Range report - new Handi-Rifle .223 - Black Hills ammo

[Kart29]

So, I got my new Handi-Rifle out to the range last Friday.  It seemed to shoot pretty good.  Got some 1.5" groups and some others that were more like 3-4".  But, I'm waiting until I get a couple hundred rounds and a couple good cleanings on the barrel before I start paying alot of attention to the groups.  I did find that different kinds of ammo had significantly different points of impact.  I only had one case stick out of about 120 rounds I fired.  So, I'm glad that's not a major problem for me.

I found the Black Hills ammo was shooting the best for me.  I was just shooting alot of cheap stuff while I try to smooth out the barrel.  I tried Rem UMC, American Eagle, Black Hills, and some Winchester Valu-Pak stuff.  Overall, the Black Hills shot the best for me.  But, I did have one mis-fire with the Black Hills and had to drop the hammer on it a second time to get it to fire.  Then, most distressingly, I had a case separation on one of the Black Hills rounds.  So, two problems in only 25 or so rounds of the Black Hills stuff.  I don't think I'll buy any more of that.

I think the Black Hills ammo is made with Lake City brass.  I don't know what would have caused the case separation but I really dislike the idea of that happening again.  I could understand if this was some old handloads where the brass had been fired and resized several times and maybe had a few upper end powder charges loaded into it.  But, this was brand new factory ammo.  I opened the action and only the bottom half inch of the case popped out.  The rest of the brass was left in the chamber.

[Mac11700]

Kart...I would give them a call and talk to those folks at the plant...I'm sure they would like to here about the case seperation...Black Hills is some quality ammo...and that usually doesn't happen with their ammo...did any of the rest of you cases show any signs of it happening...like a bright shiney ring at the web area of the cases?? Hows the primers look on the rest of your fired cases???

Mac

[stiff neck]

Maybe your rifle has some issues with the chamber?  I've tried six different types of ammo so far in my new 223 Ultra, and the worst it shoots is about 1.5" at 100 yards with WWB FMJ.  The best stuff is Black Hills remanufactured 40gr NBT which shoots about 1/2".  Everything else is somewhere inbetween.  If your rifle is shooting 4" groups with ANY sort of ammo, I'd suspect something's wrong with the rifle.  Plus you're having malfunctions on top of that...  Hmm.

[quickdtoo]

The case separation issue doesn't sound good, I've shot some of the Black Hills ammo with no problems, let's hope you have some defective brass and it's not an issue with the chamber. You can reduce the amount of range time and barrel break in by polishing the bore, typically to less than 100 rounds before sub moa accuracy....

http://www.varmintal.com/ashot.htm#Break

[mt3030]

Black Hills buys fired cases from all over the country. They try to stay with once fired brass, but they buy in such large quanitities that it would be easy to get a case that had been used multiple times. And we all know what happens to brass that has been refired and case hardened. I would say that is what happened. But do give Black Hills a call and let them know. I do not think you have any issue with your chamber. If that was the case, you'd have more cases failing. Good luck.
Wally

[Kart29]

I didn't realize Black Hills ammo was reloaded, errrr "remanufactured".  But, I guess all of their blue box stuff is.  I don't think I'll be hunting with the blue box stuff but I may continue to use it at the range some times.  I called Black Hills and the guy I talked to told me that they buy once fired brass from the military.  His explanation was that some of the military rifles may have had a gazillion rounds fired through them and the action become worn to the point that the case gets stretched considerably beyond what's normal when fired in newer actions within reasonable tolerances.  And, apparantly it isn't possible for their QC checks to identify brass that is in this defective condition.  Anyway, their explanation sounded reasonable and they were very pleasant to deal with.