Saturday, December 26, 2009

HORNADY CRITICAL DEFENSE AMMUNITION

SATURDAY - DECEMBER 29, 2009


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SUGGEST "HORNADY" COMPLAIN ABOUT "CONSUMER REPORTS"
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YOU MUST GO TO THIS LINK NOW

EVERYTHING WRITTEN ON THIS WEBSITE "LINK" WAS DONE BY SOME ONE ELSE...

http://www.arizonasilhouette.com/Rohrbaugh.htm
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THE FOLLOWING ARE POSTINGS FROM VARIOUS FORUMS EVERYWHERE REGARDING OTHER PEOPLE HAVING IGNITION PROBLEMS WITH HORNADY CRITICAL DEFENSE AMMO. A FEW WEEKS AGO WHEN I CALLED HORNADY INQUIRING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM AND I SPOKE WITH "GUS" OR "DOUG" (I AM OLDER AND MY MEMORY IS HARD WITH NAMES) AT THE HORNADY FACTORY AS EVERYONE WAS OFF HUNTING FOR THREE WEEKS HE TOLD ME STRAIGHT OUT THAT THEY WERE FORCED TO BUY AND USE S&B PRIMERS OR GO OUT OF THE AMMUNITION BUSINESS. WOLFF PRIMERS CAME UP IN THE CONVERSATION. ONE OF MY CUSTOMERS HAS BEEN SPEAKING WITH "MARK" AT THE HORNADY FACTORY. I NO LONGER GO THE RANGE REGULARLY AND I HAVE NEVER ATTEMPTED TO TRY OR FIRE ANY HORNADY CRITICAL DEFENSE AMMUNITION. EVEN WHEN I SPOKE WITH LARRY SEECAMP HE TOLD ME HE HAD MISFIRES WITH HORNADY CRITICAL DEFENSE AMMO IN BRAND NEW PRODUCTION PISTOLS. I DO NOT AND I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING WITH S&B RELATED COMPONENTS BECAUSE OF BAD EXPERIENCES I HAD MANY YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS MUCH YOUNGER. I ONLY PERSONALLY BUY AND CARRY FEDERAL OR CORBON AMMUNITION FOR MYSELF.
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ALL COMMENTS LISTED BELOW ARE FROM OTHER PEOPLE AND NOT ME. I ONLY KNOW WHAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE TOLD ME ABOUT HORNADY CRITICAL DEFENSE AMMO INCLUDING THE EMPLOYEES THAT WORK FOR JASON HORNADY. THEY SEEM TO HAVE AN INTERNAL PROBLEM AND THEY ARE LOOKING FOR SOME ONE TO BLAME. ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS LOOK IN THEIR OWN MIRROR, ITS NOT ME OR YOU. I HAVE NEVER FIRED ANY OF THEIR AMMUNITION, I USE FEDERAL. I HOPE STEVE HORNADY THE FATHER IS AWARE OF WHAT HIS SON JASON IS DOING.
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http://smith-wessonforum.com/reloading/103509-do-these-primers-look-like-they-should-have-gone-bang-response-hornady-added.html
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http://www.rohrbaughforum.com/YaBB.cgi?board=R9S;action=display;num=1234473398
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http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?p=2425489
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http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=715082

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http://smith-wessonforum.com/ammo/103135-has-anyone-read-experianced-problems-hornady-cd-ammo.html#post1122872
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http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=716113
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http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=5&f=20&t=82191
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The following is quoted from a Hornady box of ammo: "We Guarantee the exercise of reasonable care in the manufacture of this ammunition, but assume no further responsibility, expressed or implied."

I cannot find this statement on any other manufacturer's box.


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Old 11-10-2009, 08:46 PM #1
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9mm Hornady "Critical Defense Ammo"

I have NO IDEA where this goes on this forum...please, someone put it where it will be read.

I read on another forum that 9mm "Critical Defense" ammo was experiencing "Failure To Fire"...I carry a Walther PPS 9X19 pistol loaded with that ammo(at least prior to today)....I went outside to the range, and shot all 15 of the rounds that I had been carrying with that pistol...ALL FIRED.(One 8 and one 7 round magazine)

I then went to the ammo locker, and took out the remaining 120 rounds of Hornady "Critical Defense" 9X19 ammo with the same 115 grain FTX bullets. I loaded them in the Walther Magazines, and attempted to fire them. I had 38 out of 120 rounds fail to fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I put those same 38 rounds that failed to fire in pistols of different manufacture...CZ, Browning, Glock, Colt, Kahr, Rorhbaugh, Springfield, etc.. They still would not fire, after repeated hits from all of those firiing pins from different pistols.

Hornady "Critical Defense" ammo is over $1.00 a shot(after taxes).......I would expect better from them for that price.


Mike
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Excalibur Excalibur is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamerer View Post
With a 1 in 3 failure rate, my first suspicion would have been light primer strikes. That's just too high a rate for primer failure. My first move would have been to try it in another 9mm as a test.

You should try talking to Kahr about evaluating your firing system.
You should research other forums on this subject....Many more guns than mine are experiencing the same problem. I did talk with Kahr -- they offered to examine the gun if I have the problem with various ammo but they were very doubtful it is the gun if I have the failure with only Critical Defense ammo.
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Old 11-07-2009, 02:05 PM
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Excaliber- This is one of the reasons it is imperative that you test your carry ammo in your carry gun. Kudos to you for testing first! I am very disappointed in the response from Hornady, but I am glad you found out at a range rather then when you really needed it
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Old 11-07-2009, 05:39 PM
Hank Ellis Hank Ellis is offline
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I was at Clark Custom Guns a couple months back picking up one gun and dropping another for some work. While there the subject of J-frames came up. We talked about our carry loads and one of the gunsmiths had tried the Hornady CD in his J-frame. He ran into the same failure to fire issues.

If a gunsmith from one of the top shops in the country has ammo that don't fire, it ain't the gun.
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Uhhh, maybe so, but ammo that is touted as "CRITICAL DEFENSE" designed to save one's life but that won't fire in a number of different types and makes of guns and only works if a gun is 100% perfectly in spec is NOT my idea of an ammo I want to use to defend my life. I've tested many different quality hollow points in my gun with NO problems. You can bet one of those will not be Hornady's Critical Defense!! I just hope no one experiences a tragedy from this ammo.
And, keep in mind the rep at Hornady finally admitted to me that they have had an unusual amount of this ammo returned for the same FTF problem. What irritates me is that because the ammo is up to "specs" they won't do anything about it.
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Unread 11-23-2009, 10:38 PM
swmp9jrm swmp9jrm is offline
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As mentioned a while back in this thread, I had 2 rounds out of the first 10 rounds of a box of Critical Defense that did not go bang on the first strike with my Taurus PT-709. I've put more than a dozen other types of FMJ and JHP ammunition - more than 750 rounds - through this same gun with NO issues. Wolf, Golden Bear, Tula, Federal, Remington, Winchester, Speer, American Eagle, and PMC Bronze. Cheap ammo, premium ammo - NO OTHER FAILURE TO FIRE rounds with ANY of these EXCEPT the Critical Defense.

It ain't the gun. Or at least ONLY the gun. The 2 rounds that did not fire in my gun DID fire on the second strike in the same gun. I still have 6 boxes of CD in my safe. I'm going to keep shooting this stuff to see if I get any more no-fires. But I'm not going to count on it to save my life. I'm disappointed in the response that Excalibur got from Hornady - if they freely admit that they've had more of this ammo come back for the same issue than the other things they make, simple problem analysis says there's got to be an issue. But I guess I understand their position - admit an issue, and you've got probably hundreds of thousands of rounds at risk and no way to figure out which ones will fire and which ones won't unless you hit that primer with a firing pin. I've chosen not to be the lab rat. I'll stick to my Federal HST and Speer Gold Dot - I've never had a no-fire with either of these in ANY gun or in ANY caliber.
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You're right!! It ain't the gun no matter what Hornady says. My gun has fired without problem any other ammo I've run through it so why are they trying to tell me it's my gun????
Here's the latest (and final) from Hornady....I sent 3 1/2 boxes of the CD back. They then called me as mentioned earlier and told me it was my gun and all they would do is send the ammo back to me. A few days later I received 1 (ONE) box in the mail. I called and was told they would check into it. The next day I got a call from another person saying they would return all three boxes. Wow, what a favor since I paid for it in the first place!!
Again, I beleive Hornady is a good company and a lot of people will not agree with me but I'm done with them. There are too many other companies making quality ammo to put up with this type of hassle. I'll stick with Speer Gold Dot for my carry ammo!
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Unread 12-05-2009, 02:32 AM
NonPCnraRN NonPCnraRN is offline
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Just a thought. Since you changed the firing pin spring and had the same results could the firing pin itself be a tiny bit short? If your firing pin is the correct length then just accept the fact that that ammo is not reliable in your gun. Long story short just don't use it, period. There are too many other good brands of ammo out there. But I do want to commend you for bringing it to our attention. I would think that if Hornady knows it has a problem with light primer strikes, then they should get a new primer supplier. The fact that other brands of ammo works in your gun means Hornady is using very tempermental primers that do not allow for any variance from "standard". That is simply not acceptable in a product marketed as Critical Defense ammo. Critical Defense should imply that it would work in a zip gun with a firing pin powered by a rubber band.
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My thoughts exactly! I'm not denying the ammo works fine in some other guns and I am going to obtain the exact length of the firing pin from Kahr to make sure mine is okay. HOWEVER, as you so well expressed, they are advertising this new ammo as the ultimate self defense ammo yet the Hornady rep clearly stated that they are having an unusual amount of it returned due to FTF's. Others can trust their lives to it....me? Never! It will not go back in my gun. Anyone interested in 3 boxes of it???
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Old 10-23-2009, 07:02 PM
Excalibur Excalibur is offline
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Problem with Hornady Critical Defense

I bought 4 boxes of the new Hornady Critical Defense ammo in 9mm. Yesterday I got a chance to try it out and what a disappointment!! One out of every 3 rounds was a misfire. The hammer left pronounced indentations on the primers but the rounds were duds. Some I even put back in and tried again with the same result. Now I had two hammer indentations on the primer but no fire!
Today I went to the range and with the same gun (Kahr CW9) I fired my normal carry round, Speer Gold Dot 124 gr. with not a single misfire. Then I ran 50 rounds of Federal American Eagle hard ball with again, not a single misfire.
I'm going to contact Hornady for a refund but needless to say, I would never carry their Critical Defense round.
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Old 10-24-2009, 12:34 AM
HAIL CAESAR HAIL CAESAR is offline
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Ohhhhh, I'm sure Hornady would love to hear about this and want all the ammo you have left shipped back and the boxes. Trust me, they will be very interested.
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Old 10-24-2009, 08:24 AM
ShipWreck ShipWreck is online now
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This topic has gone on for a few months on multiple boards. So, its not new (just maybe new here) They changed the primers design, and the new primers are supposedly copper colored instead of silver colored now. But, there are still reports.

I bought a box and planned to use it as my new carry ammo after I fired about 1/2 of it.

I just thru it in the back of my safe instead. Even if I get thru 1/2, I'll have my doubts. True, the likely hood is diminished that if I get thru 1/2 with no issues, the other 1/2 may be okay. But, I've seen reports of just a few in the box being bad.

So, for now, I'll pass on this ammo for alt least the next year. Irritating.

I have never had a misfire on any commercial centerfire cartridge before. It's disappointing to hear this. And, it is a self defense round.
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Old 10-26-2009, 03:14 PM
Excalibur Excalibur is offline
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Update from Hornady

Today I talked with Doug at Hornady. He immediately said they want them back to find out what is going on. He instructed me to send them back via UPS but I had to ask him to pay for the shipping and he reluctantly agreed. I told him that since they manufactured the ammo and I already paid for it I didn't feel that they should ask me to be out any more cash because the ammo is defective. So UPS is picking it up tomorrow. I'll post the results from Hornady when I get an answer.
BTW -- Doug said they don't manufacture primers. They buy them from a supplier so I'm sure the supplier will hear about it also.
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Old 11-05-2009, 08:07 PM
Excalibur Excalibur is offline
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Update from Hornady

Well, today the rep from Hornady called me and said it was my gun!!! He said he measured headspace, etc. on the rounds and everything was in specs. Then he took it to the range and fired some from a Glock and a couple other guns and did not have a FTF. He said the specs for primer indent is .0117 and the rounds I sent back that had failed in my gun showed indents of .0113. (I think I got that right, maybe it was .017). So the only thing they will do is return the ammo to me!
I again repeated that right after their ammo failed to fire I shot Gold Dots, Federal American Eagle and UMC without one failure. Didn't matter -- it's my gun. I told him that I had done some research online and found that others were having the same problem with Critical Defense ammo -- I'm not the only one and only then did he admit that they have had numerous returns of that ammo for the same reason -- failure to fire. But he refused to do anything but return the ammo. I asked him to explain why my gun didn't have a problem with any other ammo and he said he couldn't comment on other brands.
So I'm getting the ammo back. Don't know what I'll do with it but you can bet I'll never trust my life with it. I know Hornady is a good company but this is really disappointing. I'll stick with Gold Dots that have NEVER failed!
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Old 11-05-2009, 10:46 PM
Amos Iron Wolf Amos Iron Wolf is offline
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A guy was testing a Rorbaugh (sp?) 9mm at the range this Sunday. He was also having problems with Hornady Critical Defense ammo. Same thing, primers indented, but no bang.
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Old 11-07-2009, 01:38 PM
Excalibur Excalibur is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by den888 View Post
Thanks for the report. I will be sure to never buy or carry this ammo. Could you imagine the consequences in a defense weapon if this happened ? Yikes !!!
I am not trying to badmouth Hornady. I know they make some good ammo. However I was really disappointed in their response that it is my gun and there is nothing they can do. Maybe it does fire okay in Glocks!! I don't own a Glock. My Kahr fires everything else successfully so I'm not buying their excuse. AND after researching this a little I've found out that a good number of people are having this problem with Critical Defense ammo. The guy at Hornady even admitted as much!!
What I don't understand is that they know they have a problem with ammo that is designed to save one's life in a confrontation. It has a high failure rate that could cost one's life and they still want to blame it on the gun????
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Hornady Critical Defense FTX 115 gr 9mm
Old 06-18-2009, 11:22 PM 17 links from elsewhere to this Post. Click to view. #1
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Hornady Critical Defense FTX 115 gr 9mm

Picked up a couple boxes of this ammo the other day and shot 25 rounds today through a 9mm subcompact.

Accuracy and recoil seemed right in line with other ammo I've shot.

The problem was 2 of the rounds didn't fire.
The first looked like a light primer strike, my boss agreed (former instructor and a glock armoror) so he knows alot more than me.
So put it back in the mag and it failed to fire again but the primer looked like other rounds that had fired.


Set that one aside and had another ftf on the next mag. Primer strike looked good on this one. Tried it again as well with no luck.

Fired approximately 200 rds of mainly storebought blazer brass and winchester along with my first 20 handloads.

Later had my boss load the ftf's randomly in the mag so I could do some malfunction drills... and they both fired on the 3rd attempt

The lot # is 3090679

Here are a couple pics of one I found in the dirt.
Expansion looks good and you can see a bit of the polymer still attached.

Just thought I would share my experiance and would like to hear your thoughts on this ammo.
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Old 06-18-2009, 11:44 PM #2
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There have been some serious quality control issues wiu hornady critical defense and when it works it has not tested well in calibrated ballisic gelatin. That's plenty of reason for me to stay away from the stuff.

brad
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Hornady Critical defense MANY FTF (Read 321 times)
Eric_in_Nola
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Hornady Critical defense MANY FTF
12/16/09 at 14:25:31
Picked up 3 boxes last week.

Went to the range on the way back from work and test fired this stuff.

First off I fired both of my mags of carry ammo ( Hornady T.A.P.) out of my P3AT- drew and fired reload and fired - 100% function.

Loaded the critical defense and BAD things happened- out of one box I got 5 FTF- primer dented with good strike- identical to the other 20 that fired, box 2 had 9 FTF- same deal all primers dented no difference between b/t fired and FTF.

LOT NUMBER 3090850

Had enough called it a day.

P3AT checked out after trip- nothing wrong with it- Now loaded with T.A.P. Pizzed off call to Hornady to come.
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Re: Hornady Critical defense MANY FTF
Reply #1 - 12/17/09 at 11:37:32
I've shot a box of the stuff and had no problems. I'm wondering what's going on since I'm hearing of this more and more. One of my buddies had one fail to fire in his P3AT too. I always carry more than one gun but I also don't want to ever be in the position to have to draw the other gun.
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Old 10-06-2009, 04:56 PM
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I'll just stick with what I know has always worked in all my 9mm's and .380's

Speer Gold Dots and Remington Golden Sabers

Will update after Hornady inspects these rounds but no matter what they do or say I will not buy or use Critical Defense ammo. Their regular .380 and .32 auto work fine in my mouse guns so I do not know why they had to mess with success.?
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Old October 19, 2009, 08:41 AM #1
renegade1alpha
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Hornady Critical Defense Ammuntion

I would like to share an experience with everyone that I recently had with Hornady's new Critical Defense ammunition. I'm wondering if anyone else has had the same problem.

I recently had to qualify with my duty weapon and off duty weapon for my department and thought it would be a good chance to see how the new ammo shot through my off duty weapon (Kahr CW9). The first round went off great and the recoil was just what I expected and the bullet went right where I was aiming. When I pulled the trigger a second time all I got was a click from the firing pin striking the primer. I ejected that round, chambered another and squeezed the trigger...click. Nothing. Again I ejected that round, chambered another and squeezed the trigger... BANG! Just what I was wanting. On trigger squeeze #4 I got another bang, but #5 and #6 all I got was the click of the firing pin striking the primer.

I picked up the rounds that I had ejected and looked at the primers. All the rounds had nice dents on the primers. I put them back in the magazine and on the second strikes three of the four rounds fired.

Thinking that something might even be wrong with my off duty gun, I loaded some more rounds into my duty weapon (Glock 17) and attempted to fire. Of the ten rounds I loaded in my Glock magazine only eight of them fired. Two of them had nice dents on the primers but didnt go bang until I put them back in the magazine and attempted to fire them again. This time they fired.

The scariest part about this whole situation is that I had been carrying these rounds in my off duty gun before testing them. (I know, stupid on my part)

I have since contacted Hornady and told them of the problem and I have yet to hear back from them. That was over 3 weeks ago. I plan on calling them and personally speaking with a representative. I have used Hornady ammo in the past without any problems which is why I never saw need to test fire any of the rounds before carrying them. I have since switched to Buffalo Bore 124 grain +P hollow points (using Hornady XTP bullets) and have not had a problem.
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Old October 20, 2009, 12:50 PM #17
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I just got off the phone with Hornady and spoke with a technician. Apparently they had not received my e-mail or had not gotten to it yet. He asked if I had the rounds that I had fired, and unfortunately I didn't. I also didn't save the box to give him a lot number. After talking with him he and I both agreed that I must have gotten a bad batch. He did apologize and said that if I had anymore problems with Hornady ammo to save the box and any ammunition and send it back to them for a full replacement. They were very apologetic and very helpful. I would suggest if you have any Hornady CD ammo to try a box or a least a few rounds before you carry it. Of course I do that with any ammo I buy for self defense, I just didnt do it with that particular brand. I'm sure the rest of the Hornady ammo is good and I may buy some more CD when it comes time to rotate the current stuff I have.
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Re: New Hornady Critical Defense
Reply #27 - 11/28/09 at 21:19:06
I had the chance to fire my first 25 rounds of Hornady Critical Defense from my P3AT today. I had four failures to fire. undecided

Overall I fired about 100 rounds total: Independence FMJ, Golden Sabers, Magtech FMJ and the Hornady Critical Defense. The only ammo that gave me any trouble was the HCD. I checked the primers on the rounds that didn't go off and they were dimpled. I loaded them up again and they went off on the second try.

To my recollection, these are the only failures to fire I've ever expereinced with any of my P3AT's. I had one failure to eject (I had carried and not cleaned the gun in 3 mo. - now I clean it every two weeks regardless) and the two squib rounds I mentioned elsewhere a few days ago. But this was the only ammo in 380 I recall ever firing that just didn't go bang.
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Old 11-07-2009, 05:39 PM
Hank Ellis Hank Ellis is offline
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I was at Clark Custom Guns a couple months back picking up one gun and dropping another for some work. While there the subject of J-frames came up. We talked about our carry loads and one of the gunsmiths had tried the Hornady CD in his J-frame. He ran into the same failure to fire issues.

If a gunsmith from one of the top shops in the country has ammo that don't fire, it ain't the gun.
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Hi Rubb! Yes, the price couldn't have been better. Thank you again for "funding" this little experiment.

Sadly, though, it looks like I am by no means the first to run into these failures to fire with HCD.
That really is too bad. The round seemed so promising. I guess I'll stick to Gold Dots (when I can find them) and the Independence FMJ. The Independence stuff seems pretty hot just based upon felt recoil. Staggering them with Gold Dots seems like a good plan for me.
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Re: Finally Shot Harnady Critical Defense Ammo
« Reply #5 on: Jun 14th, 2009, 3:14pm »
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Dave,
I am sorry to hear about Critical Defense in the Seecamp .380.
It's a different animal but Doug Hornady performed an impressive
display with the LCP and his ammo on youtube.
Since the Seecamp is so ammo specific it would probably not ever
work for the reasons you stated.
Do Doug Hornady and Larry Seecamp know about this issue?
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Mixed day at the range
« on: May 16th, 2009, 8:44pm »
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Took the R9 to the range again today. It was a mixed bag.

The good: I shot 1/2 a box of PMC Bronze 115gr FMJ and all 25 went perfectly. I was pleasantly surprised. Smiley

The bad: The highly expensive Hornady Critical Defense 115gr JHPs had 5 failures to fire in 20 rounds. Angry A second pull fired them off. This is a horrible ratio.

I kept one round that didn't fire, I'll get a picture of it later. It does have a dent in the primer. I examined the rest of my brass, all the fired PMC had good dents. All of the fired HCD were flat. It's like the pressure in the case pushed the primer dents back out? Weird. Huh

What you might not notice is that I fired 20. A box contains 25. When I went to shoot the last 5, the R9 slide was locked shut. Shocked It would move back a little bit, but not open. I thought I was going to have to send it home, but after working it over and over, a bit more force each time, it broke free. A few more cycles felt like it was breaking free. Now its perfectly smooth again.

I'll have a good look over it when I clean it tonight for evidence of what happened. I suspect I'm still breaking in that pocket and a sliver of aluminum got into a bad place.

I know someone else here had to send theirs back because it was locked shut, did they tell you the problem?

Anyway, pretty disappointed the Hornady turned out to be unusable. I guess I'm back on the hunt for Silvertips. In the mean time, I'll keep carrying the Gold Dots instead. Cry

I think I'll call Maria and give her my results with the HCD. It's not like I was shooting surplus NATO junk or something. My KT P-32 hasn't had a single failure to fire with *anything* I've fed it, and if there was any gun I'd expect it with, it would be that one.
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sdlsaginaw
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Re: Mixed day at the range
« Reply #7 on: May 31st, 2009, 10:13pm »
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Not sure what was going on there, and haven't had time to mess with it further. I'll talk to the factory when things calm down a bit around here.

I switched between the PMC and the HCD a few times. PMC never failed, HCD had trouble every clip. Weird.

I've been seriously jonsin' for a Savage 93R17BTVS (.17 HMR) lately. I don't know exactly why other than the bug bit me.

I also looked at a Henry lever action youth .22 for my grandson today. Really nice little rifle. His two grandpas might just go in on one for him and put it away for a couple years until he's ready.
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Norm, I can tell you for a fact, I had 2 brand new pistols at the range in the .380-auto caliber. One was a Sig-P232, Ruger LCP. Also had non-fire issues with 9mm Luger Hornady "Critical Defense" ammo, fired in a KEL-TEC P-11 and Sig-P239 in 9mm Luger.

Now we were testing various calibers, to determine how much penetration each caliber obtained when shot into wet newspaper.

We used several types of "self-defense" ammo as well as FMJ ammo understand. However, the Hornady ammo had at least 10 failures out of 4 boxes of their Critical Defense ammo.


We ran this ammo back through the pistols 3 times and still NO BANG!!! I reported it to Hornady in a phone call and they said I must have been Limp Wristing the pistol, that they have had no such complaints so far.......they never did get back with me again. I understand it is possible to "limp wrist" a KEL-TEC or Kahr but not hardly a Sig P-232 pistol.


We only had problems with the Hornady ammo and we tested at least 7 different brands of ammo that day. I took the ammo down to the store where I purchased it and gave it to the owner. I will NOT use Hornady ammo in any of my pistols again.
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Old August 29, 2009, 11:25 PM #49
swmp9jrm
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Join Date: September 1, 2008
Posts: 41
Over on the Handgun forum on AR15.com, someone has posted about a failure to fire issue on a couple of rounds of 9mm Critical Defense. There was another post from someone who had had the same problem and spoke to Hornady about it. Apparently, Hornady changed from a nickel colored primer to a brass colored primer to address a no-fire issue. However, the CD that the OP had the problem with had the brass primer.

Now I do not normally spread rumors and innuendos, but since the Critical Defense seems to be gaining popularity, I'd like to hear if anyone here has had any failures to fire using these rounds. I just picked up a bunch of it for my PT-709, and now I plan to put a bunch of it through the gun to see if I've got any problems.
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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?
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I'ld have to see some proof of that. It is likely that lot of Hornady ammo has a problem. It's almost impossible to make a primer that has a shelf life & control that. First LEO that dies from an inert primer, his family is going to own that manuf. Time to take the tin foil hat off.
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shovelwrench's Avatar
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Man, it looks like the whole face of the primer is collapsed into that firing pin strike.


I think they should've gone off. It might be a just a bad combination, but is'nt that why we test for reliability? Maybe you'll get some free ammo anyway.
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Old 10-05-2009, 11:54 PM
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Definately looks like they should have gone bang. I will remember to avoid Hornady loaded ammo. It doesn't look like your firing pin is unnecessarily pointed to me, maybe narrower than most. I'd bet it was a
defective batch of primers.
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After my reply to them, they wrote me back saying they did check the primer seating depth and that it was within SAAMI specs. I replied that that measurement was useless as the primer had already been struck by the firing pin, so yes a second strike will probably set it off. They also said that the primers they are using are very hard which I replied so are the CCI and Wolf that I use.

They then offered to send me a new box from a different lot number but feared I would have the same problem due to the "hard" primers.
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FROM MIDWAY USA
Brian Magby of Houston, TX
Date posted: 7/2/2009
I initially purchased 100 rounds of this ammo and fired 75 rounds through my Springfield EMP 9mm on the first outing. I experienced 2 malfunctions occurring in the last 9 rounds, (last magazine) of the 75 rounds that I fired. One malfunction was due to a bur at the tip of the bullet near the red insert, which caused a failure to feed. I removed and inspected the round, then re-chambered it and it fed and fired normally. The second malfunction was a dud primer causing a failure to fire. I removed the round and inspected it. It had a good primer strike but failed to fire. I recently purchased another box to see if it would function 100%, or experience similar problems. I noticed that the primers in this new box had been changed from the nickel primers that were in the first 100 rounds that I bought to brass/gold primers in this new box. All 25 rounds from this new box functioned and fired perfectly through my Springfield EMP. I called Hornady and asked them about the primer change and I was told that limited supply dictated the use of the nickel primers. I was also told that there had been some reports about the nickel primers being too hard and not igniting in some firearms and that they had since changed to the brass/gold primers that will be shipping from now on. Given the current state of the ammo market with ammo manufactures operating 24/7 to try and catch up with the ammo shortage, coupled with the fact that this is a new product line, I feel confident that Hornady will have any quality control issues sorted out and that this will be an excellent product. I will continue to test this ammo and report back if I experience any additional problems.
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#49
swmp9jrm
Member

Join Date: September 1, 2008
Posts: 42
Over on the Handgun forum on AR15.com, someone has posted about a failure to fire issue on a couple of rounds of 9mm Critical Defense. There was another post from someone who had had the same problem and spoke to Hornady about it. Apparently, Hornady changed from a nickel colored primer to a brass colored primer to address a no-fire issue. However, the CD that the OP had the problem with had the brass primer.
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Old August 30, 2009, 12:56 PM #51
Patrice
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Join Date: April 11, 2009
Location: The best place to die.
Posts: 18
Unhappy ...to fire or not to fire....

Well, if I owned any guns...I'd be more concerned about the reports of failures-to-fire with the CD cartridges than I would be about the question about whether it expands better or worse than brand-X or whether it has enough velocity. There's a number of threads floating about on several of the gun forums reporting multiple failures-to-fire-per-box . Not the kinda thing one wants to hear about a Self-Defense cartridge, I would think.
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Old October 13, 2009, 08:47 AM #78
barton72
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Join Date: October 13, 2009
Posts: 1
Just found this forum and thread while searching the net to see if failure to fires with the Hornady Critical defense was common or if it was just me. Seems to be a real issue. I have a Ruger LCP 380. Picked up two boxes of 25 @ Bass Pro a while back. I have shot several magazines of Remington UMC without a single problem. Fired very few Remington Golden Sabers as well and had no problems. Two out of four attempts to fire the Hornady Critical defense went boom. The other two just "Click". Perfect strike in the center of the primer on both failures. Both boxes are from the same Lot# and have a nickel primer.

I only attempted to fire the four rounds. With a success rate of 50% (2 out of 4), I have ZERO confidence in this ammo. I have spoken to Hornady and will be shipping the two boxes off today. I wanted a refund of my $$, but they won't do that and neither will Bass Pro. Instead Hornady said they will ship me out the same crap that I don't trust at all + some extra for my troubles. That's great. Maybe they have changed primers and fixed the issue, but I still won't be carrying this stuff or buying any other Hornady products. One lesson learned, always test your ammo! Links to other problems with the CD....
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FROM THE SEECAMP FORUM
Just got back from the range. Sorry to say I was only able to fire off one round of Hornady's Critical Defense for the .380. I had run Silvertips and Gold Dots with no problem, but I was stopped in my tracks with the first CD. It fired and then jammed in the barrel so harshly that the Seecamp's day was over! I just now was able to disassemble it in order to get a pair of pliers on the shell. It took a hell of a lot of twisting to get it out of there. When it jammed, it wouldn't allow the slide to move at all, so it wasn't back far enough to get the punch onto the plunger.

I ordered two boxes of this, but I'm now stuck with 49 cartridges!
I wish it would have worked (and it may, as someone else said they filed the tip down) but the cartridge appears to be too long for my Seecamp .380. cry
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