Hello Fellow Shooters,
A few months ago my family & I went to the Motherlode Club Match in Jamestown, Ca.
For the first time I personally competed in the match, it was a blast (literally !). Took my trusty Rock River arms match service rifle and 100rds. of factory Federal ammunition.
I wanted to shoot up my factory ammunition and get a good start on brass to reload for my match rifle. What a huge issue it would turn out to be, shot offhand 10rds for sight in and 10rds for record, 80 w/ 1x. I was happy and prepped for rapid sitting, Nathaniel Nye very graciously helped me adjust my sling and I was in position, felt pretty good about my hold, rifle was steady and I shot the string, on the 9th round my rifle exploded !!! Magazine flew out of the bottom of the receiver in pieces !! Nathaniel and I were unharmed but the rifle upper was TOAST ! Bolt was stuck, we used the forward assist to seat the bolt in battery position, removed the upper from the lower and then we used a punch and hammer to remove the bolt from the upper receiver. So much pressure the extractor was warped, lugs were twisted in the barrel and on the bolt, my match upper is destroyed.
The federal ammo in question is pictured, lot numbers included.
If you have any of this ammo, from the lot pictured please be careful.
After a month of no news from Federal, I called Ryan @ Federal today.
Ryan told me the ammunition exhibited no signs of pressure in their testing, he attributed the failure to the age of the ammunition(21 years old).
In short, they do not believe the ammunition had pressure issues (his words).
Just got off the phone w/ Steve at Rock River Arms, very nice Guy, I know it wasn't their fault but I need to get my upper fixed and want to see if they could help. He said they will get back to me with options by tomorrow.

A few months ago my family & I went to the Motherlode Club Match in Jamestown, Ca.
For the first time I personally competed in the match, it was a blast (literally !). Took my trusty Rock River arms match service rifle and 100rds. of factory Federal ammunition.
I wanted to shoot up my factory ammunition and get a good start on brass to reload for my match rifle. What a huge issue it would turn out to be, shot offhand 10rds for sight in and 10rds for record, 80 w/ 1x. I was happy and prepped for rapid sitting, Nathaniel Nye very graciously helped me adjust my sling and I was in position, felt pretty good about my hold, rifle was steady and I shot the string, on the 9th round my rifle exploded !!! Magazine flew out of the bottom of the receiver in pieces !! Nathaniel and I were unharmed but the rifle upper was TOAST ! Bolt was stuck, we used the forward assist to seat the bolt in battery position, removed the upper from the lower and then we used a punch and hammer to remove the bolt from the upper receiver. So much pressure the extractor was warped, lugs were twisted in the barrel and on the bolt, my match upper is destroyed.
The federal ammo in question is pictured, lot numbers included.
If you have any of this ammo, from the lot pictured please be careful.
After a month of no news from Federal, I called Ryan @ Federal today.
Ryan told me the ammunition exhibited no signs of pressure in their testing, he attributed the failure to the age of the ammunition(21 years old).
In short, they do not believe the ammunition had pressure issues (his words).
Just got off the phone w/ Steve at Rock River Arms, very nice Guy, I know it wasn't their fault but I need to get my upper fixed and want to see if they could help. He said they will get back to me with options by tomorrow.






