Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Hornady ammo misfire

I recently picked up a MRC rifle in .243 Win and I purchased a box of Hornady Whitetail ammo (100 gr) to use for break-in.

My brother had about a dozen rounds of Winchester factory ammo that he gave me and I shot those first. Then when I switched over to the Hornady ammo, the first two shells failed to fire.

Anybody else ever have any misfires with Hornady whitetail ammo? I'm assuming it's an ammo problem and not a problem with the rifle? The primers looked to have a pretty decent stike into them from the firing pin. I did get one to finally fire after trying it about a dozen more times.......the other one never would fire.

Should I complain to Hornady, or just chalk it up to one of those things. (I won't be buying Hornady Whitetail ammo ever again, but then I really only bought it for the brass anyway).

Frankly, your time is better spent cpntacting the mgf immefiately than it is posting in a net forum.

Only Hornady can fix the issue. They made the ammo.

And no- in my 35 years of using Hornady ammunition- misfires are NOT common. Never seen them in Hornady ammo.

Contact them with the lot number on the box.Most likley they will want any used round to examine ..

So, you don't think it's worthwhile to post about a misfire problem to see if other people have had issues and to warn people of a possible problem with certain ammo?

I had the opposite happen, mine fired all right, it fired so hard it cracked the brass open. I tried contacting Hornady on three different occasions, no response from them.

I guess they figure they have enough customers not to worry about the ones who have a problem.

about ten years a go i had a squib load with Hornady 7x57 ammo. i sent them an email with the lot #.

I haven't had any Hornady misfires, but the federal 22 or ammo I bought a couple years ago is the worst I've ever seen!

Light primer strikes? Hornady brass seems notoriously undersized in my experience.

2 of the guys I hunt with have had a mis-fire with Hornady.

One about 3 years ago. 7mag 139 gr Whitetail in a BAR.

The other this past January, .257 Roberts 117gr Superformance in a Ruger M-77.

Both while deer hunting. Can't say if it was ammo or rifle, but both had what looked like a good indent in the primer.

You can probably take the headspace idea out of the 7mm since it's off the belt.

Misfires are the suckiest of the suck.

The only shell I've heard of misfires with more than Hornady AW are corelokts. I'll never own a single one of either. That's the one piece that HAS to perform flawlessly.

This is somewhat off topic, but on Saturday I had (2) .22 hornet loads (Hornady loading-35 VMAX) have case head separation.

It was obvious something wrong had happened...as I could smell the burnt powder but the recoil and everything else felt fine, including bolt lift. After extracting the case, I found they were cleanly cracked about 1/4 inch above the rim, nearly 3/4 of the way around the case.

I don't have the box, so can't determine the lot number to relay to Hornady.

My point is, with the OP's experience and my own plus other's on this thread, it seems Hornady ammo has seen some quality control issues lately.

I sent back 6 rds that didn't light from first 2 boxes of 5, they sent 2 boxes that had 4 duds after cleaning bolt and installing a heavy striker spring. No prob. with RP or handloads.

My experiences with Hornady customer service has always been good. Wouldn't the failure to fire with a "decent" firing pin strike likely be a dud primer? They would probably appreciate a call. The case head separation might likely be a chamber dimension issue. But I admit to being an amateur hand loader, so what do I know? Hornady sent me a new .30-06 die at no charge when I didn't notice I was resizing a partially separated case and stuck a headless case in a die. I admitted my fault and offered to pay but the invoice had a big zero balance. Mr. Hornady will make it right is my experience.

I experienced multiple failures to fire in my 204 not long after I got it. New gun. Good solid dents in the primers. Problem quickly got worse to where the rifle wouldn't fire at all. Complete bolt disassembly revealed a smal piece of primer cup material had worked its way into the firing pin hole in the bolt face, and had been swaged onto/into one side of that hole. That material was slowing the striker enough that, although it still made normal looking dents in the primers, they would not light. The piece of primer cup correlated well with the pierced primer I found loose in the plastic the gun came in when I first got it. :-)

My point here is merely to suggest _also_ having a close look at the gun. Sometimes it is the problem, or at least a contributor.

If you don't share the lot number, it doesn't matter much as a warning.

I shoot a lot of Hornady and no problems yet.

Prior to an African hunt last year, a friend of mine was checking his double 470 NE for point of aim. Had two misfires.

Hornady took care of him.

But could of you imagined having misfires on a charging Water Buffalo.

I think it could be warning if a bunch of people post about them having similar issues.

Anyway, if want the lot #, here it is: 3163655

I contacted Hornady just now. I'll let you guys know what their response is on the matter.

I had about 1/2 of 2 boxes of whitetail 7-08 FTF about a year ago. It was purchased at Academy and I contacted Hornady and they paid to have me ship it back and sent 2 new boxes. Have not shot it since but customer service was excellent. 3 boxes of federal premium shot without one issue.

I also had a box of Hornady Custom 270 Win (Frontier head stamp) from about 15 years ago that I shot last fall that was so hot it blew the primer out and eroded the bolt face a little. I had to whack pretty good on the bolt handle to get it yo open. Never called them as it was so old and about 90 deg out. I figured it was temp sensitive at that point.

At this point I'm not a fan of their loaded ammunition.

Mike

Primer contamination is often a cause of misfires. Never had but one myself on BG rifles - and that was a rough-shanked striker/ spring/ bolt problem. Smoothing the striker shank and installing an over strength (probably not needed) spring fixed that rijght up. And yes, I was getting a "normal" indent. Apparently just not fast/hard enough.

Whitetail is the most accurate ammo thru my .243, with Corelokts a very close second. I'm using Hornady Superperformance in the '06 with excellent results.

I do have a dozen boxes of WW 22 Mag that have about 50% misfires. I shoot those for chits. Laying out in weather for up to 12 months after the remote cabin cache collapse ( have no idea when it went) obviously has nothing to do with it.....