Major issue with new Savage and Hornady ammo

[ctbreitwieser]

My friend just bought a new Savage 111 Trophy hunter in 30-06 yesterday. He also bought a box of Hornady American Whitetail 150gr. Just called me and said he fired 3 rounds. The first round was good, on the next two the primers were missing when the empty case was ejected. He found the primers in magazine, tried to stick them back in the primer pocket and they were really loose.

I've never heard of anything like this happening with a factory gun and ammo. I searched for recalls on both things and couldn't find anything.

Any ideas on what may have happened? I told to stop shooting it and leave it alone. We're going to take it back to the shop and see if they can find anything out from the manufacturers but wanted to see what you guys think.

 

[ckcollins2003]

I would contact Hornady right away and tell them what is going on. Save the box as they will want to know the lot number and they will most likely send you another box of ammo.

 

[Mgderf]

Sounds to me like a head-space problem.
There should not be enough room in the chamber for the primer to back fully out of the primer pocket.

I would not shoot it again without having it checked out by a competent smith.

 

[Bennettjh]

Sounds to me like a head-space problem.
There should not be enough room in the chamber for the primer to back fully out of the primer pocket.

I would not shoot it again without having it checked out by a competent smith.

 

[avboiler11]

I'd be on the phone with Hornady tomorrow morning - wouldn't be the first box of Hornady ammo loaded too hot.

A buddy had a very similar issue in a R700 223 using Superformance; IIRC Hornady sent UPS to pick up the rifle and ammo from him, checked the ammo (found it was a bad lot), and sent the rifle back to him after having an in-house gunsmith inspect it along it with a few boxes of Hornady ammo as compensation for the hassle.

He was very pleased with how they handled the situation.

 

[Broom_jm]

I would do two things:

Have the rifle's headspace checked by a competent gunsmith and, presuming it checks out OK, try another brand of ammo.

"Never use reloads because factory ammo is ALWAYS safe, but with hand loads you never know..."

 

[oldpink]

Your ammo is almost certainly loaded too hot.
I had this happen many moons ago with some of my own .30-06 reloads using the original Barnes X-Bullet.
I was able to figure out that that particular bullet was turning what would have been a perfectly safe charge of IMR4831 with any other bullet of the same weight into a dangerously overpressure load.
The reason for that was because the original X-Bullet had a longer bearing surface than conventional lead core bullets have and because their solid copper construction made them much harder than conventional lead core bullets.
In fact, that's the main reason why the current incarnation of the X-Bullet has several rings around the body of the bullet, as seen here:

The first round ejected with great difficulty, and the primer was cratered, just as I can clearly see with the bottom right primer in your photo.
The second round was even tougher to eject and had a totally flattened primer and the case head had a clear protrusion where it had been forcibly pushed into the ejector pin hole.
The third round was so difficult to eject that I had to actually repeatedly hit the bolt handle with the heel of my hand until it finally opened.
This round's primer immediately fell out into my hand, and the primer pocket was visibly blown, so much so that the primer wouldn't stay in when I tried to press it back in place, and I believe that's exactly what I'm seeing with that second one from the bottom on the right in your photo.
I had seventeen more rounds loaded with that powder/bullet combination, so I broke out my kinetic bullet puller, then reassembled them with one grain less of the same powder, and sure enough, there were no longer any signs of excessive pressure.
Don't lose that box of ammo and contact Hornady ASAP.
They'll almost certainly ask for you to send it back at their expense so that they can evaluate it, and it's likely that they'll put a recall on this lot of ammo.
As was already mentioned, Hornady may well reward you for helping them and as an apology for the danger and inconvenience involved to you by sending a few boxes of good ammo.
You'll also help prevent others from having something more dangerous or damaging from happening to them.
It's a testament to the strength of the Savage 1xx series action that you didn't get hurt.

 

[ctbreitwieser]

I called Hornady yesterday. They were very helpful, but didn't say anything about what may have happened. I didn't expect them to though. They're sending me a return label and are going to test the remaining rounds.

I don't think it's a headspace issue because there is no sign of case head separation. I think it is an over pressured load and solely the ammos fault. Im assuming that the excess pressure had no where to go except out through the primer pocket, and stretched the pocket out so the primer just fell out when the case was ejected. But that's just my opinion. I honestly think if they had been fired out of weaker action the gun would have blown.

 

[AmmoManAaron]

I don't think it's a headspace issue because there is no sign of case head separation. I think it is an over pressured load and solely the ammos fault. Im assuming that the excess pressure had no where to go except out through the primer pocket, and stretched the pocket out so the primer just fell out when the case was ejected. QUOTE]

I think you are spot-on in your assessment.

 

[oldpink]

I don't think it's a headspace issue because there is no sign of case head separation. I think it is an over pressured load and solely the ammos fault. Im assuming that the excess pressure had no where to go except out through the primer pocket, and stretched the pocket out so the primer just fell out when the case was ejected. QUOTE]

I think you are spot-on in your assessment.

Ditto
He's exactly right about case head separation being the classic sign of excessive headspace.