3-D ammo caused KB, sorta

[txfireguy2003]

Yesterday I was at the range for a skeet/flurry competition and they had the pistol and rifle ranges open for free, so I decided to take the Bushy down and pop a few rounds off. Got my target all set up and loaded the mag with some cheap factory reloaded ammo (more on that later) and took aim. First shot, seemed pretty normal other than an excessive amount of smelly white smoke coming from the upper and lower recievers. At first I thought, "man, that's some DIRTY ammo" but the smoke just kept coming, so I decided something must be wrong. As I lifted the gun off the bench (was using the mag as a sort of make shift monopod) the base of the mag and all the remaining ammo fell out the bottom! I first checked myself, no injuries, everything okay. Pulled the mag, now just the shell, and cleared the chamber which did have the next round loaded, then field stripped the rifle to check for further damage. All the oil had been burned off the internals, but other than that, everything looked pretty normal. The mag, well it's destroyed, broken welds, baseplate blown off, spring and follower may be salvagable but that's it. So now I went looking for the spent casing from that first shot. I found it, blown out and split at the web. I'm blaming the ammo, since I have used several different types of ammo, both .223 and 5.56 in this rifle, from various makers with NO problems whatsoever. This was the FIRST shot with this ammo, which I bought for hunting pigs as it was the only soft point ammo I could find in the middle of the post election shortages. Info on the ammo:

Coyote Varmint Duster
.223 Remington
55gr soft point
Made by 3-D Ammunition and Bullets

Comes in a brown box with white lettering containing 50 rounds.

It's loaded in Lake City brass, which is part of what made me feel okay about buying unknown ammo. After inspecting each round, (no, I'm not even considering shooting the rest of them, just curious) I have found one with a bad crimp on the bullet, and one with a cracked case neck.

I know most of you guys are "tier 1" top quality or nothing type guys, but a lot of us are not, and we all look for less expensive ammo from time to time, so I thougth I would put this out there, do not buy this ammo. It's dangerous.

[heartbreakridge01]

could it be possible it fired out of battery?

[txfireguy2003]

Don't think so, I always let the bolt come forward then push the forward assist a couple times before the first shot.
On another note, I disassembled the two rounds I found that were obviously bad, and found that, dispite the problems with the case necks, they were consisntent on the loads. Both bullets were the same weight (within a half grain), and both had 22.4 gr of a very fine grain ball powder. Obviously, there's no telling what brand powder it is, so you can't tell if the charge is right, but they both had the same charge, and 22.4 gr is within the limits of some of the other loads I have seen, depending on powder. What I did notice, was that the bullet on the one with the bad crimp was extremely hard to pull. Of course, the one with cracked case neck almost fell out, but that's to be expected with a cracked neck. I need to pull some of the other bullets and see if maybe the crimp is just too tight. I ran across that with the first 50 rounds of 9mm ammo I reloaded, where the crimp was too tight and the pressure at the starting load was enough to bulge primers.

[thopkins22]

could it be possible it fired out of battery?

This isn't possible anyway. I believe it was Ned Christiansen who posted the pictures of a cutaway bolt and carrier which show how the firing pin cannot protrude past the bolt face until the whole thing is fully forward and locked up.

[RemMan700]

Look several topics down and read the one titled Problems with old 3-D/Hornady. It looks like the same type of problem as this posting. I wonder if people need to back off from using the 3-D brand. It sounds like they have issues.

[Byron]

Look several topics down and read the one titled Problems with old 3-D/Hornady. It looks like the same type of problem as this posting. I wonder if people need to back off from using the 3-D brand. It sounds like they have issues.
Yea, I think it would make a lot more sense if this thread title was edited to read "3-D ammo KB" rather than "Bushmaster KB"

I'm no Bushmaster fanboy, but it doesn't really make sense to bring their name into the subject line as if they were the one responsible, unless you have some evidence that the weapon was at fault.

[txfireguy2003]

Good point Byron, tell me how and I'll do that.

[Byron]

On your first post in this thread at the top, hit the "Edit" button in the lower-right area of that particular post. If the quick-edit box comes up, click on "Go Advanced" and then you should get a page that allows you to edit the title.

[txfireguy2003]

thanks, it's done.

[bkb0000]

have you contacted 3-D? they need to know about this. i have no idea who they are.. is there a lot number on your box? call them mofos and report that crap. and get your money back.

[Smuckatelli]

Look several topics down and read the one titled Problems with old 3-D/Hornady. It looks like the same type of problem as this posting. I wonder if people need to back off from using the 3-D brand. It sounds like they have issues.

That is the exact same problem. Only difference is that Hornady and 3D's name was on the ammo. I can't hold Hornady responsible even though they will cover all costs. There was a small window of time in 2003 when they started to make remanufactured, initially they allowed 3D to manufacture thier first batch but quickly took over the process and brought it up to Hornady's standards.

[Smuckatelli]

have you contacted 3-D? they need to know about this. i have no idea who they are.. is there a lot number on your box? call them mofos and report that crap. and get your money back.

I think 3-D went out of business.

[txfireguy2003]

Yup, 3-D no longer exists. The box I bought did not have Hornady on it, so I don't feel as if it's their problem at all. I only posted this information so that anyone else who had some 3-D ammo would at least inspect it, and preferably dispose of it, and not buy anymore.

[6933]

Hornady bought 3-D if I'm not mistaken. Hornady is a great company. Don't think this can really be considered their bad.

[ST911]

3D = NG