Why so many ammo failures lately?

[Rockrivr1]

Like most of you here I frequent a number of different gun boards and the amount of posts about ammo failures seems to have skyrocketed lately. Duds, misfires, hang fires, weak loads and split cases are common in these threads. Ammo manufacturers such as Remington, Federal, Winchester, PMC, etc. have all been examples in these issues.

Got me wondering what might be the cause of this sudden spike in failures. Could it be manufacturing defects, cheap components, less then quality powder, inconsistent bullets or a mixture of all of it combined. Don't think there is any overlap in the factories so defects most likely can be ruled out, but the rest are definitely on the table.

Maybe it's that these companies have sped up production due to demand and the possibility of a run on ammo if Hitlery was elected and just poor quality control.

 

[mac1911]

Well i think you have to find out which manufactures are actually manufacturing thier own ammo.
Then think of which ones rely on US manufacturing. If the big "US" names are suffering more defects its probably do to just contracting to the lowest bidder to keep the prices somewhat low and still turn enough to profit?

ATK manufactures CCI,Federal,blaser just ot name a few at the Lake City plant. Maybe the equipment is worn. Maybe the brass manufactures are really stretching out the brass alloy ?

my guess is its more of the ability to report more failures on a large scale with the forums and such.

Also there has been a prety big surge in the amount of people actually shooting their guns.
I know people with 2 or 3 guns who have not bought ammo in 15 years let alone shoot?

Discounted or inexpensive ammo tends to be less expensive for a reason.
Yet its funny a company like Wolf can contract a manufacture in XXX country and turn out some pretty darn good ammo like wolf gold at prices below US companies?
Also companies like PPU turn out some great ammo for great prices that the "US" companies cant touch...
My number one worst failures have all come from UMC

 

[1st4040]

QC issues are not a surprise when the manufacturers are pumping out as much as they can to take advantage of the "scares" and panic buying all while trying to hit a price point to lure in buyers.

 

[amm5061]

QC issues are not a surprise when the manufacturers are pumping out as much as they can to take advantage of the "scares" and panic buying all while trying to hit a price point to lure in buyers.

This right here.

You can have high availability, high quality, or low cost. Pick two.

 

[mikelawtown]

This right here.

You can have high availability, high quality, or low cost. Pick two.

Also tons of new people reloading the wrong way I bet

 

[grey]

Well i think you have to find out which manufactures are actually manufacturing thier own ammo.
Then think of which ones rely on US manufacturing. If the big "US" names are suffering more defects its probably do to just contracting to the lowest bidder to keep the prices somewhat low and still turn enough to profit?

ATK manufactures CCI,Federal,blaser just ot name a few at the Lake City plant. Maybe the equipment is worn. Maybe the brass manufactures are really stretching out the brass alloy ?

my guess is its more of the ability to report more failures on a large scale with the forums and such.

Also there has been a prety big surge in the amount of people actually shooting their guns.
I know people with 2 or 3 guns who have not bought ammo in 15 years let alone shoot?

Discounted or inexpensive ammo tends to be less expensive for a reason.
Yet its funny a company like Wolf can contract a manufacture in XXX country and turn out some pretty darn good ammo like wolf gold at prices below US companies?
Also companies like PPU turn out some great ammo for great prices that the "US" companies cant touch...
My number one worst failures have all come from UMC

UMC is a mixed bag for me. The .44 mag in 180grain may be one of their best loadings. And it goes very downhill from there. As for the rest, I chalk it up to growing too big too fast. Q.c. shouldn't take a backseat but it's a difficult balance. I anticipate ammo sales slowing and q.c. taking precedence once again very soon

 

[powerman]

more bullets being shot down range = more failures?

 

[Devils Paintbrush]

Thought I would add my own mishap from a few years ago. Korean surplus, had to use a stuck case extraction tool to get the top part out of my Garand.


[URL=http://s293.photobucket.com/user/bloodhound04/media/Garand/IMG_0129.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s293.photobucket.com/user/bloodhound04/media/Garand/IMG_0126.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s293.photobucket.com/user/bloodhound04/media/Garand/IMG_0127.jpg.html][/URL]

 

[IPSC_DRL]

Could be more people shooting more ammo fir most failures. Hangfire? Not unless it is OLD ammo. I've been shooting for 40+ years and the only Hangfire I have ever witnessed was a couple of 8mm Mauser rounds from WAY before me.

 

[jkelly1229]

Well i think you have to find out which manufactures are actually manufacturing thier own ammo.
Then think of which ones rely on US manufacturing. If the big "US" names are suffering more defects its probably do to just contracting to the lowest bidder to keep the prices somewhat low and still turn enough to profit?

ATK manufactures CCI,Federal,blaser just ot name a few at the Lake City plant. Maybe the equipment is worn. Maybe the brass manufactures are really stretching out the brass alloy ?

my guess is its more of the ability to report more failures on a large scale with the forums and such.

Also there has been a prety big surge in the amount of people actually shooting their guns.
I know people with 2 or 3 guns who have not bought ammo in 15 years let alone shoot?

Discounted or inexpensive ammo tends to be less expensive for a reason.
Yet its funny a company like Wolf can contract a manufacture in XXX country and turn out some pretty darn good ammo like wolf gold at prices below US companies?
Also companies like PPU turn out some great ammo for great prices that the "US" companies cant touch...
My number one worst failures have all come from UMC

Yeah but you still have your digits... ppu doesn't screw up often but when they do... oooo lawdy they double charge cases underseat bullets all kinds of nasty things. Remington just doesn't go off

 

[HiCap]

My number one worst failures have all come from UMC

I agree 100%. I have had failures with Remington UMC. I made the mistake of buying 1000 rounds of 9mm at a very good price. It was all to be shot in one day with friends who have never shot before. We had a great day but ended up with 26 cartridges that were duds. Most of them weren't crimped and you could pull the bullet out of the case with little effort. I will never buy that stuff again.

- - - Updated - - -

Thought I would add my own mishap from a few years ago. Korean surplus, had to use a stuck case extraction tool to get the top part out of my Garand.

I wonder how many times that has been reloaded. It looks haggard.

 

[Mike 53]

Yeah but you still have your digits... ppu doesn't screw up often but when they do... oooo lawdy they double charge cases underseat bullets all kinds of nasty things. Remington just doesn't go off

Do tell...

 

[Devils Paintbrush]

Never reloaded...after looking at the can it came in, were a few rounds with bad primers. My suspicion is that batch got wet and or had some rough handling.

 

[mac1911]

Never reloaded...after looking at the can it came in, were a few rounds with bad primers. My suspicion is that batch got wet and or had some rough handling.

Not so much wet but there has been reported lots of bad Korean ammo.
That case looks like it had pre existing issues. Maybe on a,very close inspection you might have picked up a sign of failure to come.
I had a bunch of surplus 8mm rough looking stuff. I decided to tumble it. When I did I found a good 35% had small cracks around the neck and shoulder. That brass was probably defective from the get go.

 

[Sparky123]

Like most of you here I frequent a number of different gun boards and the amount of posts about ammo failures seems to have skyrocketed lately. Duds, misfires, hang fires, weak loads and split cases are common in these threads. Ammo manufacturers such as Remington, Federal, Winchester, PMC, etc. have all been examples in these issues.

Got me wondering what might be the cause of this sudden spike in failures. Could it be manufacturing defects, cheap components, less then quality powder, inconsistent bullets or a mixture of all of it combined. Don't think there is any overlap in the factories so defects most likely can be ruled out, but the rest are definitely on the table.

Maybe it's that these companies have sped up production due to demand and the possibility of a run on ammo if Hitlery was elected and just poor quality control.

I have been shooting 9mm for many years and IMHO I think today's ammo is weaker. Some examples are, Blazer Brass, Federal Premium and Estate, to name just a few. Weak ammo can cause many different types of failures, even in Glocks.

 

[Broc]

I haven't seen more threads about ammo failure. There was one on NES not long ago, but it was reloaded ammo.