Battle Bag Ammo - Warning

[d0pamine]

Hey fellow Hoosiers.

I don't normally post on forums, but I just wanted to pass on a little warning about these guys. I purchased 1000 rds of "5.56" for about $420 (shipped) from them about 3 weeks ago, and maybe half of it is usable. Their quality control is horrible. Most of it came stamped .223, and while it looked okay on the surface (it was just going to be practice ammo), upon closer inspection, many of the casings were stretched from previous firings and haven't been trimmed to be reused. As a result, the ammo won't cycle in any of my rifles (2x BCM, 1x RRA) as the throat is jammed into the barrel itself.


After some serious yanking on my charging handle, The round came out and looked like this:

imgur: the simple image sharer You can see the marks made by the lands from the barrel O_o


I can't speak to how it will fire, as I have to sort through it all and make sure i have removed all the defective so I don't spend hours at the range messing with my jam-o-matic ammo.


I have tried everything I can think of to get this resolved. But they won't return calls or emails. I hope my experience can save you all some money.

 

[baba]

Sorry to hear it. Looks like some of that brass may have been fired in a machine gun which allowed the neck to greatly grow.

-Brian

 

[jcwit]

I've seen marks similar to those that are the crimp.

Check some of the other cartridges.

 

[Lunati]

Have you contacted them to address this issue before posting it on the forums? I usually try to give the retailer a chance to make it right, then post on the forums. Thanks for the heads up regardless.

 

[WebSnyper]

Have you contacted them to address this issue before posting it on the forums? I usually try to give the retailer a chance to make it right, then post on the forums. Thanks for the heads up regardless.

Looks like he said he did: "I have tried everything I can think of to get this resolved. But they won't return calls or emails. I hope my experience can save you all some money."

 

[Gdpudge]

That's a bad deal there. Hopefully you will be able to salvage some if it. That would make me sick

 

[Mgderf]

Really hard to tell, maybe it's just me, but does that bullet look set back too far to anyone else?

 

[Cameramonkey]

Really hard to tell, maybe it's just me, but does that bullet look set back too far to anyone else?

IF the neck is taller than it should be, and the press still stops pushing the bullet at the same point in space as normal, I assume it would be set too far back in relation to the casing. (but at the same position if the case had been trimmed e.g. the overall total length of the round is still correct)

I could be wrong though. (and it could be an optical illusion?)

 

[1mil-high]

Have you measured the case length? If not, get the calipers out and take a measurement. This should provide a good start in figuring out the issue. That really does suck though...

 

[CountryBoy19]

You can see the marks made by the lands from the barrel O_o

That is a crimp mark from the first loading. It is not rifling marks. What is of more interest here is where the neck meets the shoulder. Notice the 2 distinct rings there? One of those is from the factory forming of the neck, the other is A) from a resizing die that isn't adjusted correctly, or B) from your chamber effectively "sizing" down that portion of the neck/shoulder.

I does appear there is a problem with the ammo but I don't think it is necessarily what you say it is. Have you measured the case length and the shoulder datum? Compare those to the SAAMI spec and see where it falls.

Also, there is some bullet set-back but that may or may-not be related, lets see the case measurements before trying to tackle it all at once.

 

[Lunati]

Looks like he said he did: "I have tried everything I can think of to get this resolved. But they won't return calls or emails. I hope my experience can save you all some money."

My bad I missed that part, that's too bad they wont respond to any communication efforts. Chalk it up as a loss I guess, you should be able to pull the bullets and salvage them and the cases. Just trim them down and reload.

 

[hornadylnl]

Hornady bullet puller, small base die with decapper rod removed and a seater die on a single stage press. Done my share.

 

[baba]

Is it possible that some of this could be the difference between a 5.56 chamber and a .223 rem chamber? I know they are technically different, but I can't recall exactly how.

-Brian

 

[jcwit]

That is a crimp mark from the first loading. It is not rifling marks. What is of more interest here is where the neck meets the shoulder. Notice the 2 distinct rings there? One of those is from the factory forming of the neck, the other is A) from a resizing die that isn't adjusted correctly, or B) from your chamber effectively "sizing" down that portion of the neck/shoulder.

I does appear there is a problem with the ammo but I don't think it is necessarily what you say it is. Have you measured the case length and the shoulder datum? Compare those to the SAAMI spec and see where it falls.

Also, there is some bullet set-back but that may or may-not be related, lets see the case measurements before trying to tackle it all at once.

Correct. Looks like the crimp was done with a collet crimping tool.

 

[Leo]

baba, The part of the chamber that is occupied by the case on .223 and 5.56 is essentially the same. The main difference is the location of where the leade tapers to minor diameter. If the first poster's chamber is catching on the case neck, the brass was improperly prepped.

This difference in the leade was fairly common about 30 years ago. Clymer, who makes chamber reamers only had two patterns back then. Now there is about 10 common reamer patterns. I even designed one myself. If you are willing to pay the extra cash, Clymer will be glad to grind out anything you can draw a print. I have not heard on any gunsmiths or manufacturers that still use the old pattern .223 commercial reamer, and the newer patterns are compatable either way.

 

[Leo]

Sounds like Hornadylnl has the fix figured out. It is a shame to pay for finished ammo and have to re-reload it yourself.

 

[hornadylnl]

Sounds like Hornadylnl has the fix figured out. It is a shame to pay for finished ammo and have to re-reload it yourself.

I learned the hard way about standard full length sizing die and small base sizing dies.

 

[Electronrider]

I learned the hard way about standard full length sizing die and small base sizing dies.

Could you expound on that statement? When I first got into reloading, I got the RCBS small base X dies. I do not use the X die funstion, but I really like the small base, it seems to work better for me. I was told that the small base overworks the brass tho.

 

[bulletbaron]

He has yet to measure the overall length of the casing (trim length 1.750"---max 1.560") and the overall length with a 55 grain fmj bullet 2.220 as per Hornady's 9th Edition.

Remember, you usually get what you paid for!

 

[dwilkening1]

Thanks for posting this - almost got some myself.