Frontier 223 ammo

[GtownGeorge]

Saw this stuff had Hornady bullets so I thought it would be decent stuff even with the low price. Either the stuff is crap or my new Axis doesn't like it. Last box of 20 had 4 light strikes. I read in one of the reviews that they had hard primers. Has anyone used this stuff and what were your results. Thanks

[prdatr]

Never heard of it. Light strikes has been an ongoing occurance and has been posted on here in the past.

[wbm]

Got the 150 round box of Frontier 55gr HP Match from Grafs...shoots outstanding in my Axis. No problems with it. Shoots well enough that I don't bother reloading for that bullet weight I just use the Hornady Frontier.

[J.Baker]

Hornady Frontier was announced last fall as a new product line for Hornady in partnership with Lake City. All of the Frontier ammunition is manufactured by the Lake City Army Ammunition plant using Hornady bullets.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/11/29/lake-city-hornady-combine-efforts-to-produce-frontier-cartridge/

[bigedp51]

The .223/5.56 ammunition loaded at Lake City uses the CCI #41 primer. The primer cup is thicker in the base and the anvil is shorter and requires more force to set the primer off.

If you have problems with failure to fire you should check your firing pin protrusion, and the firing pin spring.

When Remington ran Lake City the 7 1/2 primer was used on 5.56 ammunition, but when ATK took over Lake City they talked the government into the #41 primer.

https://i.imgur.com/n8TOU36.jpg
CCI® No. 34 and No. 41 MILITARY RIFLE PRIMERS (https://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/primers/primers.aspx?id=30)
https://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/primers/primers.aspx?id=30

[GtownGeorge]

Thanks for the responses. This is a new rifle with less than 200 rounds. I have shot several different 'cheap stuff' with no issues. I have checked out the firing pin etc and it doesn't appear to be the problem. Must have gotten some really hard primers.

[FTGV]

I recently purchased 2 boxes and so far in my Axis have had about 6 or 7 fail to fires from the first 30. Primer strikes look solid.

[Evlshnngns]

I had one ftf on an american eagle 5.56 nato round. Federal is in cahoots with lake city one way or another.

[wbm]

I am probably on between three and four hundred rounds and not one FTF yet. Why not call Hornady and talk to them about it? I'm guessing they will probably want you to send the ammo back and will replace it.

[bigedp51]

I had one ftf on an american eagle 5.56 nato round. Federal is in cahoots with lake city one way or another.

Alliant Techsystems Inc. ATK has the government contract to run Lake City Army Ammunition Plant. ATK owns CCI, Federal, Bushnell, Savage Arms, etc as part of their Vista Outdoor Inc.

When Remington and then Winchester ran Lake City there were no spinoff brands of ammunition and all the ammunition made at Lake City was used by the military.

Some say only the Lake City cases are used by Federal and Hornady for this ammunition. I don't understand how commercial ammunition can be made at a Government installation.

This might be a way to reduce the cost of running Lake City, but its not the world I grew up in with Remington/DuPont and Winchester/Olin.

Our President Eisenhower once said "Beware of the industrial military complex" and we now have Federal and Hornady selling ammunition made at a Government ammunition plant.

I will say this, I buy bulk once fired Lake City 5.56 and 7.62 brass and I think these cases are a better quality than the Remington and Winchester cases made today. These Lake City cases are made of a harder brass than commercial cases and have very uniform neck thickness. I just finished prepping 300 Lake City 7.62 cases and the average neck thickness varied less than .001. And I have Remington cases with over .009 neck thickness variations.

[bigedp51]

Thanks for the responses. This is a new rifle with less than 200 rounds. I have shot several different 'cheap stuff' with no issues. I have checked out the firing pin etc and it doesn't appear to be the problem. Must have gotten some really hard primers.

I have seen Federal 5.56 M193 cases .009 shorter than a GO gauge, I would measure some new cases and fired cases with a Hornady case gauge. A firing pin at minimum protrusion and a short case shoulder location at minimum SAAMI specifications could create excessive clearance between the bolt face and the rear of the case. Combining excessive head clearance and a hard primer may be the problem.

https://i.imgur.com/HK76WCp.jpg

[FTGV]

Why not call Hornady and talk to them about it? I'm guessing they will probably want you to send the ammo back and will replace it.
I sent them an email but they did not reply.

[GtownGeorge]

Went out yesterday and shot another box of the Frontier, ran fine, no FTF's. I did nothing to the gun other than pull the bolt to check firing pin. Must have been a bad bunch.I have 2 or 3 more boxes and when those are gone I won't be buying anymore.

[Texas10]

Like Big Ed wrote, it's possible that the issue you are having is related to chamber length. I have a 223 Savage that my no-go gage fits loosely, meaning the chamber length (head space) is too long. So when the firing pin hits the primer, the case moves forward enough to absorb some of the firing pin force. I'd had some FTF's on factory loads and a few hand loads, so I move the firing pin out from .042 to .060 and the problem went away. This was before I had occasion to try the no-go gage and found the source of the problem.

I have the tools to reset the headspace, but the rifle is shooting well, so I don't want to mess with it now.

[reddeluxe]

No issues, either reliability or accuracy-wise, with Frontier ammo in a very old long action Model 110FP, made before the short action 10 series were introduced. Of course now Savage calls both length actions 110 series again. I suspect it is more a firing pin protrusion issue, rather than excessive headspace, although it could certainly exist. Or you could have a box of cartridges with primers incorrectly seated.