Best way to proceed?

[SmartDonkey]

Purchased some bulk cans of 7.62 168 grain ammo to run through a 10 and just have some on hand. Shot about 20 of them and then one sounded/felt different and it ripped the case rim off and blew the primer pocket out. After getting the case out and inspecting everything I grabbed around 15 cases and weighed and inspected them and everything seemed fine- so decided to run some through a bolt gun and chrono them. No pressure and they were fairly low on velocity- so I started running them in the semi again. Ran 2 and the third sounded very weak and didn't even move the bolt. Looked down the barrel and there was the bullet.

After getting a rod and a considerable amount of work I finally got the bullet out of the barrel and said enough of this. Weighing the cases showed that there were 4 more with either very little or possibly no powder. They weigh anywhere from 40 to 44 grains less than the average. Out of curiosity I pulled one apart and it had a few flakes of powder but nothing else.

The ammo company wants be to send them the ammo- but am kind of hesitant to do that. After a very good cleaning my barrel is shooting (obviously different ammo) pretty poor- about 4 moa when it was a 1.5 to 2 before. If I send them the ammo then there goes any of my proof- but maybe it would be impossible to get them to do anything anyway- other than exchange the ammo? I have 1 more box from the same lot of the bulk ammo- and I want to open it up and see if there are anymore squibs in it- but not sure if I should break the factory seal because then they could say it was tampered with (and maybe it wont have any in it.........) What would you guys do?

** I don't think that the one very overpressure round was from a bullet stuck in the bore because the round before it didn't seem different..... but I wonder if it got some of the powder charge that was intended for one of the empties.

 

[msgriff]

Another member here had an ammunition issue a couple years ago. Although it was a different caliber/platform, the thread might be useful:
Ammo Safety Warning
I understand not wanting to divulge which vendor or manufacturer until further resolution, but I hope that you can share more details about the specific ammo as soon as possible. This issue may have some serious safety concerns for others.

 

[357Max]

I understand not wanting to divulge which vendor or manufacturer until further resolution

I don't!

Out them to possibly save others the trouble. Include lot numbers.

A friend blew up his 700 5R 308 due to bad factory ammo. It's no joke so save someone else if possible.

@SmartDonkey
Does the manufacturer name start with a A & end with a? Aguila is hot garbage. I've only ever shot it to confirm my DPMS would run the worst ammo available & it did not disappoint. At least the 2 boxes I bought had powder in them though.

 

[wvfarrier]

I had similar happen using 300blk from Fr...Mu.... It actually trashed my barrel.

 

[camocorvette]

Any chance it was "bullets 1st"? I've had issues with their lr118 copy. Pulled bullets and had charge weights from 38-44.7 grains. No squibs like you though. I'd clean the crap out of your barrel. A squib round shouldn't ruin your barrel. But you might have a lot more material deposited into the barrel.
I'd send the ammo back and ask for a full refund to include your shipping cost.

 

[SmartDonkey]

So I'm not going to bag on the manufacturer because earlier when I talked to them they seemed responsive to help.... but have no issue naming them. It was 120 round ammo cans of 7.62x51mm 168 gr BTHP from Ammo Incorporated... and the lot was #3320. It says that the ammo was made in the US but it has a SAR 18 stamp on the brass.

I'm sure they will exchange/refund the ammo.... but right after it happened I was pretty pissed and was thinking I should try to make them do something about the barrel. That's probably a loosing cause (and it could just need a real good cleaning but it did get cleaned after the bullet got hammered out)- but as stated, the barrel was never a great shooter. Currently don't have a working bore scope but have access to one- so will check it out- but maybe just time to upgrade to a new barrel.

 

[S197]

So I'm not going to bag on the manufacturer because earlier when I talked to them they seemed responsive to help.... but have no issue naming them. It was 120 round ammo cans of 7.62x51mm 168 gr BTHP from Ammo Incorporated... and the lot was #3320. It says that the ammo was made in the US but it has a SAR 18 stamp on the brass.

I'm sure they will exchange/refund the ammo.... but right after it happened I was pretty pissed and was thinking I should try to make them do something about the barrel. That's probably a loosing cause (and it could just need a real good cleaning but it did get cleaned after the bullet got hammered out)- but as stated, the barrel was never a great shooter. Currently don't have a working bore scope but have access to one- so will check it out- but maybe just time to upgrade to a new barrel.

I’ve never ran ammo inc, I always thought they were reloads.

 

[SmartDonkey]

^Not much experience with them either- so they could have a line of reloaded rounds. These are not- they don't have any of the marks and the one mess up that I disassembled was bright and shinny inside and you could tell that it had never been fired before.

 

[msgriff]

My only experience with Ammo Inc. was with their 150gr FMJ .308. It was around 4 -5 years ago and I bought a case for under 50 cpr. It turned out to be copper washed, which I can't/won't use.

 

[Hobo Hilton]

Send the ammo back and get your money back.
Lesson learned.
If you want to carry the issue farther, figure out what your time and patience is worth.