Home Forums Reloading Shotshells WARNING FEDERAL 10 GAUGE EXPLODING

Not sure if anyone has had this happen but this is the second time in 10 years I have had a Federal 10 Gauge shotshell "explode" in the chamber and separate the brass from the hull. The shells were never out in the weather, albeit they were over 10 years old. I made the mistake of throwing the original box away after I removed them and put in a MTM waterproof shell holder box. I had a similar box of Remington "T" shot that was over 20 years old and never have had an issue or misfire. I spoke with the Federal rep and he said they only warranty their shells for ONE YEAR!

Guess I will switch to Boss. I shoot a Browning Gold and never had an issue with Boss.

did the contents go down the bbl and exit?

That's wild

The contents did go down the barrel but at no harm to the goose at which clearly should have crumpled at 30 yards, feet down coming straight in. One of the clients in the blind was shooting a BPS 10 gauge and offered to dig out the shell casing. When I pulled the trigger there was a violent discharge, enough to knock the charging handle out of the bolt! Luckily it only went about 6' away and was laying on the floor of the blind. The top part of the brass casing (missing in photo) must have ejected outside of the blind as it was not present in the magazine of the Browning Gold 10. Ironically the bottom of the brass casing with spent primer intact was still held in by the extractor. The plastic hull was lodged in the chamber of the barrel. The client is an avid trapshooter so he was well versed in "misfires". He verified the barrel was clear of obstruction and two Boss Bismuth #2 lead to the demise of the next two geese that used the same flight path.

What is disappointing was the cavalier attitude of the Federal rep (name withheld) who tried to tell me that the shells were old and brass deteriorates over time. Well little does he know but I build fire trucks and we use copious amounts of brass that does NOT deteriorate or weaken over time, UNLESS it is defective from the onset. He offered to do nothing. This may be old but I think by law they may be liable for injury or at least to issue a recall or safety notice. I am conferring with a lawyer friend/client that does nothing but product liability and he is researching to see what recourse I may have. All they would have had to do was offer to take back the remaining ammo I have and replace with new. Not the old Federal we used to know and trust I guess.

It happens with Federal paper basewads all the time. Nothing new.

its been called a wizzer for decades. pretty common. happens a lot on 410's too.
good job on gun safety... to check bore.
kudos.

Uh huh, sure, you betcha.

Go have a Bud Light, watch "The View", and listen to some Taylor Swift.

Not a libtard but thanks for the useless comment dla...another "expert"

Not just Federal but any other brand that uses similar, multi-piece hull construction can have similar incidents. I've had it happen most often with Sears/Montgomery Wards/other store branded ammo but have seen/heard it happen with more recent and recognized domestic and imported brands. Get out shooting enough and one will find this is not a common occurance but is certainly not heard of.

Even one piece hulls such as the Winchester AA have had instances with the head being pulled from the hull. At one time I had a Win compression formed hull that had the head separate from the tube. This was a "high brass" Super X hunting load and it took a bit of work getting the hull from the chamber in the field.

Given time and enough shooting, one will have/find a similar or different occurrence with any brand of ammunition. As Boss does not manufacture their own components odds are such incidents have already happened with their chosen hulls.

A year long warranty seems reasonable with a consumable product such as ammunition. Expecting a "warranty" of some sort to be in place a decade after purchase is expecting a lot from a company, especially if one cannot give any details such as lot numbers. I've had recalls on products be honored that were nearly a decade old but I was able to provide identifying information in these instances. I've also had them denied when such information was not available.