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6.5CM, Issues with 140 AMAX in 8 Twist Edit: Bad Lot of AMAX

Has Hornady replaced anyone else's bullets that were from the bad lot? Kind of interested to see what their CS is like.
 
@ jonaddis84: What length barrel were you shooting and what MV were you getting?

23 I think it was at that time, and like 2750 maybe. I chopped the muzzle off though and set back the chamber an inch in search of the problem that ended up being the bullet.

Now it's 21" and getting 2863 with 130vld, although BC and dope matches up better with 2900. This is a different barrel though, haven't screwed the original barrel back on yet to test it with the vlds.

Think I'll stick with the vlds though, they were on fire the other day at 1k...

2/3 rounds fired on the pdog target at a grand
ebu8ytu8.jpg


No wind holds, 900yd, 2" elevation spread
ba4azatu.jpg


Galaxy S3 on tapatalk
 
Fuck me...I just bought 1000 amaxs off a guy here on the hide 2 months ago...just went out and checked, sure enough lot #2130191
 
Hornady tested some of my 190 lots. I have sent 8 boxes back to them. They have returned 8 boxes of a different lot number. I hope these shoot well.
 
I am going to call them Monday to see what they say. I'm sure they will replace them, at least I'm hoping.
 
Here's a read--. 'Just recently got back from a training camp, my 10th, including 4 at RO. Every one who's been to Rifles Only knows that there 1st day is zero and shooting prone groups for instructor critique of position, technique, etc. My normal .5 groups were 1.5" groups and I was receiving "breathing, finger placement, hooking", etc. as my errors. I was stumped cause although I can 'F' up with the best, I didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong. WTF!!
Now, in reading this thread, I go and check to see, and sure as shit--my 140 AMAX lot # is ----190.
 
Here's a read--. 'Just recently got back from a training camp, my 10th, including 4 at RO. Every one who's been to Rifles Only knows that there 1st day is zero and shooting prone groups for instructor critique of position, technique, etc. My normal .5 groups were 1.5" groups and I was receiving "breathing, finger placement, hooking", etc. as my errors. I was stumped cause although I can 'F' up with the best, I didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong. WTF!!
Now, in reading this thread, I go and check to see, and sure as shit--my 140 AMAX lot # is ----190.

thats because rifle instructors presume a good load and good mechanically functioning weapon. it wouldnt hurt most instructors to see what a bad bullet group looks like. i think they are usually very different them a bad fundamentals group in how they string or shape.
 
I have personally given up on Hornady. There are so many bad lots of bullets and ammo for the 6.5 that the chances of getting the bad stuff outweighs spending a few hundred$ and "hoping for a good lot". I said the hell with it and went with Bergers. That being said, Bergers are more money, but at least I know I'm getting what I'm paying for!!
 
I have personally given up on Hornady. There are so many bad lots of bullets and ammo for the 6.5 that the chances of getting the bad stuff outweighs spending a few hundred$ and "hoping for a good lot". I said the hell with it and went with Bergers. That being said, Bergers are more money, but at least I know I'm getting what I'm paying for!!

Be careful assuming that. I had a bad lot of Berger 130s at the same exact time, 0.001" oversize. Now some rifles this wouldn't cause issues, but with a match reamer and the freebore is only 0.0005" larger than bullet diameter, it causes major feeding issues. That being said they still shot incredible, just had to seat them 1/4" deeper than previous lot.

All mfg can have bad lots, I've only heard of the two amax lots that were back to back, that's not enough to condemn a company.

Galaxy S3 on tapatalk
 
Be careful assuming that. I had a bad lot of Berger 130s at the same exact time, 0.001" oversize. Now some rifles this wouldn't cause issues, but with a match reamer and the freebore is only 0.0005" larger than bullet diameter, it causes major feeding issues. That being said they still shot incredible, just had to seat them 1/4" deeper than previous lot.

All mfg can have bad lots, I've only heard of the two amax lots that were back to back, that's not enough to condemn a company.

Galaxy S3 on tapatalk


You've probably seen this. If not, I started it a few months ago. I took an older lot and shot 5 shots at 120 yards. Them I took the newer stuff and shot 5. It's on the first page.
http://www.snipershide.com/shooting.../236169-hornady-140-amax-ammo-old-vs-new.html
 
Be careful assuming that. I had a bad lot of Berger 130s at the same exact time, 0.001" oversize. Now some rifles this wouldn't cause issues, but with a match reamer and the freebore is only 0.0005" larger than bullet diameter, it causes major feeding issues. That being said they still shot incredible, just had to seat them 1/4" deeper than previous lot.

All mfg can have bad lots, I've only heard of the two amax lots that were back to back, that's not enough to condemn a company.

Galaxy S3 on tapatalk

i had a bad lot in the 2120211 long before the ones you are seeing now. they basically did the exact same thing. wouldnt group under or near 1". now i have just seen a variance in ogive length of .050 from one lot of 75amax to the next. i am not willing to accept that. .010 or something like that is acceptable in length variance for me. chalk me up to another that give up on hornady.
 
Has anyone had a bad lot of Lapua bullets?
 
I called them this morning and they said send some in to test and they'll replace them if they're bad. So it seems like they're going to make it right which I had no doubt they would. Hopefully this doesn't become a trend with the amaxs because they shoot so well in my rifle that I don't want to have to switch.
 
Latest update after I inquired about the status yesterday. Not too thrilled about this as Ive already been waiting about that long.

When I had the bad lot of Berger, they reached out to a distributor to send back in 15 boxes so they could replace mine ASAP.

Jon

Thank you for your email. We have been experiencing unprecedented sales on many of our products making it difficult for us to keep up with production on many items. We apologize for the wait and inconvenience this is causing you. If all goes according to our current Production Schedule we plan to do a run of this bullet in about 6 to 8 weeks. You will receive an email notice when it ships.
Thank you again. We appreciate your business and your patience during this time.

Hornady Sales Team
Phone 1-800-338-3220
 
Yea.....that's fucking gay. Luckily I have enough good amaxs to tide me over till they get around to making some new ones.
 
I don't think there were any mentions in this thread - but anyone hear good or bad on the lot ending in #193?
 
They are replacing 800 of my #190. Their standard is half Moa at 200yrds through their test barrel. They shot 1 Moa. Twice the standard. Guy was nice about it. I'm not in a hurry to get them back or I would be pissed I would imagine.
 
I sent in a sample of Lot #191. They are replacing four boxes of it...
 
I don't think there were any mentions in this thread - but anyone hear good or bad on the lot ending in #193?

I have 6 boxes of lot 193. Prior to reading this thread I was thinking something must be wrong, was shooting 1/2 moa and with lot 193 I was shooting 1moa. Picked up 6 boxes of a different lot and was shooting 1/2 moa again. I need to call Hornady and have them test this lot
 
Hornady called me back and said that the bullets from 191 lot I sent them were bad and to send them the rest that I had. Sent them 1100 last Tuesday. Hopefully they don't dick around forever and get them replaced soon. I am considering trying to get Bergers to shoot in my rifle to not have to piss around with the amaxs anymore. Seems like their QC has went to shit.
 
Well, finally got a shipment notification. I looked, and I got a confirmation email from them Feb 27 that they received my bullets. Got the shipment notification today.

Berger downtime: 1 week
Hornady downtime: 4 months
 
Originally Posted by pkt1199
I don't think there were any mentions in this thread - but anyone hear good or bad on the lot ending in #193?
I have 6 boxes of lot 193. Prior to reading this thread I was thinking something must be wrong, was shooting 1/2 moa and with lot 193 I was shooting 1moa. Picked up 6 boxes of a different lot and was shooting 1/2 moa again. I need to call Hornady and have them test this lot
"I don't know what it's called. I just know the sound it makes, when it takes a man's life." ~ Four Leaf Tayback
Any news in the 193 lots I have 800 of them?!!!!
Joe
 
Do you suppose these bullets will show up on one of the major retailers sites as blems or seconds ?
 
Why would you think otherwise? That's exactly what they are, seconds.

Seconds should be looked at as suspect until proved otherwise. If you buy seconds then get upset because they don't shoot as good as regular first quality then you're slightly unrealistic.
 
Got my shipping notification yesterday. Bullets should be here tomorrow. From the invoice it looks like they shorted me a box of bullets but I doubt it's even worth calling them about. Curious to see what the lot number is that the replaced the bad ones with is.
 
Mine showed today. Same amount that were supposed to show. I would imagine they are the current lot. I didn't get an email notice though
 
Anyone in here know if lot 3121293 loaded 140 amax is bad? Just remembered I tried these at the same time as the bad bullets and I believe they sucked too
 
I wonder if Hornady keeps a list of known lots that are not up to standard. They must keep a record of this as there are several guys on this thread alone that sent in projectiles for be checked out and were told they did not meet accuracy standards. Does Hornady test these bullets before sending them out? It would save people a lot of grief and frustration if they could list the known bad lots. Someone gets a bad lot and has to wait months to get something back. Up here in Canada the shooting season is a lot shorter than most places south of the border and the snow and cold will be back before the bullets. After having a bad bunch of 140 AMAX factory ammunition and the obvious issues with projectiles people are having, Hornady will not be getting any more of my money.
 
I would imagine that they would have a list. I'm just guessing but I would say they make you send them in and go through a couple hoops just to save on the fee guys that don't think it's worth the hassle. I'm just guessing but it makes sense
 
So I've been told it's wrong to refer to a 6 or 6.5 creedmoor as 6/6.5 cm because cm is competition match. Is this a wide known thing or was the person telling me this full of crap?
 
I don't like that I ever received the bad boxes - but for what its worth Hornady did their part in replacing them. They provided a shipping label so all I had to do was print it then drop the package in dropbox. A few days later (within a week) I had four new boxes on my doorstep.
 
I just received 500 139 gr Scenars. If I get a bad batch of AMAX's, being north of the border its going to take a while to get replacements so I won't be wasting my time with Hornady bullets after the issues I had with their factory ammo. The scenars were a bit more but they shoot as good or better and I never had an issue with them. The time and money I already wasted pissing around with the inconsistent factory ammo was enough for me.
 
I'm really glad to see some people are keeping lot numbers of their components! It is always a good practice and only take a few seconds to record!
 
I almost got screwed by not having the numbers. I usually take my bullets and toss them in my storage trays 2 or 300 at a time. Luckily I have more boxes to check this time around. I normally toss the boxes too cause they just end up taking up valuable space. I guess I had better start changing the way I do things in the future
 
Have there been any problems with the 30 CAL .178 A-MAX?
I am just starting to get back into loading and don't need to be chasing down the why I can't shoot strait issues.
 
Does anyone know if lot 3133063 Hornady 140gr Match ammo is included in these bad lots? I just purchased a custom 6.5 Creedmoor from a popular and reputable precision rifle company and hit the range two days ago. The groupings were over 1 inch at 100 yards. The rifle has a 3/8 guarantee accuracy and shot a .118 MOA group during test. I had another person shoot rifle and he got the same groupings (many fliers). I am confident it is not the rifle and had someone else test to rule my shooting out. I'm < 0.5 MOA shooter at 100 yards.
 
Does anyone know if lot 3133063 Hornady 140gr Match ammo is included in these bad lots? I just purchased a custom 6.5 Creedmoor from a popular and reputable precision rifle company and hit the range two days ago. The groupings were over 1 inch at 100 yards. The rifle has a 3/8 guarantee accuracy and shot a .118 MOA group during test. I had another person shoot rifle and he got the same groupings (many fliers). I am confident it is not the rifle and had someone else test to rule my shooting out. I'm < 0.5 MOA shooter at 100 yards.

I would double and triple check that everything is tight; scope, rings, base. If it still won't shoot how it should call Hornady. That's about all you can do, or try some from a different lot and check.
 
Scope rings and bases were all torqued down to required specs. Time to call Hornady. I'm going to reload anyways and just bought two boxes so I could shoot before all my reloading components arrived.
 
Bought 400 bullets from a member here and they happen to be the infamous lot#.. something tells me the seller knew that... ugh, but either way within 2 weeks I sent a sample of bullets to hornady to test and they came back as being out of spec so they are going to replace them. Great CS, the gentleman that I was in contact with at hornady was named Shannon.
 
There is a reason that Bergers cost more then Amax bullets and your target is the proof that they shoot better. Years ago when the AMAX's came out some were not making it to the target at all. After that happened to a few shooters, most (other HM LR shooters that I know) went away from the AMAX bullets, at least in 6.5.
 
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There is a reason that Bergers cost more then Amax bullets and your target is the proof that they shoot better. Years ago when the AMAX's came out some were not making it to the target at all. After that happened to a few shooters, most went away from the AMAX bullets, at least in 6.5.

Any company can have a bad run. The AMAX bullets are very accurate. Not sure who the "most" shooters you are talking about but there are plenty of shooters shooting the AMAX in multiple calibers in competition.

And I call bullshit on "Years ago when the AMAX's came out some were not making it to the target at all." My team mates and I were some of the first shooting the 6.5 Creedmoor in 2008 and the 140 AMAX had no problem making it to the target.
 
Fair enough; I can think of a few that had at least one come apart on the way down range. They went to back to other bullets. It was enough to keep me away from them. They went to back to other bullets. This was before 2008.
 
Been shooting other AMAX since 2004 and never had one come apart. Never heard of a 140 AMAX coming apart ever. Where and when did these few people have this happen? Have heard of some 105 AMAX in a fast twist of 7.5 come apart when pushed near max as they have a lighter jacket.
 
Update on Hornady 6.5mm A-Max 140's; lot # 2030191. Tested mine a few weeks ago; they shot crappy, 1.5-2.0 MOA @ 100 yd. (Previous lots I've shot have all been ~ or <0.5MOA). Called Hornady, they said # 2030191 is a known bad lot. They sent me a shipping label for UPS, I sent em' in, and Hornady received them two weeks ago. Called yesterday, Hornady will be sending me replacements just as soon as they run another batch, about 4 weeks wait is their estimate. Will update when I receive the replacements; lot # and how they shoot.