Just a bad round? Any other possible causes?

[brettskywalker]

While I was shooting at the range today I had already cycled through 50 rounds of 62 grain American Eagle ammo without a problem. Then I started shooting Fiocchi 55 grain FMJ & on my 18th round the rifle went CLICK instead of Bang. I dropped the magazine & pulled the CH to extract the round. Instead of extracting the round, I extracted the shell & gun powder poured out all over the place as the shell was ejected. The bullet itself remained in the chamber. I was able to remove it pretty easily, by running the female end of the cleaning rod up the barrel & the bullet tip actually fit right in it. & is still stuck in the cleaning rod right now & i ll have to pull it out with pliers. Is this just a terribly out of spec round, bad primer & bad crimp? Or could something else have caused this?

 

[shotgun693]

Contact the maker. As many millions of rounds as they load there will be those very occasional screw ups. They need to know, as much as you can tell'm, including a lot # if possible. The more feedback they get the better they can make ammo in the future.

 

[brettskywalker]

Good idea, will do. I still have the box & the 30 something odd rounds left. That's the 1st time I've had that happen, & i did not shoot the rifle anymore after that. I want to make sure I get all the powder out before shooting again . I still had fun with my shield 9 & m&p 45 though!

 

[arnoob]

Wow never had that happen, I've had my hand loads stick in the chamber and require beating on the CH with a hammer because I didn't trim the case length enough, but never had a bullet stick and leave the rest of the case.

Sounds like the COAL was too long, likely because the bullet wasn't in the case enough but could be in combination with a long case (enough for the bullet to come into contact with the lands), combine that with a weak crimp and also a poor primer (or weak strike) and you have the perfect storm you describe. VERY rare with factory ammo though I would think, and the fact the bullet was stuck so hard in the barrel it got stuck in your cleaning rod is pretty out there. I'd say follow the advice above and contact the MF, I'd probably avoid shooting ammo front he same MF batch too until you hear back, that's WAY out of spec to do that.

 

[otisrush]

On the one hand I could understand if a round's COL was too long then closing the charging handle could get it stuck - and then pulling the charging handle would separate the case from the bullet - causing powder to go all over. However I would think a round that long wouldn't make it through the magazine at all. I also think it would be pretty tough to extract the bullet from the case just by pulling the charging handle.

Was there ANY pop whatsoever? I would think the likely scenario is that the primer fired and, for whatever reason, the powder didn't ignite, pushing the bullet out just a little.

In a "more traditional" squib load, with no powder whatsoever, the primer will push the bullet part way down the barrel - beyond the chamber but not all the way out.

I'm thinking the likely scenario the primer ignited but the presence of unignited powder (for whatever reason it didn't ignite) made it such that the primer couldn't push the bullet very far because the primer was pushing powder and bullet.

 

[Rastoff]

I think otisrush has the right explanation. Even so, it seems a very strange thing. Modern powder is very stable.

Is there a dent in the primer?

 

[brettskywalker]

That was 1 issue, I couldn't find the extracted shell amongst the hundreds of others on the ground due to overcrowding & minimal people cleaning up after themselves at this public outdoor range. I've had a few bad primers on factory ammo before & light strikes that I sometimes fire again without a problem. But this was a 1st for me. It was a fiocchi brass case, I rarely shoot steel case. & yes after I realized that it was the powder load that pour out, I immediately went looming for the case but it was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. So I put my attention back to the bullet in the chamber. It didn't take excessive force, actually not much force at all to push it back out. But this was also I have ever had no choice but to push a rod from muzzle to breech so I was being extra cautious & taking it slow. I haven't cleaned the rifle yet because my pistols saw more action today than the rifle so I cleaned those 1st.

 

[hoc9sw]

Good idea, will do. I still have the box & the 30 something odd rounds left. That's the 1st time I've had that happen, & i did not shoot the rifle anymore after that. I want to make sure I get all the powder out before shooting again .

Put the ammo and the original box apart. Call the manufacturer. Some have websites to report problems, but I would make a phone call. Explain the problem and provide whatever information they request.

I've had issues. All have issued pickup tags for the original box and remainders. Some have sent a check for the ammo value, some have refused my complaint after sending back the ammo, others have just blown me off. You can imagine which I choose to do business with in the future.

I would expect a frequent shooter to have such issues a few times, so your case is not unexpected. Like a flat tire, it will happen eventually. Better on the range than in combat / self defense situations.

Glad you had some good shooting just the same.

 

[hoc9sw]

That was 1 issue, I couldn't find the extracted shell amongst the hundreds of others on the ground due to overcrowding & minimal people cleaning up after themselves at this public outdoor range.

And this would be why I take a minute or two to grab the broom / rake to push all the brass out of my bench area before starting. When I'm shooting, what is at my feet is mine.

 

[brettskywalker]

Here is the actual bullet still stuck in the cleaning rod . Don't know how much info can be obtained from looking at it, but it's all I have left of it

 

[Neumann]

If the OAL is too long and the bullet engages the rifling, it can cushion the primer strike so the cartridge doesn't fire. I've had this happen in pistols, and there's no reason it wouldn't happen in a rifle too, harder primer and such.

Chambering the round will jam the bullet hard enough to make it difficult to clear, and the primer strike will just drive it deeper. It's a scary thing to clear a pistol in this condition because the slide won't move without mechanical help. A rifle, with a turning bolt, would exert more than enough force to pull the case off the bullet.

A solid brass rod, which you can buy at many hardware stores, would be better than a threaded cleaning rod to drive out the bullet from the muzzle.

 

[brettskywalker]

Thanks for the explanation. Appreciate it

 

[otisrush]

Is the dark area at the base of the bullet soot or just odd lighting?

 

[MichiganScott]

On the one hand I could understand if a round's COL was too long then closing the charging handle could get it stuck - and then pulling the charging handle would separate the case from the bullet - causing powder to go all over. However I would think a round that long wouldn't make it through the magazine at all. I also think it would be pretty tough to extract the bullet from the case just by pulling the charging handle.

Was there ANY pop whatsoever? I would think the likely scenario is that the primer fired and, for whatever reason, the powder didn't ignite, pushing the bullet out just a little.

In a "more traditional" squib load, with no powder whatsoever, the primer will push the bullet part way down the barrel - beyond the chamber but not all the way out.

I'm thinking the likely scenario the primer ignited but the presence of unignited powder (for whatever reason it didn't ignite) made it such that the primer couldn't push the bullet very far because the primer was pushing powder and bullet.

I had this happen with a handload that consisted of ball powder and a non-magnum primer. The powder directly over the flash hole was welded together and looked like a pencil lead when the case was extracted. The bullet was jammed into the leade and fairly easy to remove.

I did not hear a pop because of my hearing protection and the fact that my hearing is rather poor after a lifetime of shooting. In my case I suspect a combination of a defective primer and a powder with a higher than normal deterrent coating.

 

[Rastoff]

If the OAL is too long and the bullet engages the rifling, it can cushion the primer strike so the cartridge doesn't fire.

This doesn't make any sense. Wouldn't the bullet up against the lands make for a more solid surface?

 

[lrrifleman]

I have only experienced the problem that you cited with 80gr 1000 yard loads I was developing for my long range AR. Having the case would answer many of the questions, but you still have the bullet!

You need to do two things. First, you need to mike the bullet to ensure that it is a 0.224" bullet. Second, roll the bullet on a flat surface to ensure that the bullet is not out of round.

From the sounds of things, the biggest question is why did the bullet in a magazine length cartridge slip the crimp and stick in the leade?

I would suspect that an undersized bullet was loaded into the cartridge, and the momentum of the BCG stripped the round from the magazine caused the bullet to jump the crimp. Additionally, I would suspect that the round had a bad primer, since the powder didn't detonate. If the primer were good, and the powder didn't detonate, then the most likely problem would have been that the case didn't have a primer flash hole. If the primer was good, it would have sounded like a cap gun,and separated from the case, looking like a blown primer.

The bottom line is that you probably experienced two problems, an undersized bullet and a defective primer or case.

Looking back at a number of recent posts, it seems that Fiocci ammo has been the suspect in a number of quality control issues. I would definitely recommend contacting Fiocci!

 

[brettskywalker]

Ok I took some pics of the bullet itself in my digital caliper. The digital caliper is a cheap harbor freight & when I upload pics that are crystal clear on my phone, the thumbnails attached to the post look like ****, so take it for its worth. I placed the bullet on the counter top so it would be on a level surface for me to measure with the caliper also resting flat on the counter top. The measurement was taken closer to the *** end of the bullet. The other pic shows what the back of the bullet looks it. Again, I'm no pro at measuring bullet dimensions & it's also the 1st time I've ever done it, also with a cheap caliper

 

[brettskywalker]

Wow! Those pics look terrible when I view them on my phone. Maybe better on a PC, but viewing them on my phone, I can barely make out what the pic is

 

[otisrush]

My .224 bullets that have a base like that have a grayish color IIRC.

That really looks like soot. (To the extent it can via a photo over the internet. ROFL) IMHO that gives more credence to the primer-fired-but-powder-did-not scenario.....barely pushing the bullet into the leade.

 

[lrrifleman]

Brett, I use the same mike as you for my precision reloading ... yes it is cheap, but it is accurate!

Your first picture shows part of the problem ... 223 ammo should be loading bullets that are 0.224", not 0.223". This alone would suggest that the bullet jumped the crimp due to the momentum of the BCG. Since the bullet was a 0.223 bullet, that presents a fourth possibility as to why your round never went bang. The possibilities are:
1. Defective primer.
2. The cartridge case didn't contain a flash hole.
3. A .222 Remington round found its way into a box of 223 Remington.
4. A .223 Remington round was loaded with a 0.223" bullet.

I believe that the 222 Remington fires a 0.223 bullet, which could provide a number of explanations. I think (I don't have my reloading manual in front of me), that the 222 Remington has a shoulder that is set further back than the 223 Remington, and the momentum of the BCG chambered the round, but the extractor may not have caught the rim of the cartridge until after the BCG moved forward with the assistance of the momentum of the falling hammer. Sadly, this is purely educated speculation.

I would suggest that you check your unfired Fiocci ammo to see if there are any 222 Remington rounds in that box.

When you clean your rifle, check to make sure that the firing pin isn't damaged, a fourth reason why the round never fired.

Best of luck!