I opend up a new box of Hornady Critical Defense .380, and I had 2 FTF rounds out of 4 thsat I shot. I checked the rounds and the primer was clearly dimpled. I went on to shoot some Winchester White Box with no issue. Pretty scary, and a good reason to test your ammo before carrying. I have never had this happen before?
I fired half a box of CD through mine with no issues. The only FTF's I've had occured when I pulled the trigger very slowly and the hammer would catch in the hammer block before falling on the round, resulting in a light strike. There was a small dimple, but not like a fired casing. I found the CD to be very accurate, but in a rudimentary test I got almost twice the penetration with corbon dpx, so that is what is in my pistol. Carry something you have confidence in.
what did the dimple look like? was it as deep as the dimple on the critical defense rounds that did go off? from what i know ammo-related duds can be caused by 1) improperly seated primers. here the impact from the pin causes the primer to move forward, stealing energy that should have caused the pin to indent the primer. in this case the dimple tend to be smaller and a second strike fires the primer 2) incorrect primer type. e.g. small rifle primers, in particular military surplus stuff that was intended for free-floating pins. these can be so hard that a little pistol firing pin cant touch them off. the dimple should be smaller than e.g. the dimple in wwb stuff 3) primer that have been destroyed by improper exposure. you have not been cleaning your gun with wd-40 by any chance? i dont know how common this is but i've heard horror stories of pistols that destroys carry ammo over time because traces of wd-40 works its way into the primers rendering then useless. in this case one would of course expect normal dimples despite the failure to fire either way it sounds like a really uncool experience. i'd strongly consider switching carry ammo.
or, thinking twice about it, perhaps sending the duds to hornaday and ask them why an otherwise reliable gun will not make their ammo go off. i bet they'll send you a box or two of hard-to-come-by ammo from another batch
This is the first negative comment I've heard anyone make about this ammo. I hope you can figure out the cause and let us know.
Have you checked the failed rounds by trying to fire them in another .380 if that is an option for you? P3-ATs can have rather light firing pin strikes although they still fire most rounds.
Good call by testing them but before you discard them (well let me know first and I'll take care of that for ya ) try the ammo in a different .380. I carrry the same ammo and never had issues and haven't heard your symptom at all, really. Also, I think the wd-40 on the primer theory was pretty much squashed: http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot39.htm
awesome! ever since i first heard the story ("a gun that has ever been cleaned with wd-40 should be permanently retired from SD-use" i have been wondering how big the risk really is. seems its *greatly* exaggerated
seems its *greatly* exaggerated[/quote] Exactly. Greatly exaggerated and I would have to agree in my experience.
I tossed the duds but still have most of the box left. I will try some in a a different gun and let you know the result.
Please let us know. I have adopted the Hornady CD as my .380 carry ammo so I'm rather interested in this thread.
