HSM Ammo blows primer

[bkondeff]

Bought 2 boxes of 168 berger's at Cabela's last week, mostly because I can't find brass any cheaper.

Pulled 5 bullets and weighed the powder. Powder was a fine ball, and measured an inconsistent 86-89 grains, which seemed really high. Primer appeared to be Fed 215, but of course I'm not sure.

I reloaded those 5 with my go to 74.0 gr of 7828, and reseated the bullets. Shot 5 of these, and all shot well under MOA at 200 yards around ~3145.

I shot 5 of my Win brass with all other components the same, also well under MOA ~3125, same point of impact, which I would expect.

Decided to shoot up to 5 of the factory loads to compare. First shot, seems off when I pull the trigger, including real heavy recoil. Open the bolt ok, but NO primer in pocket, and amazing ejector mark on head. Look at my bolt face and there is actually a mirror image of the headstamp, in a shiny brass finish on it. Otherwise the gun seems fine.

I think it is a simple case of too much powder, though I can't know for sure. I'm taking my bolt to my smith, to check it out.

Anyone else using this ammo? If so if you find some on the shelves now, be careful, I just bought these boxes at Cabela's a week ago.

 

[FEENIX]

A few years ago I tried a couple of boxes of ammo from HSM on my .300 Win Mags (Savage 111F and SAKO M995) both shot under 1 MOA without any problems.

My co-worker and hunting buddy has using the HSM 180gr Berger VLD in his Weatherby MKV in 7MM Mag. We were at the range this AM and does not have any problem ... also under 1 MOA.

There's a lot of good people in HSM contact them and let them know your experience.


Mailing Address

The Hunting Shack, Inc.
4406 Rathbun Lane
Stevensville, MT 59870
USA

Phone/Fax Numbers/E-mail

Local: (406) 777-2106
Toll Free: (800) 856-2857
Fax: (406) 777-3908
mail[at]thehuntingshack.com

Hours of Operation

8am to 5pm M-F (Mountain Time)

 

[bkondeff]

Thanks for the contact info.

 

[FrozenTundra]

I've shot a few boxes through my 30-378 and it was good stuff.

 

[WildRose]

Yep, it's generally good ammo. I've shot quite a bit of it in several different calibers.

Something is definitely wrong, 3 grains variance is no where close to acceptable and obviously it's dangerous.

Contact them and don't shoot any more of what you have.

 

[mk443]

I'm a huge STW fan and for the last year I've shot the hsm ammo with no problem at all. I haven't seen any available for the last six months and I've been on the back order list with midway for ever and a day it seems like. I have had 3 boxes in the hunting gear for a while and on saturday i went to make sure the rifles were still on and the first shot rocked my world more than normal and the bolt was stuck. I had to beat it open and I found the primer was blown. I thought it was odd so I grabbed another round and it was even worse and it took me literally beating the bolt to get it open and the primer was blown and my bolt head had a ring on it. Like a idiot I got out another one of my STW rifles and grabbed a round out of a different box of five in the box of 20 and pulled the trigger. Smoke came out the little hole in the side of the action and that bolt is welded shut. I couldn't break it free for the life of me.
Monday morning I called hsm and told them what had happened and they transferred me around and I gave them the info off the box and told them I had two other boxes as well that were unopened. I told them they either came from midway or cabelas and purchased around a year ago and I had no idea of telling which came from where. I told them I was in a bad spot because I only had 6 rounds left from a box that was open and shooting great and had been used in my second STW (the one with the spent brass still stuck in it) and I was leaving in 3 weeks for my deer/elk hunt. I'm always very prepared and keep tons of ammo on hand and told hsm I didn't want to fire any rounds out of the other boxes if it was from the same super charged batch. I also told them the rifle that has the stuck brass was sighted in prior to the shot (took a antelope 5 days earlier) and the stuck round hit 7 in high and 3 in to the right at 255 yards.
The guy I talked to was very nice and said he would look up the Ammo info based on the info I gave him from the boxes and call me right back and see what we would have to do from there. I never heard back from them on Monday. Waited tuesday with no word. Tried again today and was never called back again.
Normally I wouldn't be bothered so much but my hunt is coming up and STW ammo is about as scares as unicorns and I have 3 boxes of ammo I can't shoot and a rifle with a welded shut bolt. I was hoping there customer service would be standing a little more behind there product and working to fix the problem. Hoping to have better luck tomorrow. I just googled hsm blowing primers and this post popped up so I wanted to include my .02 cents on the matter.

 

[bkondeff]

Dangerous, I'd say.

 

[WildRose]

This time of year no doubt they are getting slammed from every direction. Be persistent and give them a call once or twice a day till you get an answer.

Emailing them would be a good idea as well.

 

[300stw]

if any gas or particles would of ended up in your eyes i wonder if there response would of been different

 

[mk443]

Ow trust me they will continue hearing from me. Today is a new day and I'm going to be on the phone every hour giving them a call. This was the final push I needed to get reloading. Spent a better part of the night picking everything out I needed. It doesn't fix my current situation and powder and primers are just as rare as STW ammo but what can you do.
If I can't get an answer today and a honest attempt to fix this problem and my rifle, I'll be taking a few of the good rounds and over charged rounds and my rifle down to a gunsmith in Utah on Sunday and have him measure out the rounds for charge differences and fix my rifle and send hsm a bill with the data.
I understand that everyone makes mistakes regardless of how great your product or quality control might be, which is why I feel customer service is what defines a company. I'm not loosing hope or going on a public rampage bashing hsm yet. If they correct this wrong I will be on here talking about it.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I believe HSM has a DOD contract (or did) and loads for the RBI and SS. I've gotten 338 caliber loads with Sierra 250 grain HPBT pills from them in the past loaded to my specific COAL and no issue but I also read somewhere else that another buyer had the same issue as you.

Maybe they were Monday AM loads.....

Stay away from PPU (Privi-Partisan) ammunition. I bought some PPU preloads from Cabelas, also in 338 Lapua and of the total rounds in 2 boxes (40 rounds total), 10 were no fire duds due to very hard primers.

PPU builds nice brass but loaded rounds, no way.

I did a lot of griping and actually got my money back from the importer of PPU Ammunition and no, they didn't want the duds back which tells me they don't give a **** about quality or detonation.

 

[mk443]

Just got off the phone with hsm. They were very helpful, they said they don't know what was going on and have been looking into it for several days and they think its something to do with the brass...
Anyways, they're checking on the status of stw ammo and once in stock they are going to swap me out. They're looking into ship times now and said they will call back later today with more info.

 

[bkondeff]

BS on the "they think it's the brass" excuse. I have pulled the bullets in the other 19 loaded rounds that didn't blow primers and while the brass was all dented to hell, it shot fine when I reloaded it with IMR 7828, even using their primer, which I am sure is a F215.

Tell me what ball powder would be safe at loads between 88.0 and 91.0 grains in a 7STW, pushing a 168 Berger. That's the charge weights I am finding in the 19 I pulled. I have pics to verify and a second box of the same exact lot I havn't touched yet. I am thinking maybe someone put in 7mm Ultra Mag charges into a 7STW case.

I would think that OVERLOADED ammo is as big a product safety concern as anything out there and these guys would be doing everything to fix this concern. Glad I decided not to shoot anymore.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I don't know what loading machines they use but all of them (newer machines) are digitally controlled for charge weights so I would assume that someone keyed in the wrong charge weight.

Also, you have to add the particular powder to the feed hopper and the machines have to be checked (hand weighed) every so many loads to insure they are throwing the correct weight.

I don't see any modern action blowing up in your face becauee modern actions all have venting holes cross drilled in the action to vent an overload. That don't mean it won't destroy the action but it would be pretty hard to get a face blast.