Ammo Inc, a bad lot of reloaded ammo at Bi-Mart in Hoquiam

[Caveman Jim]

Yesterday a buddy of mine stopped over, he is a new AR owner and he had a problem. He said that he shot his new rifle (new 16 inch Stoner upper and new aero lower) about 60 rounds of new 223 brass cased ammo. A few days later he bought some .223 made by ammo Inc., it's reloaded ammo and he had failure to fire and failure to extract problems.
The first thing I did was check the Ammo Inc. stuff. I noticed they had silver primers, reloaded cases with dings, not new ammo. In my experience most new ammo has bronze primers. Comes to find out that none of these cartridges would pass a case gauge check or the plunk test in my new 556 barrel.
Has anybody had any problems with this reloaded ammo from bi Mart?
He called bi Mart and they just stated that they have no returns on ammunition and didn't want to hear that they are selling bad ammo. His next step is to contact ammo Inc. directly to see what they want to do about this situation.

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[Graingodguy]

I hope not just grabbed 2 boxes today in Vancouver.
Guy

 

[JRuby]

I have shot four boxes in my 380. No issues. It's cheap ammunition.

 

[Local Loader]

I've had no issues with Ammo Inc. in the past, I use a wide variety of their ammo. If your having issues with it than the best thing to do I'd say is to contact Ammo Inc. about it and go from there.

 

[Local Loader]

As far as primers go, the color of the primer cap doesn't matter, they are just using what they have available.

 

[Cerberus Group]

The color of the primer should not matter.

CCI are silver colored, Winchester and Remington are brass colored, and some of the primers from out of country are a bright brass color...but there's an exception for every rule.

There are 2 gauges that should be used for checking ammo.

1 - Case Gauge - This checks head space. Does not ensure that the round will chamber.

2 - Chamber Gauge - This gauge should be cut to a SAAMI spec chamber, and ensures the round will chamber, provided that the chamber on said firearm is in spec.

 

[808hondacrguy]

I have shot a lot of the AMMO 223 in my AR and Mini 14, and have not had any failures of any kind. I didn't realize that it was reloaded ammo, just went straight from the box into the mags. Accurate enough for 200 yard gongs, at least.

 

[TTSX]

I've had nothing but problems with their .45acp and 9mm. Failure to fire and failure to feed. 2 total failure to extract. It's a brand I will avoid in the future because I'm convinced if they have that bad of QC such as you've described and I've experienced, a double charge is an eventual certainty

 

[Yarome]

I have shot a lot of the AMMO 223 in my AR and Mini 14, and have not had any failures of any kind. I didn't realize that it was reloaded ammo, just went straight from the box into the mags. Accurate enough for 200 yard gongs, at least.

That really might depend on how big your "gongs" are.








Not all mens bullets are created equal....

 

[Local Loader]

I've had nothing but problems with their .45acp and 9mm. Failure to fire and failure to feed. 2 total failure to extract. It's a brand I will avoid in the future because I'm convinced if they have that bad of QC such as you've described and I've experienced, a double charge is an eventual certainty

That's interesting, I use their 45acp, 10mm, 40s&w, 9mm and 380acp as well and haven't had any of those problems. It might be a bad batch you got or the gun you were using just doesn't like their ammo(known to happen). As for QC for them I haven't noticed more than some scratches on the cases sometimes. Still interesting that you've had that trouble with them, how many rounds did you used of their when it happened?

 

[Nosferatu]

That's interesting, I use their 45acp, 10mm, 40s&w, 9mm and 380acp as well and haven't had any of those problems. It might be a bad batch you got or the gun you were using just doesn't like their ammo(known to happen). As for QC for them I haven't noticed more than some scratches on the cases sometimes. Still interesting that you've had that trouble with them, how many rounds did you used of their when it happened?

I tried a box of their 10mm a couple months ago when I was in MT. None of it liked my G29. No failures, but it grouped horribly and was dirty as hell.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I've had no issues with Ammo Inc. in the past, I use a wide variety of their ammo. If your having issues with it than the best thing to do I'd say is to contact Ammo Inc. about it and go from there.

Yep, that's noted in the OP.
I'll keep things updated.

 

[Caveman Jim]

The color of the primer should not matter.

CCI are silver colored, Winchester and Remington are brass colored, and some of the primers from out of country are a bright brass color...but there's an exception for every rule.

There are 2 gauges that should be used for checking ammo.

1 - Case Gauge - This checks head space. Does not ensure that the round will chamber.

2 - Chamber Gauge - This gauge should be cut to a SAAMI spec chamber, and ensures the round will chamber, provided that the chamber on said firearm is in spec.

Yep, that too was noted in the OP.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I even tried this ammo in my 5.56 pistol and proved it was not his EBR.
What rang a bell with this situation was some years ago when I first started reloading, I resized 2-300 hundred cases with a set of used Hornady dies and a RCBS lube pad. I struggled through a few stuck cases and just not knowing "the drill". Long story short a few years later I discovered them and the label said "Resized" so I loaded them up and they were not in speck.
Was a definite learning experience for me. I pulled them 200+ down and started over and they worked great.
He just mentioned that me bought an identical 200 round pack at a Yakima Bi-Mart and they shot fine this afternoon so I believe the 200 round pack he bought in Hoquiam was a bad lot and we're hoping he should know something from Ammo Inc. by next week.

 

[Jay Walk]

I purchased a new 9mm and took it straight to the range, put one of those 200 round boxes of Ammo Inc 124 through it with no issues.

Carried some sig v-crown defensive ammo in it for a few months and decided to fire off that magazine and the first one was a weak round that failed to eject. I could hear how lame it was

 

[TTSX]

That's interesting, I use their 45acp, 10mm, 40s&w, 9mm and 380acp as well and haven't had any of those problems. It might be a bad batch you got or the gun you were using just doesn't like their ammo(known to happen). As for QC for them I haven't noticed more than some scratches on the cases sometimes. Still interesting that you've had that trouble with them, how many rounds did you used of their when it happened?

Approximately 250 rounds of 9 and 200 of 45. The 9 went though a G45, poly 80 and Walther PDP. Possibly a CZ 75 but I was frustrated by that point so I can't remember if that particular gun saw any ammo Inc. The 45 went though a G21 and 41 and neither liked it. Just wasn't a good experience. In blunt honesty, I had about 2 failures of some kind per 15ish rounds on average.

As you suggested, could have been a bad batch and I just got unlucky but it was a bad enough experience I'd just rather not repeat it

 

[Jay Walk]

Ammo inc did pump a buttload of coin into the operation as of late, now the market has tanked.

 

[Alexx1401]

Yep, that's noted in the OP.
I'll keep things updated.

What it "sounds like" to me is maybe when ammo was so hard to find they may have let QA lag trying to catch up. What it would mean for me is I would be leery of buying any of their ammo in large quantities. Buying a few boxes its a PITA. Buy a case of the stuff and have this happen? Now it would be a real pisser.

 

[DizzyJ]

I purchased a new 9mm and took it straight to the range, put one of those 200 round boxes of Ammo Inc 124 through it with no issues.

Carried some sig v-crown defensive ammo in it for a few months and decided to fire off that magazine and the first one was a weak round that failed to eject. I could hear how lame it was

I experienced a squib from Sig ammo as well a few years back.

 

[223to45]

I have noticed even on big name ammo, sideways primers, crooked bullets, bent cases.
I think for a time QC was taking second place to production.

Ammo,Inc is not a small operation either, but every company produces bad product once in a while