350 Legend Hornady Ammo Problems

[Minshooter]

Fired a full box of Hornady American Whitetail 170gr SP, #81196, in a Winchester XTR. (bolt action)
Several blew out primers, with the rim fractured and pushed back around the ejector area.
About half show ejector smears, and a few other primers look pretty close to normal.
Hornady customer service said this is normal for this cartridge, and should be expected for
up to the first 200 rounds, after which the problem should go away.
Really. This is exactly what he said.
He said I could send the ammo to Hornady, at my expense, and after testing,
if it didn't meet their standards, they would replace it.
All other brands of factory ammo have fired normally, in this rifle, with zero primer or case rim issues.
Has anyone else experienced problems with this ammo, or received similar answers from Hornady?
Thanks

 

[Tommie]

WHAT?!

 

[Minshooter]

My thought exactly.

 

[joshb]

That sounds like typical Corporate BS. I wouldn’t by any more of it!

 

[Tommie]

Dude. Call again and get someone else on the phone. Not only do you deserve satisfaction but you may save someone else’s eyesight (or more).

 

[Minshooter]

Will call again tomorrow. Might get the same guy.
The Ammo is:
HORNADY AMERICAN WHITETAIL
350 LEGEND 17Ogr. SP #81196
LOT #3202560

 

[Full Chisel]

Wow. There is a guy on the web with a lengthy video and test showing similar issues with some Win White box. He seems to have nailed down his issue to the crimp, and it not allowing it to headspace correctly. So what's Hornadys technival explanation of what 200 rounds gonna do? Throat erosion?

 

[Minshooter]

Throat erosion was something he mentioned. According to chamber specs, the throat is a long way
from the contour of that bullet. Will make a chamber cast to check this rifle out in more detail.
That video shows his brass OAL variation of 1.704-1.714" He also cut his own chamber on one barrel.
Other than a consistent .0005" (five tenths) reduction at the very topmost edge of the mouth, there
is no crimp on this Hornady ammo. Overall case length is also very consistent at 1.705" ~.001".
Will have to do some bolt face measurements, compared with Savage and Remington bolts.
Bolt face is (miraculously) still like new. Can't explain that, either.

BUT, again, all other types of fired ammo appear perfectly normal. Normal primers. No swipes.
Greatly appreciate everyone's comments.

 

[Full Chisel]

Just out of curiosity, have you checked oal to see if it is within expected range. I had some fed 9mm 115 fmj aluminum case where the bullets had been pushed into case somehow and they were coming in at 1.100" oal rather than the expected 1.169". Never paid any attention to it until one case blew.

 

[Hino895]

I’ve shot that ammunition through a couple different 350 legend AR15s without a hitch.

 

[Minshooter]

Just out of curiosity, have you checked oal to see if it is within expected range. I had some fed 9mm 115 fmj aluminum case where the bullets had been pushed into case somehow and they were coming in at 1.100" oal rather than the expected 1.169". Never paid any attention to it until one case blew.

Factory rounds measure 2.245", =/- the typical unevenness of a soft lead tip.
A very firm push against a wood block, deforming the tip -didn't move the bullet.
This is in a bolt gun, easy to watch the bullet feeding smoothly into the chamber mouth.

I’ve shot that ammunition through a couple different 350 legend AR15s without a hitch.

Was it from that lot #?
Do you still have the fired brass?
Thanks

 

[Creedmoor02]

I’ve got a friend that works for Hornady he is the head of gasses and emissions ( or something like that), I’ll ask him about it when I see him. For now though I would see if you can talk to somebody else. What was that guys name?

 

[ToddKS]

I have not seen this exact example, but I can tell you that I have seen this on Hornady brass from other calibers. I had some 6.5 PRC brass come in once fired a couple weeks ago and that brass showed very clear signs of high pressure. Lots of swipes, etc. Have seen it on other calibers as well.

 

[dantiff2]

I would also look at the headspace as a culprit since this is a straight walled case. Check with a case gauge before shooting anymore if they are not willing to investigate further. Put one, two or three (or more) layers of scotch tape on the back of the case head and see how many you can build up before the bolt is tight to close. **keep on safety and point in a safe direction**!!
Dan

 

[jackieschmidt]

He said….” Normal for this cartridge”?

Blown primers and cracked rims are not normal for ANY cartridge.

I would get the name of who ever told you that and report it to Hornady.

 

[Creedmoor02]

His name didn’t happen to be Jordan did it?

 

[Bill K]

If this was shot in a factory rifle you have and it has been working just fine with the ammo you have bought so far, then I sure would call them back, get someone else on the phone and run this by them again.
It just does not sound at all right. You must have got ahold of a new or really dumb party, when you called.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

Yup. Had some bogus Hornaday 22 Hornet. Got the "send the Ammo in" deal. They found. Nothing, as did the rifle manufacturer. Basically got the bullshit answer in both places.. BUT Hornaday did send me two boxes of ammo.

 

[LiveFire]

Will call again tomorrow. Might get the same guy.
The Ammo is:
HORNADY AMERICAN WHITETAIL
350 LEGEND 17Ogr. SP #81196
LOT #3202560

In late 2018 early 2019 Hornady put out quite a bit of their 5.56 frontier ammo with the cases looking similar to yours and in some cases destroyed the rifle they were fired in. Hornady replaced some rifles, replaced some ammo but from what I gather in the end they didn't ever take full responsibility. Your situation is not the first time Hornady has put out some wonky ammo and given BS excuses. I hope they refund you or replace your ammo with safe ammo.

 

[Full Chisel]

Factory rounds measure 2.245", =/- the typical unevenness of a soft lead tip.

I found a note on a retailers site that says 2.240-2.246" oal is normal for the HDY Whitetail 170 SP, so yours looks to be normal. The issue I had with fed ammo happened before it got to me, apparently during handling by factory or shipper. BTW, fed asked me how many boxes were like that. I said 3x boxes of 100 with about 50% of each box damaged. They offered me 500 rounds of replacement ammo and asked if that would be enough, lol.