I just found some faulty factory ammo among my go-to 9mm. What I keep is Hornady 124gr XTP, a hollow point that has good reputation. Bought three boxes last year at Cabela's - for too much - about a dollar a round for a 20 round box, but ok - I don't intend to shoot these unless I have to. Put a box through the 6906, and one through the CPX-2, and was not happy with the results. Since then, I've been buying 147 FMJFP's for practice, and Federal 147gr HS for social work. Had a box left of the Hornadys. I opened it and noticed something odd. I know these were never chambered, and never even in a mag. The three left to center are Hornadys, short, tall, and correct. The next is a Federal 147gr JHP, and the right is a Blazer 147gr JFP, both standard size. These Hornadys got out of the factory at a premium price and at least two of the 60 I bought were defective from the start.

Attached Images

	100_3090.jpg (78.7 KB, 282 views)
	100_3091.jpg (79.8 KB, 211 views)

__________________
Heavily armed old man.

That is a significant variation in bullet seating depth!

__________________
VCDL, GOA, NRA

I've got some PMC 45acp ammo, bought decades ago, with that problem. Makes me not feel so bad about using reloads in my 38 snub nose.

At this point in time you could try calling Hornady If you have the lot# but I doubt they'd be very responsive.
Since the system is automated you'd expect more of the short or long but . . . who knows!

Not worth the trouble for 20 rounds left. I'll probably pull the long and short ones and shoot the rest and be rid of them. Makes me look carefully at the rest of my stock as I fill mags and range boxes.

__________________
Heavily armed old man.

Some company's use a bullet sealer to keep it in place, some don't.

I am guessing that Hornady does not add added protection against bullet slippage for a smooth wall bullet.

The one Gold dot that I took apart had a sealer on the bullet.

I usually take one factory load from the box and do a table "Push" to check the tension of the case & bullet, just for general information of the batch.

In the old days, Speer had a "Can" on it's 9mm, 125gr JSP bullets.

The other two bullets (147 grain Federal and Blazer have nothing to do with the issue if the Hornadys and just confuse the situation.


Do you have a set of calipers? What are the lengths of the 3 Hornadys. Are you sure you never chambered them or had them in a mag when shooting? Even so, there should not be that much set back.

The "manual" for 124 XTP should be 1.060"

__________________
Still Running Against the Wind

I do not have a caliper. The too short and the too long ones were never chambered. They came out of my last 20-round box of the three I purchased. They have never been chambered nor even loaded in a magazine. I was starting to load a magazine and the first I picked up was the long one - my second round intended for the mag - it felt odd. I dumped all out and stacked them in a line, then spotted the short one. I removed the one round from the mag and stood it with the rest, and it was like the other 17 correct ones.

__________________
Heavily armed old man.

There should not be that much set back if the rounds were chambered or loaded in a magazine. Can you imagine how well this situation would work out for a police officer?

Have you noticed that fewer ammunition companies seal the primers in? My pet peeve in this area is an ammunition company who's name starts with a "large bovine". For what they charge, primer pockets should be sealed.

I Once bought a .45 1911, and picked up a box of Blazer ammo to go with it, as I wanted to try it out on the way home. When I opened the box, I found the bullet seating depth all over the place.

Box of .357 mag ammo (forget the make), about a third tied up my model 28, binding on the recoil shield. Set side by side, it was obvious some rounds had way overly thick rims.

Stuff happens. That's why I visually inspect, and do a "plunk test" on every round I intend to use for self defense or big game hunting. This has saved me problems several times with both factory and handloaded ammo.

Larry

I look at all rounds before I put them in a cylinder, magazine, or range box. A little over a year ago I had the scary Win 110gr Silvertip 38 double charge in my 637 at the range. Didn't break the gun or me. A good thing. The three cases were replaced from the factory for that one round. Earlier posts about that, won't link them here.

__________________
Heavily armed old man.

If you have the box call or e mail with pictures. I had some iffy ammo from them long ago. First batch of their Critical Duty. The 9mm had case buldge like that of Glocks when fired in a SW Shield. At the time they used Starline brass as there was brass shortage. If you look at Starline and their 9mm brass, that is where that came from I sent info to Starline and Hornady. The issue was the chamber of the SW barrels at that time. Hornady sent be a pickup mailing label, so they could test it, Gave me a coupon for ammo and a ball cap. Whoopee!

__________________
Still Running Against the Wind

I'm not stressing on this, and having shot 40 rounds and found that they were not accurate in my 6906, two unfired bad rounds in a batch is not a problem for me. Just a situation, so hopefully other members will look at their factory ammo before they load it. Just in case.

As I mentioned in the above post, Winchester replaced 1500 38 rounds. I'd already shot ~300. Sent the bad round back with the rest and they delivered me a barrel of 1500 rounds in a couple of weeks. I was expecting a check. So was the seller. We were both surprised.

I've bought a bulk of Winchester 38 and 357 brass when available, to reload while I can't go shoot this spring. I still like their products.

__________________
Heavily armed old man.

I remember reading an article several years ago that mentioned a police officer (detective?) who would weigh every round he loaded into his duty gun and reloads to make sure they were all consistent, to prevent him using ammo with double charges or no powder.

Probably seems excessive, until you've had something bad happen.

I don't blame him for weighing. If I had a good enough scale, I'm probably compulsive enough at my age to to the same. Not had bad factory centerfire rounds in 40+ years, until the Winchesters. Had a couple of bad handloads many years ago, but those are on me.

Bad 22's? Everyone has had a few, and all brands.

__________________
Heavily armed old man.

OK, someone mentioned bullet sealant up top. The purpose of bullet sealant is prevention of moisture penetration NOT keeping the bullet in place. Since cannelures on cartridge cases pretty much vanished from production (couple of companies excepted), most factory ammunition can only be chambered 4-5 times before bullet setback may happen.

As to variations in OAL, looks like one of adjustments on the loading machine slipped a bit. One of the reasons you should inspect every round before loading it in a magazine for serious purposes. When I was working we got ammo in truckload shipments. We had a collection of rounds with bullets in backwards, primers backwards/sideways, a few without powder (discovered in training), bulges in the case mouth and wrong caliber ammo in a box. 9 mm/.40 mixups seem common.