4 more reasons to weigh rimfire ammo

[TOP PREDATOR]

turkey season starts next week, so i switch from 30 gr hornady vmax to CCI 40 gr FMJ for penetration. was at the range today to confirm my zero, when i hear "click". **** a missfire, so i eject, but no bullet in the case. so i stuck the cleaning rod in, tapped out the bullet that was stuck in the barrel. no big deal it happens, i guess. chamber another round, "click". same thing. happened 4 times.



when i buy ammo, i weigh them and put them into certain weight lots that work the best, then there are the practice rounds, then the stuff that's way out of my specs that i use for foulers. i even have a lot marked as "junk" on the box for foulers or just for "blowing". these four happened to be in that lot, and now i see why - no powder in them!

so i'm glad i do weigh them, that these showed they were out of my specs, and that only a certain ones make it to my target / hunting lot.

that would have really sucked next week having belly crawled across the field to get ahead of that big gobbler in the field, set up just right, range him, put the crosshairs on him, squeeze, then "click". with no rigid cleaning rod to tap out the bullet.

[Golfbuddy45]

So the PRIMER fired the bullet into the barrel? I have wondered when that happens how far into the barrel does it go? The primer charge is a lot more powerful than many people think. After all the COLIBRI rounds are fired by nothing but the primer charge.

[Wombob]

WOW

Thanks for the 411. Looks like I need to spend some quality time with the scale.


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[TOP PREDATOR]

the bullet went into the chamber about an inch or so. i could only think there was priming compound in it, as it was super quite. there was some "gunk" on the bottom of the bullet, but no black "fired" powder residue.

[dsculley]

As an aside, you might want to consider an Otis cleaning kit. It uses a flexible cable, but has a brass piece that can be used to tap out a lodged bullet. It is as effective as a rigid rod once you learn how to use it. Just an idea.

[Aircraftmech76]

As an aside, you might want to consider an Otis cleaning kit. It uses a flexible cable, but has a brass piece that can be used to tap out a lodged bullet. It is as effective as a rigid rod once you learn how to use it. Just an idea.

Can you expand on this? How does a flexible cable act as a solid rod? I'm uneducated about the Otis system, although I hear a lot of praise for it. Photos are a plus.

Thanks,

Kevin

[MaDa]

never thought about weighing. What can you tell about the weight groups. lighter = missfires (most likely?)
thanks for the heads up.

[dowby77]

Call (208)746-2351 and talk to CCI speer about it they will happily send you some new ammo and let them know what the daycode on the box says

[TOP PREDATOR]

never thought about weighing. What can you tell about the weight groups. lighter = missfires (most likely?)
thanks for the heads up.

that's what it seemed to be. the most "extreme" of the lighter weight lot were the ones that failed.

Call (208)746-2351 and talk to CCI speer about it they will happily send you some new ammo and let them know what the daycode on the box says

i did get an email back from them, but since i mixed their lots into "my" lots, there was no way of tracking down what manufacturer lot number the duds were in.

luckily, this one went off:
[img width=385 height=450]http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu54/WALTERRO/hunting%20pictures/TURKEYFALL2010HAT2-WORDED-Copy.jpg[/img]

[Rifleman51]

Darn good idea to weigh it for just the reaso shown in your post.

I shoot 22RF and it either goes off or it doesn't. I've yet to have a squib load.

For accuracy, I usually use a rim measurement tool to measure and group rim sizes.

I just read a lengthly write up by someone who shot one heck of a lot of 22 RF ammo of all different brands in doing a test.

He weighed a large lot of ammo and then just measured the rim thickness of another large bunch of ammo.

His results showed better accuracy from the cartridges that had the rims measured and grouped by rim thickness than grouping the cases by weight. The rim thickness made a far bigger difference in his study that cartridge weight.

His study was a pretty good one with well over 1000 rounds used.

I do see the reason for weighing the cartridges in the picture, and it turned out to be a darn good thing to do.

Stick with the Hornady, I've read way too many similar things about the CCI, but do not shoot that caliber, so am only repeating what I have read. I've heard it from a few people I know who have had the same problem also. Better safe than sorry.

John K