Check your ammo before loading!

[geothorn]

It doesn't happen too often, but every once in awhile I discover a bullet or shotgun shell that's either too damaged, or improperly loaded, to use.

A couple of days ago, I opened what I thought was a brand new box of 3" 00 buckshot shells, and I found one that looked like someone had attempted to load it, from the magazine, into a shotgun that has a 2 3/4" chamber. The brass is indented badly, on one side, and there are two gouges in the brass that appear to have been caused by the extractor trying to pull the stuck shell loose. I don't know if this particular shotgun shell is capable of being chambered, it's so badly damaged, but I don't want to hurt my shotgun, or me, by trying to chamber it, and then firing it. So far I've just marked the box that contains the bad shell, so that I'll not load it, but I should instead throw it away so that it's totally safe...and maybe I should dissect it, first?

The second piece of bad ammunition I've found, also in a new box of ammunition, was a 9mm cartridge that was missing it's primer along with the "fire hole" that connects the primer pocket to the gunpowder inside the casing. Basically, this is a bullet that would only fire if you threw it into a fire. Granted, this is target ammunition, and shouldn't be used for self defense, but it wouldn't be good to be in a surprise self defense situation, and that bogus bullet was chambered, expected to be fired!

It's one thing to have ammunition that fails by surprise, but quite another to have ammunition that looks faulty on examination, and to use it. So, I would recommend looking at your ammunition before loading so that you can prevent a mishap/misfire and/or personal injury.

Maybe that's why ammunition receipts at Wal*Mart state "All ammunition sales are final."??

GeoThorn

 

[Goldtanker]

When I was on the job, whenever I came back from the range (I was the division firearms instructor) I cleaned my Glock 17 as you would expect. While it was apart, I dropped every new round into the barrel before I reloaded it into the magazines I would carry. This was done so I could check each round for size (some rounds come through the factory quality control too fat and would cause a stoppage) and condition before I bet my life on it. This procedure was also part of my training program.

 

[Gollnick]

When a factory makes a billion or two of just about any product per year, a few defects may escape quality control. That's a simple fact about mass-produced, relatively low-cost products.

As a result, when you're going to depend on such a product, it's only prudent to carefully inspect it yourself.

 

[mwerner]

When I was with the local County PD, they used to issue us "training ammo" that was really bad. It was not unusual to find primers seated backwards, bullets backwards, or no powder charge. (very dangerous)

I early on vowed to use only reloaded ammo that I had personally loaded. Once a buddy loaned me his .45 Colt SAA, as I'd never shot one. He had a couple dozen rounds of handloads that he assured me were "The lightest loads in the Lyman book".
I took this fine old piece to the local indoor range, and cranked a round off. I was greeted by a huge ball of white flame, and a vicious recoil. The rangemaster yelled, "what the HELL was that?"

Things must have been loaded up to .44 mag equivalence. I subsequently bought a box of factory .45 Colt loads, which were like shooting a .38 in comparison.

 

[thatmguy]

I would advise against disecting it.

When I was 12, I did.

The trip to the ER, along with the subsequent metal extraction, mde me NOT disect any more shotshells to see if the really looked like the one in the Remington sales brochure.....