• If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership  The benefits pay for the membership many times over.

short round in box of 9mm ammo

Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
70
Likes
2
Feedback: 0 / 0 / 0
Hello
I bought a 100rd box of Remington 9mm umc. One of the rounds is noticeably shorter in length. Anybody ever get this. Am I alright using this?

Thanks and have a Merry Christmas.
JB
 
Is the overall length of the round shorter, or is the casing shorter? Two different situations.
 
I've been seeing some seriously f'd up factory rounds lately. Opened up a box of Blazer Brass a few weeks ago and had 4 rounds primers seated sideways and upside down. For shits and giggles measured a few not surprisingly all over the map. Sticking with my reloads from here on out.

OP - Don't shoot that round.
 
That whole box of ammo can not be trusted to fire safely, but I will gladly take off your hands for proper disposal.
 
If you do shoot that round, GoPro it just in case. That video would go epic here in no time flat if it kabooms.
 
Factory mistakes do happen. We'll go through millions of rounds every year and find some that have defects like sideways primers or upside down bullets but the errors are fairly uncommon.

There is a minimum overall length specification. If you can clearly see that the round is shorter than the rest I recommend not using it.
 
short_round.jpg
 
Hello
I bought a 100rd box of Remington 9mm umc. One of the rounds is noticeably shorter in length. Anybody ever get this. Am I alright using this?

Thanks and have a Merry Christmas.
JB

Factory rounds can have problems. NEVER shoot a damaged or out-of-spec round. In my years of shooting, these are the types of problems I've seen and I've listed the reasons why I chose not to shoot the round (most of the reasons only require an IQ of about 10) - even if there was a 0.000001% chance of damage to the firearm, injury or death - and I will repeat these words over and over and over below:

1) Dented, damaged or heavily corroded casing: this causes "weak spots". The round can fail to load, and/or rupture upon firing causing damage to firearm, injury or death.
2) Improperly seated bullet, both over and under spec: The round may fail to load properly. Gas pressure may vary outside of spec, with risk of damage to the firearm, injury or death.
3) Too much Powder: risk of damage to firearm, injury or death.
4) Too little powder: bullet may get 'stuck' in barrel. Experienced shooters may "hear" or "feel" the symptoms, but firing a second round will damage the firearm, and likely injure or kill the operator.
5) Damaged bullet: likely to fail to load. Extra friction in the barrel may cause over-pressure resulting in damage to firearm, and risk of injury or death to operator.
6) Improperly seated, or missing primer. Backwards primers can damage the firearm or cause injury. Death unlikely, but not necessarily impossible. Sideways primers can still ignite the powder, which will cause hot, high-pressure gas to release from the rear of the casing causing damage to the firearm, and possibly injure or kill the operator. A missing primer does not necessarily mean the round will not fire. Push a round into a hot enough chamber, and you have a "cook off".
7) Wrong type of ammunition mixed in with proper ammunition. Likely fail to load, but if the round is able to chamber and the primer is struck, high chance of damage to firearm, injury or death.

My personal experiences, all of which were entirely accidental: We had a 7.62 round fail in an SKS and leave a bullet in the barrel. Didn't sound right. My dad was fractions of a second from firing a second shot, when I screamed at him to cease fire. Probably saved his life. I overloaded some 223 rounds and was blowing primers out of the cases. Ended up jamming the rifle so bad that we needed a press to dislodge the bolt carrier. I used a dented 22LR in an Uzi SMG (Reg Rec) and it went off with the round not fully seated in the chamber. A little piece of brass flew out the side of the gun and embedded itself in the wall of my lane divider and we needed a cleaning rod and a hammer to get the bullet out of the barrel.

My Christmas present to all NES members and anyone else reading this is the gift of information. If there were even a 10% chance you'd die to lean over and pick up a dollar bill off the ground, I bet you wouldn't do it. Why risk your life to save a buck on a bad round???
 
Hehe its funny that i instantly thought of indiana jones when i read the title.. And the caption was making me laugh so hard last night when i posted... Hang on lady , gun gonna go kaboom
 
Factory rounds can have problems. NEVER shoot a damaged or out-of-spec round. In my years of shooting, these are the types of problems I've seen and I've listed the reasons why I chose not to shoot the round (most of the reasons only require an IQ of about 10) - even if there was a 0.000001% chance of damage to the firearm, injury or death - and I will repeat these words over and over and over below:

1) Dented, damaged or heavily corroded casing: this causes "weak spots". The round can fail to load, and/or rupture upon firing causing damage to firearm, injury or death.
2) Improperly seated bullet, both over and under spec: The round may fail to load properly. Gas pressure may vary outside of spec, with risk of damage to the firearm, injury or death.
3) Too much Powder: risk of damage to firearm, injury or death.
4) Too little powder: bullet may get 'stuck' in barrel. Experienced shooters may "hear" or "feel" the symptoms, but firing a second round will damage the firearm, and likely injure or kill the operator.
5) Damaged bullet: likely to fail to load. Extra friction in the barrel may cause over-pressure resulting in damage to firearm, and risk of injury or death to operator.
6) Improperly seated, or missing primer. Backwards primers can damage the firearm or cause injury. Death unlikely, but not necessarily impossible. Sideways primers can still ignite the powder, which will cause hot, high-pressure gas to release from the rear of the casing causing damage to the firearm, and possibly injure or kill the operator. A missing primer does not necessarily mean the round will not fire. Push a round into a hot enough chamber, and you have a "cook off".
7) Wrong type of ammunition mixed in with proper ammunition. Likely fail to load, but if the round is able to chamber and the primer is struck, high chance of damage to firearm, injury or death.

My personal experiences, all of which were entirely accidental: We had a 7.62 round fail in an SKS and leave a bullet in the barrel. Didn't sound right. My dad was fractions of a second from firing a second shot, when I screamed at him to cease fire. Probably saved his life. I overloaded some 223 rounds and was blowing primers out of the cases. Ended up jamming the rifle so bad that we needed a press to dislodge the bolt carrier. I used a dented 22LR in an Uzi SMG (Reg Rec) and it went off with the round not fully seated in the chamber. A little piece of brass flew out the side of the gun and embedded itself in the wall of my lane divider and we needed a cleaning rod and a hammer to get the bullet out of the barrel.

My Christmas present to all NES members and anyone else reading this is the gift of information. If there were even a 10% chance you'd die to lean over and pick up a dollar bill off the ground, I bet you wouldn't do it. Why risk your life to save a buck on a bad round???

The likelihood of death from a squib or otherwise defective round is a bit overstated here.
 
The likelihood of death from a squib or otherwise defective round is a bit overstated here.
Kind of like the power-trippy gun store owners, clerks and other fuds with their "point all gun barrels in a safe direction" speeches even when it's quite literally just a spare-part barrel, which is not capable of chambering and firing a round (at which point it's no more 'dangerous' than a section of copper plumbing pipe). I whole-heartedly agree to over-the-top safety rules with a functioning firearm, btw. The world is a stress place. Some will vent at anything that moves...
 
I had a 9mm miss fire ,turned out to be a ruptured case. It spilt open at the rim base, didn't sound right,almost no recoil and
white smoke exited from the top of the slide. The ruptured case jammed the slide,but the bullet did clear the barrel. After I got the slid open I extracted the case and found a small piece of the case had blowen out right at the rim. It was about 3/16 X3/8
and still attached at one side. I went on to fire another 30 rounds with out problem ,so I am sure I just had one bum round.

..................................Jack
 
Pics or it didn't happen. Also, put it in a Glock. They never explode!

How can I share a pic and retain privacy settings? I initially linked to a photobucket link but it allows you to see my name.
If you would like a pic I can share a shot that shows the normal UMC rounds, a slightly shorter one, a shorter one and 2 blazer brass all lined up.
 
Last edited:
I have seen short OAL (overall length) in many factory boxes. It seems to me that it happens with Remington UMC with more frequency.

I'd put it aside.

The ones I've seen look like they are somewhat mangled during reloading.

It happens. Learn to reload your own and it won't happen.
 
rVftZx8bYyf0ZM3CHRZI3TXKvyGhmeX3IBaO8om7kxNniwkd8QuiTz-aXJkS2loVGleuz05djWDbH39036FHJtwY3vWB5uZhs4JCtCQ3DWgce0wmZsmGXL9KXA

From left to right you will see: 3 normal UMC rounds, a slightly shorter one, the shorter one and some blazer brass.
See now?
 
Back
Top Bottom