Do I have a problem with this ammunition?

[Xmark1]

Releasing the slide on a chambered round damages the extractor.

Perish the thought of harming my Gold-plated extractor!

 

[Koda]

What irks me is that this Hornady ammo isn't that old. I have some Rem. Golden Sabre that hasn't changed at all and that must be 5 years old.

I think I ought to give Hornady a call to hear what they may have to say. It is possible I have a lousy lot.

The worst ammo Ive experienced this with is Hornady XTP. I would get just 2 chamberings and it would set back .027". I actually have an old thread in here on this about 10 years ago, I also was tempted to give Hornady a call but never did. Some corbon ammo lasted me years of rechambering carry ammo. All 45acp in 1911.
I have some Sig 9mm Vcrown that holds up very well but will set back eventually. You just have to find how many chamberings your ammo will last and cycle thru them.

 

[Koda]

Perish the thought of harming my Gold-plated extractor!

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I thought you were asking about 1911s but I have worn out an aftermarket glock style extractor dropping the slide on a chambered round to the point it wouldn't extract reliably. My guess is most extractors are designed to have the round slide up from under them so I dont single handfeed the chamber anymore.

 

[Bobbygun]

I Googled "Hornady Critical Defense bullet setback problems" and there were pages and pages of results. On some forums, posters said the HCD cartridges were the only ones they had problems with. Other posters said they had problems with HST and other brands as well. Comically, one of the results took me directly to the Hornady Critical Duty page where Hornady professes: "The cannelured bullet with crimped case ensures no bullet setback during feeding."

 

[tac556]

Perish the thought of harming my Gold-plated extractor!

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I have seen a fair number of chipped Glock extractors, so yeah you don't want to do the drop it in the chamber method generally. G21's especially were notorious for chipping the extractors early on.

All fun and games until your brass doesn't extract…

 

[titsonritz]

It never happens until it happens.

 

[po18guy]

I use an inertia bullet puller and pull them back out to original length. Then I apply a taper crimp to help prevent them from setting back.

 

[dangerranger60]

Great advice, thank you. Looks like a new box of ammo is in order and I am going to see if I can bring the set back rounds out to spec then shoot them off. I am going to pick up a couple of mags dedicated to self defense carry only and other mags dedicated to range use. I have a couple of $ burning a hole in my pocket anyway.

I think that's a good answer to shoot the mangled rounds. I would not try and move the bullets back to proper length though. You will end up with either too long or loose bullets. either can cause a miss feed. Good Luck DR

 

[Heavy Metal 1]

I set them to proper length i.e., to the length of the round that did not have any apparent setback and crimped them in the seating die. I am still going to shoot them off because they have been reworked now. I purchased some fresh factory ammo for carry.

 

[Koda]

I just shoot em as is, been doing it for years no issues but I set them aside before it gets bad.
You'll end up with more, just keep on eye on each ammo brand and set aside when its noticable by eye and shoot em as range ammo.

 

[Bobbygun]

While I was cleaning my .40 Shield today, I took the calipers out and the HCD bullets in my magazine all measured the same length and the cannelure/crimp spot appeared the same on all rounds. I think these rounds have been my defense carry rounds for about two years. I do rotate the one that gets chambered though when I switch out for FMJ to practice. I'll probably buy another box of Hornady's and use these for practice pretty soon.

 

[gmerkt]

repeated loading/unloading from the magazines

I have to ask. Unless I missed it in an earlier post, but I read all the way through. Still could've missed it.

That is, what method do you use to unload the magazines? Do you rack the slide and cycle all the rounds through the chamber and then out of the gun? Or do you manually unload the magazine after it's withdrawn from the weapon? Racking every round through the chamber of course will accelerate bullet set-back.

Racking every round through, it seems to me, presents a needless element of risk. But I've seen it done so I know it's a thing.

Someone else touched on the following, I seem to recall. And that is, many hollow points kind of bump the ramp into the barrel before they chamber. FMJ / ball ammo do not present as much resistance to the ramp as hollow points. Hence set-back is more likely with the HP type design.

Releasing the slide on a chambered round damages the extractor.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. After decades of owning guns and shooting, this never occurred to me nor was it ever mentioned. But I can see how it might occasionally happen. I always figured extractors, in general, were made to sustain this wear. But I'm also thinking that many designs do not provide for the incoming cartridge to slide under the hook. Examples, AR-15 and Model 70 Winchester with the push-feed bolt. I think going forward I will be more judicious in single loading cartridges into breeches of certain weapons. Especially a Star Model B for which no new extractors exist on the surface of the earth.

 

[HighlandLofts]

Releasing the slide on a chambered round damages the extractor.

Sure does.

 

[Heavy Metal 1]

I unload the 45ACP magazines by hand since there are only 7 rounds in them. Over the months and years each cartridge likely had its turn of being the one in the chamber that got chambered and ejected via the slide.
The Hornadys set back and they are not very old. As I said above the Remington Golden Sabres are years old and have not shifted. I am going to shoot them all off and start off with fresh carry ammo.

 

[Bobbygun]

Someone else touched on the following, I seem to recall. And that is, many hollow points kind of bump the ramp into the barrel before they chamber. FMJ / ball ammo do not present as much resistance to the ramp as hollow points. Hence set-back is more likely with the HP type design.

Agreed. However, the Hornady Critical Defense loads (at least the ones I'm looking at in my .40 S&W Shield) are a little more pointed than the typical hollow points. I handload a bunch of loads with Hornady XTP bullets, and they are much "flatter" on the hollow point. Just eyeballing it, I wouldn't think the HCD rounds would resist much more than ball ammo. Maybe a little bit.

 

[gmerkt]

Agreed. However, the Hornady Critical Defense loads (at least the ones I'm looking at in my .40 S&W Shield) are a little more pointed than the typical hollow points. I handload a bunch of loads with Hornady XTP bullets, and they are much "flatter" on the hollow point. Just eyeballing it, I wouldn't think the HCD rounds would resist much more than ball ammo. Maybe a little bit.

And on the other side of the coin, I've had some flat nose FMJ that didn't want to load well. They were a kind of conical design, but the tip of the cone was wide.