Bad commercially reloaded ammo

[CarlMc]

Since the OP's nemesis has a web site I would report them.Otherwise just write it off to education

Is there some neutral party to report this sort of thing to that I'm not aware of?

 

[mjbskwim]

A friend was shooting some .40 cal commercial reloads from one of the local to the PNW reloaders and got some bad loads about 2 years ago. I don't recall if it was a squib followed by a good round or a hot load but it locked up everything and the slide wouldn't move at all. I don't recall if they actually admitted fault but they did voluntarily pay for shipping it to the manufacturer where the slide had to be cut off the frame and an entire rebuild was done including the custom shop doing a bit of extra work. They also picked up the tab for all parts and work done as well as either refunding the ammo purchase or replacing it. Some of them do take responsibility for their errors...

And that is how you keep a good name.
So Sig,do your friends have to clean the carabiner off before they return it?

 

[mjbskwim]

Is there some neutral party to report this sort of thing to that I'm not aware of?

BATF I would ASSume would be best. Califorinia DOJ?. That may be too harsh

 

[The Heretic]

I don't think BATF cares about poor quality ammo - bad quality is not a crime, it is a civil matter.

Certainly DOJ isn't going to care.

Chamber of Commerce, maybe one of the private shooting sports orgs.

Posting their name here would be about the only real "report" you could make IMO.

 

[CarlMc]

Thought I would throw out an update. I got the right collet for my press and proceeded to pull the rest down. Very interesting results. Using a collet puller allowed me to note something I couldn't see with a hammer puller.

On the cases with the flake powder, I noticed quickly that a lot of the flakes were sticking to the sides of the cases (even to the back of the bullet,) meaning there must have been some oil or other contamination inside the cases when they were loaded.

The very small grain powder appeared to be a compressed load and was sticking together a little bit, taking a couple extra shakes to get it out of the case. After some thought, I realized it was probably normal, and it wasn't sticking to the inside of the cases.

Now I suspect I'll be soaking the cases in water to kill the primers. I won't be able to use them as primed cases because I have no clue what the contamination is nor what it takes to get it out other than through tumbler.

 

[CarlMc]

On a whim, I left a review of the ammunition on LAX Ammo's product page. Interesting that the page doesn't seem to show anything but the highest ratings, which shows they're too uncomfortable with negative reviews.

 

[The Heretic]

Sometimes flake powder sticks to the plastic in powder chargers due to static electricity. Not sure if this would ever be the case with a brass case or projectile.