“Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais
I'm wondering if the rubber noses on the Hornady FTX bullets might have a little bit of drag on the inside of magazines and/or feed ramps.
"It's surprising how often you start wondering just how featureless a desert some people's inner landscapes must be."
-Maple Syrup Actual
I have shot and carried Critical Duty 45 for well over ten years in my two M&P 45s (1st gen) without any issue. However, I recently stocked up on some more. Today, out of the first eleven rounds fired from this new batch I had five failures to feed. Upon cursory inspection it appeared to be caused by the rim not sliding up under the extractor.
During the same range session, prior to shooting this first magazine (10 +1) of the new stuff, I’d been shooting some of my old stash (more than 10 years old) of CD through the same gun and magazine without issue. After experiencing these FTF, I shot eleven more rounds of the old stuff through the same gun and magazine. They ran flawlessly. I shot ten more of the new CD through a different magazine in the same gun. This time I had one identical FTF.
Needless to say, I will not be carrying this new ammo. I will be contacting Hornady. Something has changed.
I was at the end of my range time (I’m old and I was tired). So, I didn’t shoot anymore.
It is easy for me to distinguish between my old stash and my new stash of CD 45; the new ones have smaller primers, and the sealant has a different appearance.
I don’t sign in on PF very often. But I frequently lurk. I was aware of the recent discussion on this thread regarding Critical Duty. So, I thought this would be a good place to post this Alert.
I have long preferred Critical Duty in 45, 9mm, and 357 Mag. So, I hope this can get resolved. I also bought some new 9mm standard pressure 135 grain CD. I had one FTF with this in my Beretta 92. My old stash of 9mm CD have always run flawlessly through this gun.
I purchased all of these in 50 round boxes, in case anyone is curious.
“Stop Resisting!”
Quality Control??
If you're going to be a bear….be a GRIZZLY!
I did read a report from someone on GlockTalk (a place full of bad information, but personal experiences with ammo are what they are) of someone who was shooting 10mm Critical Duty. I guess he was retrieving his empty cases and noticed that the cases had cracks going down them.
I had a customer who recently bought a case of Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor that was having issues in guns that were otherwise well proven, and older Hornady ammo was running fine in it. This was a case of ammo split among a group of guys with different rifles all having the same issue. The ammo was sent back to Hornady, and no updates on it yet.
I hope this isn’t indicative of a precipitous decline in QC with Hornady. I’m especially a fan of their CD 135 +P 9mm load and their 135gr CD .357 Mag loading.
At this point I’m going to play it safe and either order more HST 230gr or Gold Dot.
Hopefully you'll get great customer support from Hornady. Quite a few years ago we had a Marlin 45-70 and when shooting the Hornady Leverevolution load a couple cases split. Hornady was very responsive and wanted the cases and balance of the 20 rd box back and replaced it with several boxes of new 45-70 ammo. They candidly explained they had a batch of brittle brass.
Hopefully they'll fix you up.
“Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais
In 2 words: Tolerance Stacking (as I understand the term).
The rims are a little bit thicker on the Critical Duty 45 that I recently purchased (lot #3232043) compared to all other cartridges that I have run through this gun flawlessly in the last 10-12 years or so, including older Critical Duty. The extractor (a MIM part) on this M&P 45 had a tiny sharp ridge on it from the manufacturing process right where the rim of the shell casing first makes contact with it when feeding. This was visible to me only with magnification and bright light. I could barely detect it with the sharp edge of a fingernail.
I removed the extractor and stoned this tiny ridge so that it was similar to the extractor on my other M&P 45. Then I shot 200 rounds or so of the new Critical Duty through this gun, as well as some through my other M&P 45. It ran flawlessly. No hesitation or malfunctions whatsoever.
Hornady was responsive and willing to send me a shipping label so that they could examine and test their product. But I figured out the problem before that became necessary. I’m satisfied. The extra practice didn’t hurt anything.
“Stop Resisting!”
Friends,
Been crazy busy lately, but figured I would post that the Milt Sparks Summer Special came in for the Gen 5 G21 came in. It is specifically an RDO version, as the G21.5 wears a C&H enclosed emitter RDO.
LOVE this setup.
Perfect update to an old school design.
This is definitely the way!