Problem with American Eagle .357 ammo

[Bigeasy]

Several weeks ago, a friend gave me a box of new, factory American Eagle (Federal) .357 mag 158 grain jacketed soft points. Lot #2946508508. He had bought these at Walmart about 2 months ago for a revolver he since sold.

Went to the range this morning, and loaded six in my S&W 4 inch 586-no dash, a proven gun with thousands of rounds thru it. Fired one round D/A, when the gun jammed (cylinder refused to rotate)

I could feel it binding, and thought that maybe the primer of the fired round had flowed. When I opened the gun, that was not the case. It appeared an unfired round was rubbing against the recoil shield / breach face.

I isolated that round, and compared it to the other four unfired rounds. The bullet seating depth was identical, but it appeared, visually, that the rim was a little thicker then the others.

I made sure the chambers, breach face, and under the star were clean, then loaded the rest of the ammo six at a time, checking for function by cocking the hammer, and letting it down without firing. I found 3 additional rounds that dragged badly, retarding cylinder rotation. Upon inspection, all had visibly thicker rims than the remaining, functioning rounds. Primers appeared properly seated by look and feel.

I fired the rest of the good ammo, then tossed the bad rounds. With hind sight, I wish I had saved them, and ran a micrometer on them when I got home.

I have ran a lot of ammo thru revolvers over the years, but this is the first time I have ever seen new factory ammo with overly thick rims.

If there is a point to this drawn out story, I guess it is that you should ALWAYS dry run and test for function any ammo you intend to carry for self defense thru the intended gun before you bet your life on it. Weird stuff sometimes happens.....

Larry

[Old Syko]

If this is the stuff with an amerc headstamp, it has a bad reputation for quality.  Most folks won't even try to reload the stuff due to an assortment of irregularities in the brass itself.  It goes in the scrap can here. 

[mechanic]

I trust my reloads much more than factory for self defense.  You now know why.  Too many that would not function correctly.   I know my reloads will work...I've already tried them all before....

Ben

[Justin10mm]

I encountered the same problem with a single round of Winchester Super-X .45 Colt in a Ruger Blackhawk. The one round out of the box jammed the cylinder and upon inspection had an overly thick rim. I think it is just something that happens from time to time. 

[Mohawk]

It aint just American Eagle that has problems. I had about 1 out of every 70 Magtech .38 rounds fail to chamber due to inconsistent crimping. It wasn't bullet jump cause they were fresh rounds from the box. 158 grain FP FMJ's.

[coyotejoe]

Funny, I've always thought rather highly of that brand. I've found it to be quite accurate in several revolvers and a Marlin carbine. I've reloaded American Eagle brass for years with never a complaint.

[Bigeasy]

Frankly, this is the first problem I have ever had with American Eagle / Federal ammo.  What surprised me was the nature of the problem.  In the past, I have seen factory ammo with defects, but usually they are loading based, such as a high primer, a bullet seated to deep, damage to the casing, things like that.  This is the first time I have seen a round where the casing itself was faulty, and not a fault caused by the loading process.

I don't think the bargain brands like UMC / Winchester White Box, or American Eagle are made from lesser quality components, they probably just go thru a less rigorous inspection proccess then their higher cost premium counterparts.

Actually, I carry a 1911 or a Glock, with my own tested reloads for self defense, but the above incident highlights why you should function check any ammo you plane to use in a carry gun.

Larry

[Mohawk]

That is what is scary, at leasr for me the Magtechs, I mentioned. I ran the spectrum of their offerings in multiple calibers through various machine guns and they performed well. Just not the .38's as they were just in revolvers. Smith, Taurus, and Ruger and they would not chamber in any of them. Though even factory ammo folks have their bad days. I just like to at least do a chamber check of new ammo, even just checking random selected cartridges, a little bit helps.