Odd day at the range, Waiting on the seller, and manufacturer, to respond.

Daver_II

Daver_II

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Here is the background:

I went to the range with my "new to me" marlin 336w .30-30 WIN. and some Hornady LeveRevolution 160gr FTX cartridges. While sighting it in, my shooting buddy noticed the casings were rupturing. Nine of the twenty rounds had ruptured at the shoulder. Which sucks, because once I was on.... I was more or less clover-leafing at 50m with iron sights.

I stopped firing the gun immediately, and called up a friend who is a knowledgeable CAS shooter and reloader, as I thought he might have insight.
He walked me through a rough headspace test (which it passed) and advised me to borescope the chamber to see if there are any large tool marks, or other visible issues..... nope.

He then advised me to try some other Ammo (which my internet research also advised), and finally to take the gun to a gunsmith just in case.
Seeing as the headspace was ok, and the chamber appeared visually good to go, I decided I would try another brand of ammo.

Much to my relief the two other ammo types (FC and Hornady Whitetail 150gr) worked perfectly.

The good news is the Gun is fine, I have had it checked by a gunsmith to be 100% sure, and it checks out fine.

I have contacted the seller to ask for my money back for the two boxes (since I am not willing to fire the unopened box of the same lot, and the first box had an almost 50% rupture rate), and I contacted Hornady regarding the lot number and to let them know in case a recall is in order... I mean how many people actually record these things? right?

I will update the post when I hear back from either.

Here are a few more pictures:

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now for the gun #### :)
Marlin 336w .30-30 with XS scout-lever rail, Williams Firesights fibre optic front and Peep rear and a SIG Romeo4 (which I mounted after this whole episode.... so I will have to go zero that now... More shooting for me :)

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Not trying to stir the pot but what makes you think the seller would pay for a manufacturing fault in the ammo? Unless he was the one to sell you the ammo too then that would make a bit more sense.
 
hsatimmy said:
Glad that the end result didn't include injury. I would have acted the same way in your case
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I am glad there was no injury as well. Now that I know that it was the ammunition, I am resting a little easier.
But when we first noticed it, I was worried the gun had a major issue.
 
Swami said:
Not trying to stir the pot but what makes you think the seller would pay for a manufacturing fault in the ammo?
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Because of this:

Daver_II said:
I went to the range with my "new to me" marlin 336w .30-30 WIN. and some Hornady LeveRevolution 160gr FTX cartridges.
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That makes me assume the firearm is used but the ammunition is new, thus, the OP is looking for a resolution from the retailer of the ammunition via the manufacturer to rectify a manufacturing problem since a gunsmith has shown it is not the used firearm. That is what i get from the wording used.
 
I have seen this with Hornady brass before, but the brass was ripping and chunks were getting sent down the tube - they paid for new ammo, and to have the barrel inspected on a guy's brand new Sako 85 in 375 H&H
 
Swami said:
Not trying to stir the pot but what makes you think the seller would pay for a manufacturing fault in the ammo? Unless he was the one to sell you the ammo too then that would make a bit more sense.
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The ammo was from a retailer, and new. So hopefully they will refund me. Unfortunately they are not local to me, so it is not reasonable for me to bring it back without a pretty severe detour.
 
My first thought was that you had the case sticking in the chamber, it can happen, not letting the case flow forward.

Did you clean the gun and clean the chamber when you got it? I know you said you put a scope on it but dirty may not show up in the scope as a problem.

As an aside, rimmed cartridges 99% of the time headspace only on the rim, your problem does not show any signs of the rim being an issue but if this were to occur with other ammo it may be possible that your chamber would be out of spec. Again, headspace on a rimmed cartridge 99% of the time is simply measured off the rim thickness, the location of the shoulder has nothing to do with it at all, unlike rimless cases that headspace off the shoulder.
 
So Hornady has returned my email, they have requested I call them to arrange a return and replacement. Apparently this lot number is a 2010 production.
 
Well that's good news to hear. Kind of makes me think it might be worth checking boxes for manufacturing dates from now on.
 
Looks to me like the annealing was not done correctly. I know the Hornady guys and this is the kind of report they want to hear about. I have no doubt they will be nice to you and do the right thing.

It is not a dangerous issue, and will not affect performance. It is a common issue of old brass and poorly annealed brass.
 
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