Shooting/gun help!!!

Hello guys,

I went shooting for the first time in a few years yesterday and it was frustrating as heck. I love shooting but moved to a new area and haven't had a place to shoot until recently. Here is my issue:

I have a .223 New England Firearms(NEF) Single-shot with a heavy bull barrel. I was shooting Black Hills remanufactured(Blue box) 55 Grain V-Max ammo.

I bought my first box of this ammo back in 2005 and shot all with only one or two misfires(duds). The second box I bought in 2006 and only shot two from that box that year. So, yesterday I had 48 rounds(wasn't going to shoot all of them and didn't). Now, here it is 2009 and the first round I shot yesterday was a dud. The second fired as did the third. The fourth was a dud, the fifth shot as normal but upon extracting the brass noticed that the brass had cracked in two. The bottom section came out looking like a pistol casing.

I took a break for a while and inspected the brass from the ones successfully shot. There was no cratering on the primers which is a sign of over-pressured rounds or improper head space. I shot a few more times with every 3rd or so shot being a dud.

So, what the heck is going on???

Did I get a bad batch of ammo? Or is the firing pin not hitting the primer hard enough? I did notice that the hole from the firing pin was not even close to being dead center to the middle of the primer. It was closer to the edge.

The ammo is only 4 years old. Most ammo should last years. I reread the info that came with the gun and is said to use SAAMI approved ammo which I believe this to be. Any clues?:gwh:

Thanks guys.

KB

Try a batch from a different manufacturer and see if the same happens.

It doesnt matter where the firing pin hits the primer and if there is a dent then it more than likely has hit it hard enough to make the round go off.

In my opinion you got a bad lot of ammo I suggest you take it to a firing range and have them dispose of it properly.

If you do keep shooting the ammo please be mindful of squibs you dont want to destroy your gun or injure yourself.

The case coming apart on extraction could be a head space issue. Maybe not with the chamber of the rifle but with the forming of the brass. Could be one or the other. If you had a way to measure the brass accurately and find the specs for that caliber you could see if there is variation. If you saved the brass check out if there appears to be a difference in the depth of the firing pin craters left in the primers that fired and those that didn't. Of course you can also try some ammo from a different mfg as Otto suggested.

Check your box of ammunition and make certain it isn't labeled 5.56 x 45mm. There is a common misconception that they are one and the same. 5.56 (Nato round) is loaded to much higher pressures and has thicker brass. When placed in a SAAMI rifle (.223) can cause major problems, such as what you are describing.

Here is a link to check out. It explains it much better than I can.

The Gun Zone -- SAAMI on 5.56 v. .223 Remington

Hi,

+1 on what srkilpatrick has said about 5.56x45 brass/ammo.

One of our Club members has the same rfile as yourself, and he has shot many rounds of .223 Rem factory ammo (Federal mosty) before starting to reload these cases himself, again with no problems.

If you reload yourself, you could try miminal case resizing so the brass fits the chamber better, and will stretch less.

They are nice rifles :)

Best of luck !

regards

Russ

Sounds like some bad/ill chambered ammo to me. Try some fresh factory loads for your specific caliber. Heck, factory .223 ammo is all over around here.