waiting to hear what Wolf wants me to do with it first. They may want it intact. I'm betting you are going to be waiting for a long time. Do you really think that Wolf or any other ammo manufacturer gives a flying shit about 1 defective round with no damage or injuries involved? Are you going to to send a single round of defective ammunition to Russia ?

FWIW, what kind of groups do you guys get with Wolf?

Woohoo!!! I'm an avid Pit shooter also!!! Ever go out there when the Class III guys are there? What a blast!!! I was there just last weekend testing out some tracers I loaded. We'll have to plan to all go out there sometime when it's warmer out. Anyone have any left over Kerry signs targets?

Kris

About 3" with the 20" 1/9 AR at 100 yards. I run about 1-1/2ish" with Q3131A and XM-193 (closer to 2" with the 193) and 1" and below with Black Hills.

All the above is with a carefully bagged front and rear rifle and scope with a good tight mount.

Offhand my groups for all ammo types are the same no matter the brand--12-18" on a good day, more on a bad.

Quoted: so? that sort of thing happens on occasion.  wolf just plain old kicks ass in general especially at half the cost of 193 or 855 lake city

Half the cost.
Half the ammo.

Comrade thanks you.

Yet another reason I don't shoot Wolf through my AR.

wow, glad nothing serious happened.

I guess I have been lucky, 10 Thousand 3 hundred rounds of Wolf and STILL NO ISSUES!

Shoot 'em up boys!!!

Yes, all through the same Bushmaster 5.56 chamber, 14.5 barrel 1/9 twist and I can't see any wear in the chamber/barrel. Same bolt also! I did change out a extractor at about 9 thousand. it looked a little beat up and I did'nt want to take any chances. I think I only had one stuck case, but that was when Wolf was still sealing the bullets into the shell with that red crap.