Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Federal Power Shok ammo problems ??

My hunting partner is having some problems with chambering a few errant rounds of the Federal Power Shok 30'06 ammo he bought recently at WalMart. The rifle is a new Wby VG S2 also bought at WalMart. He's had no problems with the Federal Power Shok 308's in another WMart Wby VG Sporter he'd bought for the wife, and getting 3 holes touching out of the very 1st session at the range, with all shots taken as 3-5 minute interval cold bore shots. He's chambered some of the high $ 30'06 ammo he took to Africa without issue, and will go buy some WW ammo to deer hunt with next week after our opener...so the ?? is ..IS anybody else having these same problems with W'Marts supply of Federal 30'06 ammo?? and what to do about it?
Ron

I read a similar post on another forum.Sorry, no one had an answer for your question.

About the only thing you can do with factory ammo is contact the manufacturer, let them know of the issue, and ask for a new box.

If you're a reloader and you have a Hornady Lock-N-Load Headspace Comparator (or similiar tool) you could measure the differences in the cases. That won't fix anything, but may help diagnose the problem. Too me, it sounds like the shoulder is too far forward. I guess if you had the time and inclination you could pull the bullets, dump the powder into the scale pan, bump the shoulder back, and then reassemble it all back together.

I don't think I'd bother with all that though as I'd just let Federal make it right.

no problems on my end, but only bought 243 and 308 when wmt had their sale. as for what to do about it, write them a letter explaining the problem, and send the partially used box of ammo. i'm betting they'll send you a new box. good luck.

Yeah , maybe somebody "in the know" can tell us.

Does Federal have a separate line that produces ammo only for Walmart ?....or maybe each Walmart store has a production line in back that cranks out Federal ammo for that store ?


Mike

Not a gun writer, but assuming the chamber is clean, I'd first have a competent gunsmith check the headspace.

If that is within spec, it's likely an ammunition related issue.

Thx guys...keep the ideas coming, but rightfully so he is pizzed Big Time. He's not a handloader and has always shot WW's for the last 25 years in an '06, but bought a couple of the Wby VG's including a killer looking 308 Sporter for the wife that shoots bugholes with this brand ammo.
I too suspect the shoulder is the problem as the 1st bad round would not chamber at all, and the 2nd one was really stiff but he jammed it in, but got a light primer strike that did not fire the round PTL as the bolt was not totally locked closed during his temper tantrum...THANK YOU Weatherby !!!

After hearing this tale I scared the poohwah out of him with a laundry list of what could of happeneds We'll mess with it once the rain stops again for a day or so before our planned 11/10 & 11 freezer filler doe hunt but he has a reliable deer shooter to use besides this rifle...and it would not surprise me that the WW's will shoot as expected even in this Wby VG to his satisfaction. like they do in his ancient hand me down Savage 110.
Ron

Sounds like one got out of the factory with the head spacing off a little bit or at the very minimum spec. and possibly the Federal ammo being made at the very maximum of the spec you have a problem that doesn't show with other factory ammo. Not a common occurrence but I'm sure that it happens from time to time.

I would try a different lot of the Federal, as others have suggested it likely is a case of minimum chamber dimensions and maximum ammunition. I have this with my Remington 700 in 300 Savage except all factory ammo is hard chambering. Some is less difficult than others and it rotates between the brands.

Not sure you will even have to send the unfired rounds back to Federal. When Wal-Mart (I'm assuming this) persuaded Remington to move their ammunition assembly operations to AR, I got a couple of boxes for my 270 Win and about 1/3 of them wouldn't fire. Cost me a really nice buck! I just called Remington, they acknowledged they had a problem and asked me how many boxes I had bought and they sent me a check for more than enough to cover the 2 boxes I had purchased. However, it was a number of years before I had enough confidence to hunt with them again. It was always my belief, and still is, that in order to get them to move their operations that WM put in a huge order which put the factory under a lot of pressure to get the order ready and somewhere along the way, QC failed. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Try to chamber those 'bad' rds in another .30-06 and see if they're right or not.

-Jake

Boca...that's the plan for this weekend using his old Savage 110. Gonna deep clean the VG's receiver and barrel and cycle thru the magazine all of the Federal ammo he'd bought last month from WalMart to seperate the good stuff, along with his on hand ammo in other brands & bullets. Still has some WW? 180 gr NPT's from the Africa trip couple years ago too.
Ron

Ok, this is not a .30-06, or are the guns Wby VG2, but I had a similar problem last year with my .300 WSM that's a Remington 700 BDL. The ammo is Federal load with 180 gr. Nosler Accubonds, and some of them would not allow the bolt to close. For Christmas last year, I found a killer deal on a Tikka T3 .300 WSM so the wife bought it for me. I thought the Remington had a bad chamber, until I tried loading the ammo in the Tikka, same thing, the bolt will not close. Upon further inspection, the bullets on the ammo that will not allow the bolt to close are seated way out. I think I had three boxes of Federal ammo that had between 3-6 rounds per box of 20 that were this way. Of the box of Barnes 180 gr. TTSX, no issues, but they don't group for crap in the Remington.

Impossible to say for certain either way, but since other ammo chambered okay, it's very likely that the ammo is the problem. Another rifle with a generous chamber might accept oversized cartridges. I'd also put calipers on the necks of the Federals to be sure they are in spec for that dimension too.

I had a Number 1 .243 that wouldn't chamber some rounds that were at near max neck diameter because of uneven brass. Probably a good thing they didn't get a chance to go bang.

Todays final followup...The "Whole Story" came out yesterday and my buddy finally admitted that he had not deep cleaned the NIB VG 30'06 base grade in question or the wifes VG Sporter 308 that had shot well from the get go, and sent someone to his house from the Antique Furniture Shop he manages, that my wife and I rent display space in, to bring that rifle up to the store.

After inspecting it and finding evidence of little or no cleaning from NIB I gave him some specific instructions on how to get the left over mfg'ing crud out of the rifle. Calls me this evening and sez all is well and no issues with anything. Sez the Federal PwrShoks shot multiple groups of holes touching at 100 yards and the 180 gr NPT's he'd taken to Africa also printed in the same MOA+ groupings as the '06's 150gr Pwr Shoks. Complained about the dirty bullets and stained brass with some of the PwrShok ammo but said he's learned his lesson about the necessity for deep cleaning a new rifle & maintaining that level of care before and after using a hunting rifle, or any other firearm in order to get the expected performance out of it.

From my 74 years old perspective with 13 years in the Firearms Industry as a Distr's Rep & Factory Firearms Rep back in the '70s and '80's, more than once lately I feel like I am raising a Millenial grandchild who at under 40 was never taught anything but the Deep East Texas old timey ways of hunting/fishin and using guns, with some really weird ideas sometimes I'd forgotten about hearing about "back in the old days".. I can't complain though, the guy is an outstanding outdoorsman & taxidermist , and he puts up with my old fart's admonitions about stuff too. ..and is eagerly learning everything an old Hornady Manual can teach him...but paralax & reloading are still a mystery right now.
Thx All for the input and ideas.
Ron

I have a box of 338 Federal ammo from Federal......210 NPs.....two rounds in that box
wouldn't chamber in my rifle. .......Federal offered me $5 for my troubles and cared not
about their quality control problem.

one bullet set in backwards in 30/30 federal blue box, besides that never had a problem

Time to give Federal the Leupold treatment and trash 'em on every shooting forum on the internet, in English, Spanish, French, Russian and Arabic, Swahili if there is one, oh yeah, and Afrikaans.

ive jad sevwre problems with every box of power ahock in every caliner ive bought. the problem is that it negates any need to fuss with any other loads out there.


the guys who bitch about "federal not caring about QC" when tjey find an issue with one, or even a few rounds in a box abaolutely crack me up.

how many rounds of powershcok do you think federal makes in a day? given that number 1 or 2 bad ones is a "qc problem" gtfo of here.