Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Nosler ammo problem

Has anyone had a problem with Nosler factory ammo not firing? I wanted to try Nosler 7mm 120 grain BTs, but I didn't have time to work up loads before an upcoming hunt. So I bought 2 boxes (different lot numbers) of Nosler 7mm-08 factory ammo, the majority of which haven't wanted to fire.

Looking for 3 shot groups, so far the first box is 3 of 9 firing, and the second box is 3 of 5 firing. I tried most of these a second time. At the same bench session, my 140 grain handloads fired as usual. This is the first time a round has ever failed to fire in this rifle. Has Nosler had problems with primers or something?

What rifle?

Minimum dimension brass, maximum dimension chamber. Take one that isn't firing, pull the bullet to it reaches the lands.

A Kimber 84M.

Make sure your firing pin protrusion is OK and the lock screw is set. Search the site for threads on this topic.

A problem here can exacerbate the condition Steelhead mentioned.

Yep

Tried a search, but didn't find info on checking/setting firing pin protrusion. Any hints or a maybe a link to this?

So far, I moved the firing pin forward a bit, and tried another box of the same Nosler ammo, 120 BTs, from 3 different lots. Most refuse to fire, though a few did fire.

I also loaded some new unfired Winchester brass with Federal primers and 140 Accubonds, and all these fire perfectly. So I maintain Nosler has a problem with their high-priced ammo.

I emailed Nosler on this several days ago, but no one has gotten back to me. Some concern for customer satisfaction. I would think Nosler would want to determine if their ammo is faulty.

It's Nosler's attempt to cure a flinch...or cause one.

FWIW, I had a similar experience with a Kimber and Winchester ammunition. I had several failures to fire in the box. I contacted the guy I bought it from and he said he'd never had a failure but only used Federal Premium in it. So I went and bought a box of that and they all fired. Turns out firing pin protrusion was pathetic and once that was addressed I didn't have any more problems regardless of ammo brand.

Federal primers also "fixed" several hundred primer pockets that I cut too deep while uniforming. I had several failures to fire with different primer brands until I tried Federals in them. I haven't had a failure with Federal primers and is all I can use in that brass.

In my admittedly limited experience, Federal primers can make up for light firing pin strikes, which can be caused by multiple things. How far does your firing pin protrude? Wasn't there also a problem with weak springs in Kimbers?

All mine went bang, but the stuff was super hot and I didn't even finish putting a box through my '06

Email mikesnosler.com and see if you get a response from him. I had a problem with their Nosler BT ammo not allowing the bolt to close on a Tikka T3 .243 and when I emailed him I got a quick email back and then he called to talk with me. I thought their customer service was great. I'm shooting the Nosler BT 120 grain 7mm-08 ammo in a Tikka T3 and haven't had any issues with it.

Edit: Also his phone number is 1-800-285-3701 ext.1046 his name is Mike.

I've got 1/16" of pin protrusion. Don't know that I've seen any info on Kimber Springs. Guess I will email MikeS at Nosler.

I bought a box and fired it fine though my Kimber Montana in 7mm-08.