Challenger 12g Ammo Quality Slipping?

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diemaco

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I've shot hundreds of cases of Challenger ammo in the past without issues (mostly handicap out of a semi).

This past weekend we noticed the cases bulging at the ejector in two different semi's. My SX-3 still cycled without a hiccup, but my buddies mossberg actually blew out a couple rims.




What's your go-to for cheap target loads for a semi these days?
 

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I've seen the slightly bulged lip of the challenger case heads in the past at a few Sporting Clays events
(( dumpster diving for AA's and Nitro hulls LOL )) made me think, was it the ammo or the gun's strong spring ejector/extractor set up...I figured the cheaper ammo, altho my SX3 Sporting doesn't do it nor does my Maxus stalker. Your pics of this is proof, and adds to my summization !

**Last outing in Miramichi, I had 2 of the factory Challengers (orange hulls...1 oz, 7 1/2 1300 fps) fail to chamber because of a bulged case head...had to squeeze it some to make it go in and work. First time ever having an issue with this ammo !
 
Adding to this for options, few months ago, The Gun Dealer in NB had Top Guns, and Rem Gun Clubs on for the same price as the challenger stuff...109.99 a case + carneee's share. The GC's sold out pretty quickly, but it looks like new stock has come in again !
 
Unfortunately Challenger has always been bad. The bulge has been present for at least 20 years, preventing extraction in all of my pump actions. I don’t think they are inclined to change if they haven’t yet. I still run it in my break actions because it is often on sale for super cheap (wonder why?)
Federal Top Gun is pretty rad, the promo runs are pretty cheap too ( red & white Canada Day, pink for breast cancer awareness etc. )
 
Challenger has long been my least favorite shell. Several years ago after a shoot we were finding wads that had not opened up at all after leaving the muzzle of the gun, the tiny little tabs that hold the wad petals together were not even broken. Obviously the shot pattern isn't going to open up until the wad is stripped from the shot column and this would happen slightly later than it normally would if the wad opened up normally. It would be like using a full choke on a 10 yard target and makes one wonder, was that miss on a close target because the shot column didn't open up soon enough or was it a genuine miss?
 
Proximity to Hummasons makes Challenger my preferred choice. I have shot it regularly for years and haven't noticed any great decline in quality. IMO, it's better than Winchester Super Target and on par with Top Gun and Gun Club. I've had none of the problems with pierced primers or bulging case heads in either my semi or breaking guns.
 
Challenger has aways loaded cheap Euro cases for years nothing new here. Win Super Target and Top Gun with the new plastic base wad are not much better. The old fiber base wad Top Gun hull was a much better hull and quit reloadable. The Challenger and new style Top Gun and Win target are not meant to be reloaded I have read. STI , AA and Federal Gold metal are my go to.
 
diemaco said:
I've shot hundreds of cases of Challenger ammo in the past without issues (mostly handicap out of a semi).

This past weekend we noticed the cases bulging at the ejector in two different semi's. My SX-3 still cycled without a hiccup, but my buddies mossberg actually blew out a couple rims.




What's your go-to for cheap target loads for a semi these days?
Click to expand...

That Challenger (with the silver base and gold primer combo) has been a disaster for me.

I have one gun that mostly runs on it but will only use it for practice. The other gun has been a disaster on it and wont run at all. At one point I literally only took that to the range if I wanted to practice clearing malfunctions.
 
diemaco said:
I've shot hundreds of cases of Challenger ammo in the past without issues (mostly handicap out of a semi).

This past weekend we noticed the cases bulging at the ejector in two different semi's. My SX-3 still cycled without a hiccup, but my buddies mossberg actually blew out a couple rims.




What's your go-to for cheap target loads for a semi these days?
Click to expand...

As others have said Federal Top Gun seems solid but my personal favourite is Rio.

Seems to be good quality and all my guns run well on it.
 
Challenger uses Cheddite hulls as does Rio and many others
I prefer the tapered wall hulls like Remington gun club/sts but the Cheddite hulls are usually pretty good, those bulges are strange I’ve never had that happen to me yet
I’ve reloaded the cheddite hulls with no problems either
 
I have run a lot of different challenger loads through a lot of different shotguns. I still have most of the hulls and can't see anything close to any unusual bulges or other defects. Very weird.
 
Deathrawt said:
Challenger uses Cheddite hulls as does Rio and many others
I prefer the tapered wall hulls like Remington gun club/sts but the Cheddite hulls are usually pretty good, those bulges are strange I’ve never had that happen to me yet
I’ve reloaded the cheddite hulls with no problems either
Click to expand...
Rio makes there own hulls they are not cheddite but challenger does use them but the cheap metal rim not brass
 
I reload the Challenger hulls twice, then toss em. Orange hulls are 7.5, green hulls are #8 and blue are the oddball stuff 9's, spreaders..etc
Usually load a couple of cases for the semi auto shoots
 
I've had this stuff misfeed in various shotguns, semi, pump, and coach, so it's not limited to not liking one action. Brass-head 12ga doesn't give me this kind of grief.
 
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