Smuckatelli
08-18-09, 08:10
I'm not looking to get sniped by all of the experts here, just giving heads up on a possible problem with a lot of remanufactured ammo. I have an email in to Hornady and the director to the PA high power team is calling them today. I'll let this board know the outcome when I get it. In the meantime I'll be getting the rifle over to Quantico and get a detailed inspection done. The email that I sent out is below:
A recap of yesterday’s range time. We were at Range 1 on Quantico. I was using the Colt 6920, I bought it new in May 2009. It has had 1922 rounds through it. Clear day temperature in the mid 90’s, firing under shade, ammo was not exposed to direct sunlight. I had been shooting for about 60 minutes; 100 rounds of Black Hills 77gr “Seconds” were fired before I switched over to Hornady 75gr Remanufactured ammo that Tereza was given at Camp Butner.
I had 2 mishaps before I secured firing:
First mishap occurred on the 23rd round of the Hornady. A load pop was heard, the magazine floorplate had come off of the magazine. The magazine was a Charles Daly 30 round mag. There appeared to be a double feed, I cleared the weapon field stripped it and did an inspection of the bore, chamber, gas tube, gas key, bolt carrier, bolt, extractor, ejector, and firing pin. No problems were noted, there was excessive carbon on the bolt behind the locking lugs that ended at the bolt carrier. After I cleared the weapon, I fired the remaining 3 rounds by single loading. I took a break from the weapon and spent some time with Tereza at this point. I began shooting again after 10 minutes, on the third round on a different Charles Daly magazine, the same pop was heard but this time there was no doubt that it was not a problem with the magazine. The floorplate, spring, and follower were launched forward of the firing line, a double feed occurred in the chamber, the remaining rounds were on the deck. The body of the magazine was still in the magazine well. I was shooting from the kneeling position, this enabled the internal parts of the magazine to ‘launch’ without hitting me. I conducted the same check and found no problems but I secured the weapon at that time until I can get an inspection completed on it.
My initial thoughts were that it had to be firing out of battery, this is what it looked like during the inspection with the amount of carbon that was on the bolt and remaining ammo. The only problem with this thought is that it only happened when I pulled the trigger, not when the weapon was cycling. I shoot left handed, I am positive that the bolt was seated. Because of the reputation of Hornady, I couldn’t conceive of a problem with the ammo. I talked to Tereza about where she had gotten the ammo, I this point I was thinking that maybe someone was doing reloads and using Hornady boxes. I called Mike and found out that this same type of mishap had occurred at Perry. I think this ammo was the first batch of remanufactured ammo ( 223 RIFLE 75gr. MATCH N/C #97571 lot #030177) that Hornady sold, I’m not 100% sure of that, all of the casings were stamp “LC,” Lake City with the NATO stamp.
I sent a note to Hornady at about 20:00 tonight, I’m going to try to get the weapon inspected sometime this week.
My concern now is that this may be bad ammo and it is circulating in the Junior Group.
A recap of yesterday’s range time. We were at Range 1 on Quantico. I was using the Colt 6920, I bought it new in May 2009. It has had 1922 rounds through it. Clear day temperature in the mid 90’s, firing under shade, ammo was not exposed to direct sunlight. I had been shooting for about 60 minutes; 100 rounds of Black Hills 77gr “Seconds” were fired before I switched over to Hornady 75gr Remanufactured ammo that Tereza was given at Camp Butner.
I had 2 mishaps before I secured firing:
First mishap occurred on the 23rd round of the Hornady. A load pop was heard, the magazine floorplate had come off of the magazine. The magazine was a Charles Daly 30 round mag. There appeared to be a double feed, I cleared the weapon field stripped it and did an inspection of the bore, chamber, gas tube, gas key, bolt carrier, bolt, extractor, ejector, and firing pin. No problems were noted, there was excessive carbon on the bolt behind the locking lugs that ended at the bolt carrier. After I cleared the weapon, I fired the remaining 3 rounds by single loading. I took a break from the weapon and spent some time with Tereza at this point. I began shooting again after 10 minutes, on the third round on a different Charles Daly magazine, the same pop was heard but this time there was no doubt that it was not a problem with the magazine. The floorplate, spring, and follower were launched forward of the firing line, a double feed occurred in the chamber, the remaining rounds were on the deck. The body of the magazine was still in the magazine well. I was shooting from the kneeling position, this enabled the internal parts of the magazine to ‘launch’ without hitting me. I conducted the same check and found no problems but I secured the weapon at that time until I can get an inspection completed on it.
My initial thoughts were that it had to be firing out of battery, this is what it looked like during the inspection with the amount of carbon that was on the bolt and remaining ammo. The only problem with this thought is that it only happened when I pulled the trigger, not when the weapon was cycling. I shoot left handed, I am positive that the bolt was seated. Because of the reputation of Hornady, I couldn’t conceive of a problem with the ammo. I talked to Tereza about where she had gotten the ammo, I this point I was thinking that maybe someone was doing reloads and using Hornady boxes. I called Mike and found out that this same type of mishap had occurred at Perry. I think this ammo was the first batch of remanufactured ammo ( 223 RIFLE 75gr. MATCH N/C #97571 lot #030177) that Hornady sold, I’m not 100% sure of that, all of the casings were stamp “LC,” Lake City with the NATO stamp.
I sent a note to Hornady at about 20:00 tonight, I’m going to try to get the weapon inspected sometime this week.
My concern now is that this may be bad ammo and it is circulating in the Junior Group.