Factory loads are safe?

[crackers]

So many good reasons to carry a revolver - stuffed with reloads.

[Walks]

Back in H.S. in the 1960's We shot a LOT of Trap some Skeet. My Dad would buy a dozen cases of Win 12AA. And that was back when a case on shotgun shells were 20 boxes to the case.
Shooting an NSSA Match as Junior, I was up on the line for my 3rd rd. Had a 50 straight working on a 75 straight. 23 straight took the option at 8, CLICK !!!!! A BLASTED DUD, A FACTORY DUD !!!!.
It rattled Me something terrible. I didn't shoot above a 23 for the rest of the weekend.
No anvil in the primer.
I still have a Remington .25-06 round with a malformed neck from 45yrs ago.

Trust factory ammo ? Nope never, seen too many bad factory rounds of all type. Even a box of Federal 7mm Mauser without powder in 2 cartridges.

[megasupermagnum]

So many good reasons to carry a revolver - stuffed with reloads.

I'm not saying all reloads are great, but with a little critical thinking, most people should realize you can make ammo better than anyone. When I load ammo for hunting, or defensive use, I'm weighing every bullet. I'm weighing every powder drop. Every component is getting visually checked multiple times, including the primers. I do look at every primer that goes into them. The only way that a round inspected like this can fail is if the primer was not filled right. I have had that happen, a CCI 550 that failed to fire, it had the anvil, but when I decapped, I found it was only about half full of compound. That was the one and only handload I ever had fail that wasn't experimental.

I used to work on a lot of equipment for quality control, although nothing on the level I'm sure ammo factories use. I'm sure they are using check weighers in conjunction with human visual, but moving quickly down a line. They simply can not compete with a person who spends an hour to load 20 perfect rounds.

[444ttd]

i started reloading at about 19 or 20yo, so i have nothing to contribute on centerfire rifles. i have had duds on 22 lr way before the current problems.

[GONRA]

Some years ago, Century Arms had 1000 rd. cases 10mm ammo for sale cheep.
(Century Arms CLEARLY mentioned it was screwed up!)
Turned out to be U.S.&A. Commercial (nice 50 rd. boxes for Law Enforcement?)
with some primers seated upside down.

Shoots great in GONRA's Star MegaStar (from CDNN closeout...)
Some day will cull out Bad News - repackage.
Expect to end up with 950+ rds. 10mm cheep shootin' ammo!

[bedbugbilly]

Hmmmmmmm . . . . Maybe 15 years ag I bought a 1920s era S & W M 7 P Target Model in 38 special. I had done a lot of business with the gun shop owner and he gave me a super deal on the old revolver and he threw in a Whit box of Winchester lead rounds. I reload so they sat on the shelf in my reloading area for a few years. One day, I took them with me to the range and when I pulled the tray of cartridges out of the box, I instantly noticed something that didn't look right. Towards one end of the tray I realized there was a cartridge with the primer seated upside down - so I guess things "do happen" with factory ammo.

Actually, though, I remember thinking that I shouldn't feel too bad . . . . I hand prime all my ammo - started out with a Lee hand Primer and now use a Frankforf Arsenal hand primer . . . and as careful as I am, I have been guilty of installing several primers upside down . . . easy enough to do if you happen to miss a primer that is upside down when you fill the tray!

[JSnover]

Here's the difference: WE get to inspect Every Single One of our reloads and we stop loading when something goes wrong, or double-check when something looks wrong and somehow we still get an occasional "incident" in the reloading community. With factory ammo someone else does the inspection and when you buy a new gun it generally comes with a warning or disclaimer that you're on your own if you use reloads because just like We don't know what They're doing, They don't Know what We're doing and we tend not to trust each other.
If these message boards didn't contain a single story about how a reloader made a mistake and let a bad round got into the chamber I'd agree: factory ammunition isn't as safe but there are entire threads on reloading-related sights about what went wrong at someone's reloading bench.
Now, let's talk about reduced loads and fillers!

[robg]

a friend had a 223 hornaday factory load with the primer upside down last week .first ive seen in nearly 40 years shooting and reloading .

[dverna]

Back in H.S. in the 1960's We shot a LOT of Trap some Skeet. My Dad would buy a dozen cases of Win 12AA. And that was back when a case on shotgun shells were 20 boxes to the case.
Shooting an NSSA Match as Junior, I was up on the line for my 3rd rd. Had a 50 straight working on a 75 straight. 23 straight took the option at 8, CLICK !!!!! A BLASTED DUD, A FACTORY DUD !!!!.
It rattled Me something terrible. I didn't shoot above a 23 for the rest of the weekend.
No anvil in the primer.
I still have a Remington .25-06 round with a malformed neck from 45yrs ago.

Trust factory ammo ? Nope never, seen too many bad factory rounds of all type. Even a box of Federal 7mm Mauser without powder in 2 cartridges.

I know the feeling. At the Grand in 2009 or 2010. I was in a shoot off for a Kolar Trap Combo. Before the shoot off my buddy told me to use factory ammo and just pitch the hulls...no distraction...just concentrate and shoot the damn birds. Was shooting a straight from the Handicap line. Then I had a dud on about the 20th bird. It rattled me and I lost. Good strong FP dent so it was not the gun. Took the shell to the Winchester booth and they gave me a box of shells...big freaking deal. IIRC the Kolar was worth about $14k...the most expensive miss I have ever had.

Shot reloads the rest of the Grand. No FTF in over 1200 rounds.

[fredj338]

I have seen all manner of factory ammo failures, it happens. Produce 5B rds a year, bound to get a machine out of sink & some bad rds get thru.

[Mal Paso]

Factory Ammo is someone else's loads. I do have some factory ammo and will use it if I run out of the good stuff.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

So many good reasons to carry a revolver - stuffed with reloads.

I agree and most factory hollow point boolits aren't as good as a soft cast powder coated hollow point. Only reloads in my carry guns.

[BJK]

I try to buy as few factory loads as possible. And I NEVER buy Remington ammo anymore. 2 dedaes ago I bought a few boxes of their .17 Rem ammo and it was pure garbage. I had velocities as low as 2000 fps and as high as I just don't remember but hard extraction. I disassembled all of the remainder to get what I could out of it. Those were expensive components.

[BunkTheory]

Have had far to many issues with ammuniton last few years...

currently have one round that the base of the bullet is LARGER then the portion outisde the neck based upon the swelling, and two more that have the funny problem of THE CASE HEAD IS AT AN ANGLE TO THE CENTERLINE OF THE CARTRIDGE.

And of course a dubious box of winchester 38 specials were 13 or so had such bad crimping they qualified as being necked down to 32 acp..

[blackthorn]

Forty some years ago I bought my son a 30-06. Got a box of factory ammunition and went to sight it in for him. Loading single rounds and the fifth one would not chamber but all the rest did. Sent the bad round to the maker, got a letter of apology along with a cheque sufficient to buy two boxes of ammunition so, good service. Now, when I either buy or build ammunition I always cycle each round through the firearm before I go afield.

[Geezer in NH]

There is a reason Remington Thunderbolts are called "Thunderduds"

[Savvy Jack]

So that was one. Out of how many millions?
And let's not forget, "Never Shoot Anyone Else's Reloads"
Factory loads are as safe as anything else, if the average handloader cranked out as many rounds as the factories we'd hear more stories like this.

How many does it take to blow off your hand? Just asking!

I have had plenty of problems with factory ammo

[beemer]

I shot SKS carbines a lot years ago, mostly Norinco steel case stuff. There was a muffled pop and a little smoke from around the bolt head. We waited a while and ejected the round. Turned out the case had no flash hole. The rest of the box fired properly.

I have fired a lot of Norinco in several calibers and a lot of mil-surp ammo over the years and that is the only one that failed unless it was poorly stored junk.

Of course I have had some of 22 RF failures but it seemed that years ago the quality was better.

[JSnover]

How many does it take to blow off your hand? Just asking!

I have had plenty of problems with factory ammo

If you could match the production figures of any ammunition factory it's pretty near certain you'd send a bad round once in a while, unless you personally could inspect every one of those millions of rounds, the way you do at your bench. So you can argue that there is an added measure of safety, since each of us is our own QC inspector but we've heard plenty of stories, seen plenty of photos of what happens when reloaded ammo is 'defective.'
You can vow to Never Shoot Factory Ammunition if you want, I'm ok with that.
On this site you'll find detailed instruction on making your own powder, recharging primers, even machining your own brass cases and steel dies but I don't have time for any of that. My boolits are cast in the garage, everything else came from a factory and I'm as careful with my factory loads as I am with my reloads. Haven't lost any body parts yet.

[megasupermagnum]

There is a reason Remington Thunderbolts are called "Thunderduds"

Did they ever sell them in a bucket? I distinctly remember buying a small bucket, about a paint can size of Remington 22LR. So this is a rather common issue with Remington 22LR?