Frontier 5.56 75gr BTHP - lot variations

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06-14-23, 20:09
Leonidas24

Frontier 5.56 75gr BTHP - lot variations

Over the last 5 years, this ammo's been fairly decent for me between a 12.5" centurion LW barrel, and two more 16" centurion LW middies. Nothing spectacular as far as accuracy goes. 1.5-2" at a 100 yards. But, for a general purpose defensive round that's been easier to obtain than most bonded soft points over the last 3 years, it's been good enough.

In 2019, I bought a thousand rounds of it for $500 from Academy off the shelf and shot through most of it alongside a steady diet of 55 and 62 gr range fodder. As prices went up, the stash was replaced when able, and from 2019-2022 the bullet remained the same T2 75gr cannelured BTHP. The cases changed from lot to lot. 2019's purchase was marked "Frontier 5.56" and subsequent purchases were marked either LC 21 or LC 22 (see pics.)

https://i.ibb.co/dJMS8jm/20230614-192932.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/KqgBBYD/20230614-192952.jpg

Come February earlier this year, I scored a deal on some more of this ammo, as the prices have come down to within the atmosphere on this particular load at least. At just over $0.70 per round it wasn't 2019 great, but it wasn't like shooting Black Hills 77 TMKs without being able to replace them. Into the safe they went.

Two weeks ago I started cracking open boxes to dump in a storage can and noticed the cases were marked Hornady instead of Frontier or LC, did not show signs of annealing, had very aggressive crimps on the primer to the point of creating burrs, and the case mouths weren't crimped at all. I fired off an email to Hornady to see if this was a known issue with this lot of ammo, and included photos for reference.

https://i.ibb.co/s9TKJhz/20230611-151919.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/L0BS4HQ/20230611-151913.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/2S1cZR3/20230611-151100.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/vVLBHQg/20230611-151703.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/DK9NVw7/20230611-151144.jpg

This is the email Hornady sent today:

Thank you for the photos. The ammunition pictured meets our quality standards. The primers are staked in the cases which reduces the likelihood they may back out of a case during firing. The style of crimp applied in this production lot will result in this appearance, but will cause no functional issue. The cases have been annealed and were subjected to a process that removes the scale from the case. This isn't conducted with each batch of Frontier, but is implemented when time permits. We subject our ammunition to regular testing to monitor bullet push and bullet pull which dictates how much crimp is applied at the case mouth. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns, if we can help in the future, please let us know. Best regards

I've seen some gnarly primer crimps and stakes over the last 17 years since being in and leaving the Army, but never to the point I could grab a burr with a fingernail and peel it back. The lack of annealing ring is understandable if they're cleaning cases before loading, but it seems strange considering the demand for ammo and the fact it wasn't done on previous lots I've purchased. Lastly, the uncrimped case mouths are a huge no go, at least for me in a semi-auto rifle. What's the point of a cannelure if you're not going to crimp it?

Hopefully with a little goading Hornady will replace it with ammo that at least has the bullet crimped in the case. If not, I'll have a friend run it through a Lee crimp die before shooting just to be rid of it. No more for me.
06-15-23, 09:09
markm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonidas24

Lastly, the uncrimped case mouths are a huge no go, at least for me in a semi-auto rifle. What's the point of a cannelure if you're not going to crimp it?

There are more guys/loaders who DON'T crimp than there are who DO. If the neck tension is adequate, I wouldn't care at all. If I can't turn the bullet in the neck with my fingers, I'll fire it in any gun.
06-15-23, 10:25
ViniVidivici

I have never crimped, and probably will never crimp, my rifle loads. Never a problem either.
06-15-23, 13:35
Leonidas24

Quote:

Originally Posted by markm

There are more guys/loaders who DON'T crimp than there are who DO. If the neck tension is adequate, I wouldn't care at all. If I can't turn the bullet in the neck with my fingers, I'll fire it in any gun.

It seemed to be the consensus for years that any ammo worth using for SD should be crimped to prevent bullet set back.

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06-15-23, 16:04
markm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonidas24

It seemed to be the consensus for years that any ammo worth using for SD should be crimped to prevent bullet set back.

There's a lot to address in that statement. First... we're talking about FRONTIER. Not ammo worth using for SD in the first place. It might work fine, but for Defense, I'm leaving nothing to chance and running premium stuff.

And a neck crimp is like a primer crimp. It's barely helpful at all if primer is really going to pop. I've had misfeeds with crimped ammo where the bullet mashes into the neck.

More important than crimp, is actual neck tension. If I get the necks tighter on ammo, the crimp barely adds to the tension holding the bullet in place.

I'm a crimp guy for sure, but I have no concerns running an SD load without a crimp if the ammo is made right.
06-15-23, 18:28
Leonidas24

Quote:

Originally Posted by markm

There's a lot to address in that statement. First... we're talking about FRONTIER. Not ammo worth using for SD in the first place. It might work fine, but for Defense, I'm leaving nothing to chance and running premium stuff.

And a neck crimp is like a primer crimp. It's barely helpful at all if primer is really going to pop. I've had misfeeds with crimped ammo where the bullet mashes into the neck.

More important than crimp, is actual neck tension. If I get the necks tighter on ammo, the crimp barely adds to the tension holding the bullet in place.

I'm a crimp guy for sure, but I have no concerns running an SD load without a crimp if the ammo is made right.

To clarify, looking at Frontier initially, it was a 75gr T2 bullet loaded in LC brass with LC components by LC. From the outside looking in and considering the success most people have with LC loaded ammo (other than fire-breathing XM193F) it seems like it shouldn't be a problem.