Hornady 300 blackout overpressure issues

I love how if anyone has an issue the immediate instinct is to doggypile NEA

There is alot more to the story than the bandwagon haters assume.
But hey, CGNers generally love having someone to #### on.

NEA has earned their reputation and changing the name to BCL doesn't seem to have changed anything.
They do sell a lot of rifles so the actual percentages of failures is probably lower than it seems but there just always seems to be a new story from someone who bought something from them and it's junk.
I own an NEA upper and lower so I know they are capable of building things right, I just wish they did it all the time.

More to the story? Not really, quality control is quality control and some of their stuff that makes it out to the consumer is so bad that even a child on the QC line should have been able to catch the problem and send it back.
Unfortunately is seems that if it looks like a rifle it passes QC.
 
The primers dont look high pressure. Not sure why you would want to rule out the gas system since it seems 2 of the rounds started coming out of the chamber when the pressure was high

Basic understanding of mechanical devices and or physics will tell you that you have variables and constants. While we think the ammo is a constant its the biggest variable. The firearm and gas system did not change at all making it the true constant. If it had anything to do with the gas system every round would exhibit the same markings and issues. Because it did not and given the fact I explained I ran many other factory round and reloads through this gun, some of which were the same pressure or higher, we can 100% rule out anything to do with this firearm.
 
NEA has produced their fair share of junk..... But so has every other company especially in the Mid to low priced AR world. I don't think NEA is any worse than any other company when you compare price point.

In this case NEA has nothing to do with it as the NEA barrel was not one bit the problem


NEA has earned their reputation and changing the name to BCL doesn't seem to have changed anything.
They do sell a lot of rifles so the actual percentages of failures is probably lower than it seems but there just always seems to be a new story from someone who bought something from them and it's junk.
I own an NEA upper and lower so I know they are capable of building things right, I just wish they did it all the time.

More to the story? Not really, quality control is quality control and some of their stuff that makes it out to the consumer is so bad that even a child on the QC line should have been able to catch the problem and send it back.
Unfortunately is seems that if it looks like a rifle it passes QC.
 
Basic understanding of mechanical devices and or physics will tell you that you have variables and constants. While we think the ammo is a constant its the biggest variable. The firearm and gas system did not change at all making it the true constant. If it had anything to do with the gas system every round would exhibit the same markings and issues. Because it did not and given the fact I explained I ran many other factory round and reloads through this gun, some of which were the same pressure or higher, we can 100% rule out anything to do with this firearm.

a mechanism out of tune could produce wildly different action from inputs that vary only slightly, inputs that may be within spec even. it appears the ammo is out of spec but that doesnt mean your gas system is good or even that the ammo is more inconsistent than ammo that is in spec. its good not to define your constants too early.
 
I had picked up some of that 110gr Hornady ammo when I bought my blackout years ago. It remains easily the hottest, most violently enthusiastic stuff I've put through the rifle, and I've hand loaded many different bullets from min to max (and in one case of bad data, beyond max) in testing since.
 
I've had issues with Hornady 300Blck before. Both with the loaded ammo and with just brass. Out of SAAMI specs etc. So I have been staying away from their 300 ammo.
 
I can't post the thread here, (different forum) but if you PM I'm happy to share it. Basically the founder of NEA responding to critics on another forum and explaining things directly from his side of the story. As a journeyman machinist we are required to study metallurgy as well as destructive/non-destructive testing, so I can say quite confidently that what he say's on the subject is in fact correct.
I had a lengthy response almost written out before I destroyed my phone last week....but oh well lol

I will say this though:
The reason you hear so much crap about NEA is because genreally a Gunnys first reaction is to log on and slag the company (whether it is deserved or not) due to their (in my opinion largely undeserved) bad reputation. Then the doggy pile comes.
Kind of like how CNN over reports the hell out of of any mass shooting involving an AR15 because they love to hate the rifle, despite it being statistically incredibly rare.

If you want a perfect high end rifle then go spend double or triple the pice and get a DD. Though just like any other company they will still have to do warranty work. It's the nature of manufacturing. BCL generally puts out good stuff, and has a lifetime warranty...what more do you want?
 
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a mechanism out of tune could produce wildly different action from inputs that vary only slightly, inputs that may be within spec even. it appears the ammo is out of spec but that doesnt mean your gas system is good or even that the ammo is more inconsistent than ammo that is in spec. its good not to define your constants too early.

LOL I would love to see your trouble shooting process.. It must involve one hell of a lot of wasted parts on theories that simply do not make sense. If a rifle is tested with multiple different brands of ammo and reloads and only one produces results so drastic your afraid to shoot that ammo again, meanwhile there are absolutely zero signs of any issues with the other ammo.... what would lead you to believe in the slightest there could be a gas system issue....? I purposely loaded some very very hot ammo, quite a bit above max on the weekend and yet again.... no issues. This was using the same Hornady V-MAX 110 grain, same OAL just different brass , primer and powder. The powder I used last weekend (296) and should have produced pressure levels well above what that hornady ammo should have produced.
 
I am with you 100% . While NEA has produced some lemons , every other company has also. I have no problem buying NEA. I also own LMT, Noveske, Stag, Colt and DD rifles. I have also had issues with DD and Colt parts before but no one ever would say they make a bad product. So why does NEA get that title . To be honest, I feel most people that complain about NEA , just like norinco are those guys who have a very large ego and think you need to spend 3k+ on an ar15 to have quality. Typically the same group that cant turn a wrench to save their lives.


I can't post the thread here, (different forum) but if you PM I'm happy to share it. Basically the founder of NEA responding to critics on another forum and explaining things directly from his side of the story. As a journeyman machinist we are required to study metallurgy as well as destructive/non-destructive testing, so I can say quite confidently that what he say's on the subject is in fact correct.
I had a lengthy response almost written out before I destroyed my phone last week....but oh well lol

I will say this though:
The reason you hear so much crap about NEA is because genreally a Gunnys first reaction is to log on and slag the company (whether it is deserved or not) due to their (in my opinion largely undeserved) bad reputation. Then the doggy pile comes.
Kind of like how CNN over reports the hell out of of any mass shooting involving an AR15 because they love to hate the rifle, despite it being statistically incredibly rare.

If you want a perfect high end rifle then go spend double or triple the pice and get a DD. Though just like any other company they will still have to do warranty work. It's the nature of manufacturing. BCL generally puts out good stuff, and has a lifetime warranty...what more do you want?
 
I've had issues with Hornady 300Blck before. Both with the loaded ammo and with just brass. Out of SAAMI specs etc. So I have been staying away from their 300 ammo.

I had picked up some of that 110gr Hornady ammo when I bought my blackout years ago. It remains easily the hottest, most violently enthusiastic stuff I've put through the rifle, and I've hand loaded many different bullets from min to max (and in one case of bad data, beyond max) in testing since.

You guys just add to the well documented list of issues with this ammo
 
I'm glad your problem was actually the ammo and nothing was wrong with your rifle build. I now know what kind of ammo I'm going to avoid buying
 
LOL I would love to see your trouble shooting process.. It must involve one hell of a lot of wasted parts on theories that simply do not make sense. If a rifle is tested with multiple different brands of ammo and reloads and only one produces results so drastic your afraid to shoot that ammo again, meanwhile there are absolutely zero signs of any issues with the other ammo.... what would lead you to believe in the slightest there could be a gas system issue....? I purposely loaded some very very hot ammo, quite a bit above max on the weekend and yet again.... no issues. This was using the same Hornady V-MAX 110 grain, same OAL just different brass , primer and powder. The powder I used last weekend (296) and should have produced pressure levels well above what that hornady ammo should have produced.
im glad you used this troubleshooting procedure to confirm your conclusion i would have done the same
 
You guys just add to the well documented list of issues with this ammo

I bought a box of Hornady Match .223 75gr and had similar experiences to your 300 BLK. It was piercing primers and cycling my XCR on suppressor gas setting. I fired the last of it in an old Mini 14 and it cycled extremely violently and rocketed the brass 40 ft. No pierced primers in the mini so I finished the box off and laughed at the 6 moa group. I believe it shot 4 moa in the XCR. Way to hot to be useful.
 
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