whatever happened to quality control?

[lpreddick]

i'm ocd and very obsessed with precision. i always measure and weigh a new box of bullets for consistency in weight and shape. opened a box of sierra .25 cal 100 gr smks to load my .257 roberts custom . immediately, i noticed some bullets looked like tangent ogive and some looked like secant ogives. the difference was obvious. i measured all 100 and they fell into four groups. measuring from base to bearing point on the ogive that would engage the lands and the difference was .023 in!! the boattails all appeared the same, so the difference was in the bearing surface. more bearing surface results in more drag in the barrel, more pressure to get the bullet out and perhaps more velocity, and who knows what kind of groups. there were 53 with the same measurements, the rest had three distinct measurements in groups of 8-18. the only good news was that they weighed + or - .2 gr.

 

[bheadboy]

I have spent many hours in the Sierra plant and the box you got is an error of their QC, call 800 223 8799 and ask for a Tech or QC person, they will send you a replacement and ask for the return so they can skin someone alive for letting it out- the numbers on the box let them know when it was processed.

Bob

 

[markm87]

Maybe they went UNION!!!

 

[KevinThomas]

They were union when they were out in California some 20 years ago, and the union has tried to come in here in Missouri. Right to work state, so they didn't get in, but it created some chaos for a while. They're not union, at least for the time being.

What the OP is seeing here is the result of someone switching a form die and failing to start a new lot. SOP for changing a form die (among a few other items) is that that's the end of that lot, and another lot is started. They could also have been mixed during the washing and polishing process, or even during packaging. Should have been caught, but obviously wasn't.

 

[sewwhat89]

Well, similar story with the last box of .308 165gr Nosler Ballistic Tips I loaded. There was a 7mm 120gr NBT with a green tip in the box. Explain that one!

 

[artbosco]

Quality Control moved ... to the custom bullet makers, makers like Bart's Bullets, Cheek's Bullets, and a few others.

 

[Eddie Harren]

Being a bullet maker myself, I have to disagree on the "Quality Control has moved..." comment. I think when you take into account the large quantity of bullets that Sierra, and the other commercial bullet makers, produce they do a great job. Making 2-3 million bullets a year, compared to 150,000 or so, lends itself to a wider margin for oversight. Sierra has been making the bullets that have been winning matches and setting records for years. (other than BR) As mentioned earlier, notify them and they will make it right.

 

[DanS]

Missouri is not a right to work state, at least not yet, thank God.

 

[Gary in MD]

Last year, I bought a box of 500 Sierra .243 cal, 107gr bullets. Upon checking them out, I noticed one seemed "a little larger". It was only one out of 500 but it was a .264 cal 140 grainer! I called Sierra and explained. I was told to mail the bullet and upc label from the box. Long story short...They sent me a new box of 100 for the trouble. Sh*t happens, but Sierra made it right!
Gary

 

[crewchef]

Inspecting brass from rounds fired earlier this week for load development. One was different head stamp, stamped 22-250 Rem. This from a 500 lot of Winchester .308. It was a .308 case just mis-marked.

 

[people]

Sierra is a good company to work with. I was there everyone I talked to was very helpfull.

Lets leave the union stuff out. We will just end up fighting about it.