AFP2602 Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Was zeroing my scope with 75 grain Hornady Black and started getting double feeds caused by the spent round staying on the bolt instead of ejecting. Had a run of these happen and noticed the primers looked really odd. Picture is of the ones that were causing the double feeds, but also had a few casings where there was a hole in the primer instead of a dimple. Think this is an ammo issue since I also tried some 70 grain Sig branded ammo and 55 grain American Eagle and didn't see anything odd on the cases. Anyone had similar issues with primers on Hornady Black ammo? I've shot a few boxes and used them in matches out to 550 yard without any problems before so thinking it might be a bad batch of ammo. Also thinking I need to look elsewhere for my long range ammo. Or could this be an issue with my bolt that I need to check into? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertTortoise Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 (edited) Primers are extruding into the firing pin hole Damage to the tip of the firing pin could be either the cause of the problem or a result of the problem? Definitely worth checking Edited January 26, 2020 by DesertTortoise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFP2602 Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 Thanks. Field stripped it after the first incident to see if there was something wrong with the pin, but I'll take a closer look. Might have missed some damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevrofreak Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Ejector swipes and extractor marks to boot. Must be some hot ammo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHI Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 A few years back I bought some Hornady 6.5 Grendal ammo that did the same . Hornady had loaded it with the wrong powder and primer. Call Hornady with Lot number etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamge Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Looking nice and overpressure there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFP2602 Posted January 28, 2020 Author Share Posted January 28, 2020 Thanks all. I’ll get in touch with Hornady and let you know what I hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHMSA15151 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Yes, let us know what they say. Also, do you have a 223 Wilde chamber. Some bullet styles will cause excessive pressures because of their ogive shape. I had some 55gr bullets that kept blowing primers until I had the throat re-cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFP2602 Posted March 3, 2020 Author Share Posted March 3, 2020 Finally got an answer back. Hornady tested a box I sent from the lot and said pressures were within spec. Suggested that the issue is due to copper fouling in my barrel. I’m skeptical since I did a detailed clean and then shot a couple hundred rounds of other ammo without issue, then tried this ammo again and got the same blown primers. Looks like I’ll have to find another source for my heavier ammo. And yes, my barrel is a .223 Wylde. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 They are never at fault. AAA sent us some ammo several year ago that blew up two DPS rifles. They manned up and paid for the damage. Most ammo companies will never admit to a mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HRider Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 If you are willing to try a couple more rounds, chrono it and see how fast it is. I don't know that I would push my luck though. If you have a bunch of it, you could pull the bullets and reload with a reduced powder charge. Hurley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtm Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 (edited) In general I agree with the man from Texas, but Hornady is a real responsive company. Now I got no dog here as I am a Federal Sponsored shooter, but I have never known Hornady to back down from a mistake....if there is one. I do know I had a bolt that was loose on spec. and certain brands of ammo would do exactly what is pictured. It got so bad with xxxxxxxx ammo that those little pieces would fill up the bolt under the extractor and it would start all sorts of trouble. Got a new bolt and firing pin and all was well. Don't forget they test this stuff for standard carrier weight and buffers, and a lot of us sure strech that envelope. I am NOT saying anyone is at fault here, but Hornady is a "stand up" company, that is for sure and for certain! Edited March 11, 2020 by kurtm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 On 1/26/2020 at 5:20 PM, AFP2602 said: Was zeroing my scope with 75 grain Hornady Black and started getting double feeds caused by the spent round staying on the bolt instead of ejecting. Had a run of these happen and noticed the primers looked really odd. Picture is of the ones that were causing the double feeds, but also had a few casings where there was a hole in the primer instead of a dimple. Think this is an ammo issue since I also tried some 70 grain Sig branded ammo and 55 grain American Eagle and didn't see anything odd on the cases. Anyone had similar issues with primers on Hornady Black ammo? I've shot a few boxes and used them in matches out to 550 yard without any problems before so thinking it might be a bad batch of ammo. Also thinking I need to look elsewhere for my long range ammo. Or could this be an issue with my bolt that I need to check into? So here is another possibility....not sure what rifle you are running, but about 10 years ago, we all were issued Larue .308 rifles. The chambers were so tight that is was causing primer flow. I had enough primer material inside my BCG that it bent my firing pin retaining pin. Point is, maybe your chamber is a little too tight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFP2602 Posted March 14, 2020 Author Share Posted March 14, 2020 It's a Faxon .223 Wylde barrel. Had shot a couple of boxes of this ammo through the same rifle to make sure it worked before I decided to zero to it. It's the fact that it worked for a while, then suddenly didn't that has been so puzzling. I have had zero issues with any other ammo in the rifle - shot an 8 stage match after this with zero malfunctions using AE 55gr. Definitely ammo specific, but still not clear if it's just this lot. Bought some pretty strong copper remover to see if it's fouling in the barrel that's causing this 75gr to not work correctly anymore. Will know more tomorrow. Thanks all for the good suggestions and insight. Really great community here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoodhazard Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 What does the suspect ammo do in other rifles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFP2602 Posted March 15, 2020 Author Share Posted March 15, 2020 Well - I did the only test I could really think of to prove out whether this is a problem caused by this 75gr bullet or just this lot of ammo. I'm now comfortable it's this lot of ammo. This makes me happy because I've previously had good luck with this bullet. I bought another lot of the same ammo and ran it back to back with the lot I already have. If it was the bullet - then both would have had issues. If it was the lot of ammo, then I'd have zero issues with one lot and issues with the lot I currently have. Photo evidence below - you can see all three rounds of the suspect ammo have blown primers (three rounds above the box on the left). The three from the new lot have normal looking dented primers (three rounds above the box on the right). Visually, the primers on the suspect lot are silver, while the primers on the new lot are gold. My guess now is it's the primers used on this lot. Passed this along to the folks at Hornady - will update once I hear back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFP2602 Posted March 17, 2020 Author Share Posted March 17, 2020 Got a final answer from Hornady when I followed up with results from an A/B test. Short answer - they have no idea, but they are convinced it's definitely my fault and not theirs. Refused to tell me which primers were used in each bullet and tried to convince me that it's the rifle causing the issues with primers from only one lot of bullets, not their ammo which actually has different primers. I'm throwing up my hands and heading over to the reloading forum to figure out how to load my own where I'm allowed to know what's in it... Anyone in the Austin area - I'm planning to be at Republic this weekend (3/21 match). Will have about 3 boxes of this stuff to give away if people want to try it out in theirs and see if they get better results. DM me if interested Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevrofreak Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Makes me wonder if some SPP found their way into a batch of rifle ammo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maksim Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 1 hour ago, chevrofreak said: Makes me wonder if some SPP found their way into a batch of rifle ammo this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-rant Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 Hornady's factory ammo scares me. I bought a box of Frontier stuff (which is supposedly LC-made) and had a primer blow out and re-seat itself backwards in the case. Found it after cleaning it in a wet tumbler. The primer had a pretty little primer strike right on the cup; visible through the flash hole. Not sure I'm gonna use the stuff anymore haha. Glad you didn't have a kaboom like so many others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnchrist Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 I'm having the same issue with AK74 using Hornady Black 5.45X39 60gr V-Max. I can see a hole through the spent primer on many. One actually blew the firing pin out of the bolt. Same issue with new firing pin. I used 3 different brands of commie ammo, with no issues. I bought 500 to shoot and save the brass for reloads. I will be pulling the projectiles, dumping the powder, and using MY primers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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