Just go this email..........

Alert


We are privy to a possible issue with our 223 55gr FMJ Remanufactured ammunition, LOT#2906113 only. Since you received a shipment of this ammunition in July, you possibly received ammunition with LOT#2906113. If you did receive this product, we are asking you to immediately cease firing this ammunition and return it to us at our expense. Contact our office during regular business hours, Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm Central Standard Time, to receive instructions on packaging and shipping the ammunition back to our plant. We will immediately send you replacement ammunition in the full quantity of your original order.



We are committed to manufacturing the highest quality ammunition and this quality control measure is voluntary on our part to ensure our commitment. The 223 55gr FMJ Remanufactured ammunition is the only product affected by this action. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you and we will work tirelessly to limit any aggravation.

Very good on them. So I'm guessing that even if you've shot some of the original cartridges, they'll still give you the amount that was in the original order.

It looks like USA Ammo is handling this very ethically with replacing the OP's rifle and doing a recall. At least they are showing that they stand behind their product. There isn't much more that you can ask from a company.

Good on them, I am glad they are standing behind their ammo.

Sorry your rifle died.  Buy quality ammo next time.

Hello all!  I'm a new member that just joined because of this topic. The same thing happened to me yesterday at a rifle range outside of Reading, PA.  I was on the range zeroing my S&W M&P15 with my new Aimpoint scopes when it exploded. The failure was almost exactly as described on this thread.  My rifle is a standard M&P 15.  I only found this thread after doing some google searches on S&W M&P exploding.  You can see my posts on the PA Firearms Owners Forum:

PAFOA

I spoke to the CEO of USA Ammo today and he seemed to me a stand-up guy. In spite of the fact that this happened a day after the incident outlined by the OP I still am not ruling out anything. I had contacted S&W yesterday and so am sending the rifle to them early next week for forensics and "repair". (I presume the rifle will be totalled.) The USA Ammo CEO told me that depending on what the S&W people find he will compensate me for the rifle if it's an ammo malfunction. We had a nice long discussion and he didn't seem to me to be running away or trying to place the blame on anyone else before all the facts were in. In fact he called me up personally in response to an email I sent to them yesterday. Before yesterday I had shot nearly 700 rounds of 9mm and about 250 rounds of .223 ammo ordered from them so I was pretty happy with their product. In spite of this incident and the final outcome I can say that I'm happy with their customer service so far due to the fact that they were responsive and willing to listen.  I will post in the future here and on the PA site as to the conclusion of all of this though I don't expect any resolution for weeks.

People I think will point at this company and the fact that they were reloads and say "shame on you for not knowing better".  But I've had friends including LEO's using their reloaded ammo for a while now with nothing negative to say and also my own experience had been good.  Plus the fact that they're a small American company so I thought I would buy some product from them.  After my kaboom I did some research and found incidents from a couple years ago where Remington high end stuff blew some M&P 15's in a similar manner and they invented the caliber.  So I'm going to wait and see until the end of my saga before I make any judgements on my future use of their ammo.  

I would post pics of my ruined M&P 15 but I can't figure out how to post here.  Sorry about that.  There are pics on the PAFOA post that I did though they're not as dramatic as the OP's pics.

I don't have anything to add except to say that I'm glad you're okay

As bad as that was, it could have been worse-much worse. Your rifle can be replaced easily enough. An eye or a finger-not so much. Thank you for taking the time to post your detailed report and pics.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Glad your OK.....Rifle's can always be replaced.

You by friend survived a mini-grenade going of inches from your face.

Advice..............

Play Lotto

The last time I read something like this the Ammo folks blamed the rifle and the rifle folks blamed the Ammo..................hope it all works out decent for you and damn the pictures look scary........................

Another reason why gunmakers say all bets are off if you use reloaded ammo...........The gunmakers have no control over who is doing what when it comes to reloading......like what kind of quality control these "mass" reloaders have in place..............

+1

Considering I ordered 500rds 9mm from them I'm glad to see that I didn't just send my money to some shady company. Let's hope the owner/CEO continues to be helpful and replaces both of these guys' rifles.

Two rifles now

Damn, I guess USA ammo is going to be testing every single powder lot that comes in starting now!

This is why a mag well hold is so tacti-cool.

Glad to see your ok.

Hope that this all gets resolved and your weapon is replaced.

Good luck.

Should have been SOP in the beginning...  

In all of the kabooms I've seen on the interwebz, I don't think I've seen an ammo manufacturer step up and replace the rifle.  Has anyone else?  It's usually a blame game b/w the ammo/rifle people with the actual owner getting the shaft.

One of the worst KB's I've seen, its awesome you werent seriously hurt.

Posts like this are the reason I dont shoot reloads of any kind, I just dont want to risk it, because knowing my luck, most of that would have ended up in my eye

Wow, I was just about to come on ARFCOM and blast USA ammo for questionable business practices and canceling my order, but now I think I'm glad they did.  I'll be avoiding this place like the plague.

Hope they make it right, OP; promising updates.

I gotta say, USA Ammo is handling this very well. They're getting added to my "will buy from" list.

 

As some have stated, some rounds in the lot # have been trouble free. That's the thing with reloading - you can not only have a powder contamination, but different levels of contamination throughout the lot. I've loaded in the neighborhood of 400lbs of powder in shotgun shells shooting trap. I've always made sure that I only used one type of powder - regardless whether I'm loading singles or handicap loads, and always gave people who loaded a different powder on each day of the week a wide berth. Even though, you could load a shotgun shell with 9gr of Red Dot and 9gr of Green Dot and you still won't have a grenade in your hands with your homemade version of 18gr Black Dot.

Take USA Ammo, that loads both pistol and rifle, and you have a potential problem. Mix Red dot and 4320 and you have something like dynamite. 1 or 2 gr of Red Dot in the rifle case won't blow the gun up, but if you get 10 or 12gr that stick together and got loaded ––- boom.

Sounds like a powder contamination problem. Good to hear the USA is collecting all the errant children. At least they can disassemble the offending lots and re-use the bullets, cases and primers.

X2  Even with the problems, they seem to be a stand up company.  I will wait to see the final decision either way though.

I have and will continue to purchase ammo from them. They are willing to take care of this issue and have recognized the problem and recalled the rest of the ammo.

Ultramax paid for a guys gun with no hassle a few years ago.

+1



 

I can't believe the inaccurate dumb ass comments regarding "reloading" in this thread. Most of the KBs posted have been with brand new, 1st time loaded factory ammo. The only difference between the ammo in question and new first time factory loaded ammo is that once fired range brass is used. The rest of the loading process is the same. Like it or not it can happen with any factory ammo.

The only ammo related problems I've had have been with brand new first time loaded factory ammo. So if I was going to draw a conclusion from past experience I would solely use home reloaded ammo I guess.

As much as it sucks, the reality is that mistakes happen with anything mass produced. If you shoot enough, there is a good chace that eventually you will probably experience some kind of ammo related screw up no matter what ammo you are using. New factory ammo won't exempt a shooter from the rare possibility of this happening.

Well, they f'ed up, but they stepped up...which is good.

Glad they are going to take care you you/others.

Amen. I still say proceed with extreme caution when shooting someone else's reloads (a friend, an acquaintance, etc) unless you are highly confident in their ability to do it properly. If your buddy reloads but hasn't bought a reloading manual or a scale because he "heard from a friend you just fill the case with 4895 and you're good to go"... let HIM shoot his ammo, and stay well back when he does.

That'll buff right out

Kudos to the OP.....this is the model for how to handle a kaboom thread.
Well done.

I totally agree. I should have clarified that in my first post. Shooting someone elses basement reloads or some gun show no name reload dealer is a different matter.

What I was getting at was the multiple instances of suggesting that there was a big increase in risk using factory remanufactured ammo (ammo made with once fired brass).  To me for range use, I don't consider remanufactured ammo from a reputable source to have any more inherent risk of experiencing a KB than new ammo. I've seen guys that thumb their nose at remanufactured Black Hills ammo then turn around and start running say... Wolf with no concern. Not suggesting Wolf is dangerous either but I'd take about any factory remanufactured ammo over it. lol!

My point was that there shouldn't be any increased risk using remanufactured ammo vs new when acquiring it from a reputable source. Black Hills, USA, etc. If ammo is going to cause a KB, the case being used once normally isn't the cause.

Regarding home reloading. Done properly, just as safe as factory ammo.  I'm referring to using your own reloads, not someone elses. I consider my reloads to be safer than any of the factory ammo. Sure there are some guys that screw up reloading by either not paying attention or pushing the envelope. And the gun show ammo guy cranking out stuff of unknown quality. This gives the practice of reloading a bad rep. Those that reload and do it right, know what a safe and useful tool it can be.

I posted a story about a year ago in the ammunition sub-forum about my experiences with a KB. (also catastrophic)
My reloads came from a company called Tactical Ammunition. They blamed my new Spikes rifle for the kb even though
other people were having problems with their reloads. They refused to make good on the damage to my rifle, and took a couple months just to refund my money for the ammo I shipped back to them.

After my experience, I refuse to use reloads unless they are loaded by a trusted friend or a company with a good
reputation for taking care of their mistakes. (Black Hills comes to mind) The damage to the OPs rifle is worse than what happened to mine.
Be thankful you werent seriously injured and stay away from discount reloaders!

Glad to see that USA ammo is taking care of you!

BTW, the pictures dissappeared.

Sorry the pics are gone.
Refund check for replacement rifle received today.

Ya know what...good on USA for doing that.



I'll send some good karma their way.



Now...have you learned your lesson on re-manufactured ammo?  






 

yep good for USA ammo I live where they make the ammo and they provide many local jobs....i will not hestiate to buy more

Wow, glad to hear they got your squared away so quickly!!! I feel much better about my purchase but still hope I don't have a similar experience!

Great that they handled it, and great example of how to handle it from your end OP. Well done.

im really glad this got straightened out. i have a few hundred rounds coming (soon i hope) from usa ammo so this makes me feel a little better about my chances.
OP- how did they decide on the amount to reimburse you? did you have to send in parts of the rifle?

They basically bought the entire rifle w/o accessories, which I shipped to them for their forensic investigation.  (They had their FFL accept the transfer).  They also covered the incremental cost for the upgraded parts which I could not separate from the rifle - enhanced BCG, CH, FCG.  They also reimbursed me for the cost of the expedited shipping of the rifle to them.

That is awesome they took care of you.  This is the first time I can think of that an Ammo Manuf. is taking responsibility for their mistake.  Usually it's the blame game.

ETA: This is how good companies build excellent reputations.

Damn, that really is pretty upstanding of them.

OP pics back up for those who didn't get a chance to see them.

Final disposition:
I'm currently using the money from USAammo to build myself a new rifle.

USAammo must have very stringent QC for this to occur in such a miniscule number of rounds considering that they have produced, what I surmise, to be millions of rounds.

Kudos to them for handling your unfortunate incident in such an exemplary manner. Quick, efficient and fair.  Qualities often not found in today's business environment.

I've never used their ammunition but would have no reservations whatsoever about doing so particularly when, due to this oversight/mistake, an already stringent QC is going to get even tighter!

Congrats to the OP on his new build!

I'm glad the shooter was okay. Quite impressive!

Glad you are ok.

Wow––-great out come––––so whatchya buildin ?

While it sucks that it happened in the first place it is good to hear US Ammo took responsibility and compensated you for everything.

I can vouch for usa ammo customer service.  I ordered two boxes of new 55gr 223 ammo and when it arrived, they had packed one box of new and one box of reloads.  I called them and told them about their error and they doubled my original order for free and shipped it out.  Nice to see they are placing customer service high on the list.

USA is certainly showing how CS should be done.  Screw ups happen to any company, it's how they handle them that shows what kind of company they are.  Everyone I have ever heard have any kind of problem has been taken care of the proper way.  Glad to see it turned out well OP.