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JodyH
07-09-2011, 10:31 AM
Anyone else having problems with Federal Champion 115gr. 9mm FMJ?
The last two boxes I bought showed signs of severe yaw and keyholing at 15 yards.
Rounds would impact in a 6' (yup... 6 FOOT) diameter "group" at 25 yards.
This was out of my P30, P2000 and Kahr PM9.
I can ring a 8" plate at 35+ yards with all three pistols using RWS 124gr. ammo no problem, so it's definitely an ammo issue.

Al T.
07-09-2011, 10:50 AM
New one on me. I may buy a box just to check it out. :D

Suspect the bullet bases are slanted in relationship to the long axis of the bullet.

DonovanM
07-09-2011, 10:57 AM
How odd. I've put around 1500 rds of it downrange in the past few months with nothing of the sort. It's actually been good to me, better than WWB ever was.

JodyH
07-09-2011, 12:40 PM
I've had good luck with the Champion as well... right up until these two boxes.
Winchester Value Pack, Remington, RWS, RUAG all shoot great in 115 and 124 weights.
Maybe Federal got a bad batch of bullets?

1986s4
07-09-2011, 02:03 PM
Sounds like a bad batch of ammo. I have some Berry's plated HP's that do that in my now departed Beretta and CZ 75. My P-30 shoots fine groups with them.

Kyle Reese
07-09-2011, 03:27 PM
Interesting. Have you let Federal know?

jslaker
07-09-2011, 04:18 PM
Federal Champion is usually my favorite cheap ammo. I've had fewer problems with it than I have things like WWB or UMC in the past.

JM Campbell
07-09-2011, 04:57 PM
I haven't had any problems with the Fed Champion 115gr in my P30 or P30LS. I actually qualified with it 3 weeks ago and shot great.

ACP230
07-09-2011, 10:52 PM
I have shot some in my BHP and Colt Combat Commander 9mm. No problems so far.

Colt191145lover
09-08-2011, 01:15 PM
Ive had problems with it tearing parts of the jacket of. In fact at Todds Class in WA he referd to it as my "pre fragmenting ammo trying to kill everyone". I noticed the keep changing bullets and/or jackets on different lot #




colt

SamuelBLong
09-13-2011, 02:31 AM
I called Federal about this about two months ago... out of my G34, I was getting keyholed shots at 5 yards. I tried it in my g19 and in my 9" barreled subgun upper on my m16... same thing. Thank goodness I didn't shoot w/ my 9mm can that day.

Pistol Shooter
09-13-2011, 04:21 PM
I tried a few boxes and was very disappointed with the ammo. Very dirty, not accurate and the ogive of the bullet was funky.

I'm used to Federal American Eagle and this ammo just didn't cut it for me at the range. I'll spend a bit more and avoid this junk. YMMV.

KeeFus
11-05-2011, 07:20 PM
Getting my range bag ready tonight I was fumbling wround with some ammo, Federal Champion. While loading a mag one of the projectiles fell out of the case! WTH??? Glad I'm running short on this ammo cause I will not be buying anymore.

JDM
11-05-2011, 08:07 PM
Getting my range bag ready tonight I was fumbling wround with some ammo, Federal Champion. While loading a mag one of the projectiles fell out of the case! WTH??? Glad I'm running short on this ammo cause I will not be buying anymore.

I as well had a FC 9mm bullet fall out of a loaded case IN THE MAGAZINE recently. It dumped powder all over the place inside my pistol.

At my local WM the price on the ammo in question went up a dollar a few weeks ago. Now the savings per 100 is negligible compared to WWB 100 count, so I probably won't be shooting anymore of this anytime soon either.

JV_
11-05-2011, 09:06 PM
I as well had a FC 9mm bullet fall out of a loaded case IN THE MAGAZINE recently. It dumped powder all over the place inside my pistol. I a bullet fall out of a case too, 9mm AE 124.

JHC
11-06-2011, 03:46 PM
Had one (115 gr) that was dead as a doornail today. Neither pistola could fire it.

TGS
11-09-2011, 05:35 PM
Feel like I need to add to this thread. I went out shooting today, and was easily putting 10/10 rounds into a 2" circle at 5 yards with 147gr American Eagle. I then fired a 1 year old box of 115gr Fed Champ I had laying around, and it was WILD. No keyholing, but my groups instantly opened up to 5"+ at 5 yards.

I don't usually comment saying "ammo a was more accurate than ammo b" given the gun is most likely way more accurate than I am, so any difference isn't going to be noticed at 5 yards offhand due to the ammo. However, to go from sub-2" to 5"+ upon switching ammo types, that's definitely the ammo.

I was quite disappointed. I hadn't any problems with Federal Champ in over 2000 rounds until this box. Looks like I'm out $9.47 + tax.

JHC
11-09-2011, 08:45 PM
I don't usually comment saying "ammo a was more accurate than ammo b" given the gun is most likely way more accurate than I am, so any difference isn't going to be noticed at 5 yards offhand due to the ammo. However, to go from sub-2" to 5"+ upon switching ammo types, that's definitely the ammo.

I was quite disappointed. I hadn't any problems with Federal Champ in over 2000 rounds until this box. Looks like I'm out $9.47 + tax.

Econ priced 115 gr fmj has gotten so bad, I am now confident telling my pusher - yeah, I CAN outshoot this ammo, I need some 124 gr Blazer (which I found across 4 cases this year to be much more consistent than others).

mpd046
06-15-2012, 10:45 AM
I realize this is an old thread, but at last month's Pat Mcnamara class I shot 2 cases (1000 rounds) of Federal Champion 115 gr 9mm out of a Gen 4 Glock 17. I averaged 12-18" groups at 20 yards on an NRA Bull target. It was extremely aggravating and frustrating. WWB groups were 1/3rd the size. I bought the ammo earlier this year. There was no consistency at all from the rounds. They would impact randomly on the target.

Later I shot the gun from a bench and there was little to no improvement. I wish I would have found this thread before ordering 3 cases.

Matt

SecondsCount
06-15-2012, 03:32 PM
Econ priced 115 gr fmj has gotten so bad, I am now confident telling my pusher - yeah, I CAN outshoot this ammo, I need some 124 gr Blazer (which I found across 4 cases this year to be much more consistent than others).

My reloads have always been able to outperform factory stuff, especially 9mm. Friends ask me why I bother reloading 9mm and accuracy is the answer I give.