PDA

View Full Version : Bad SSA ammo?


pedro_c111
05-07-2009, 9:13 PM
Has any one had any issues with Silver State Armory ammo? I bought a few boxed of 6.8 SPC and took out my AR today. About every 3 or 4 rounds, a round would not fire, had to strike them again and even then about 4 out of 60 did not fire at all even after several strikes. I'm assuming its a bad batch of ammo since 2 weeks ago my rifle worked worked flawlessly with Hornady and Remington ammo. So has any one else had this problem with SSA?

joelogic
05-07-2009, 10:16 PM
Usually if you have to restrike the ammo its because the bolt isnt closed. Did you clean and lube your gun after you shot last?

Jpach
05-07-2009, 11:22 PM
It happened because 6.8spc sucks and you should get a 6.5 grendel. Alexander casted a spell on you. However it is likely that it is just the ammo...

bwiese
05-07-2009, 11:22 PM
I believe SSA ammo is likely to have harder milspec primers.

Commercial/hunting ammo often have softer primers.

Ensure your gun's cleaned & lubed (incl. using chamber brush) and look into amount of firing pin protrusion...

pedro_c111
05-07-2009, 11:29 PM
Usually if you have to restrike the ammo its because the bolt isnt closed. Did you clean and lube your gun after you shot last?

I didn't clean or lube the gun since I last shot it, but it was only about 80 rds so I didn't think it was necessary. The reason I think it's the ammo is because there were still a few rounds that didn't fire even after several re-strikes. I'm curious to know if any one else has had any similar experience with SSA ammo.

Maddog5150
05-07-2009, 11:44 PM
i doubt your rifle would of went poo poo after just 80 rounds. Its probably the ammo. I've noticed with the wannabe tacticool brands of ammo, you get brass out of spec, failure to fire, poor bullet seating.
Remember TTI armory? I bought some of their tacticool match grade 308 stuff and had the same problem you did including brass out of spec to where I couldnt close the bolt on my gun. just one failure to fire is waaaaaaaay too many out of a box of 20 on ammo thats marketed to save lives.

slick_711
05-07-2009, 11:57 PM
The way ammo's been unavailable lately primers are a huge issue. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the small ammo manufacturers are scraping the bottom of the barrel so to speak when it comes to the primers they're using. They probably don't have much choice.

But no, I have nothing to contribute about SSA sorry, just that thought. Although, I kinda doubt it's your rifle. There's no reason you'd go from zero problems with quality ammo to 7% failure rate with questionable ammo. Bill makes a good point about mil-spec primers being harder, but if they were failing to fire after multiple strikes that wouldn't quite fit.

pedro_c111
05-08-2009, 12:17 AM
The way ammo's been unavailable lately primers are a huge issue. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the small ammo manufacturers are scraping the bottom of the barrel so to speak when it comes to the primers they're using. They probably don't have much choice.

But no, I have nothing to contribute about SSA sorry, just that thought. Although, I kinda doubt it's your rifle. There's no reason you'd go from zero problems with quality ammo to 7% failure rate with questionable ammo. Bill makes a good point about mil-spec primers being harder, but if they were failing to fire after multiple strikes that wouldn't quite fit.

Thanks for the input guys. I guess it isn't that bad of a deal, atleast now I have some brass to start reloading, we'll see how that goes. Thanks again.

stag6.8
05-08-2009, 2:18 AM
I shoot ssa 110gr pro hunter and 115gr otm with no problems.....bill`s right they use hard primers and even if you shoot it one time at the range always break it down clean and oil it afterwards its force of habit for me lol (I take the bolt apart and clean the inside where the firing pin goes with a pipe cleaner dipped in gun scrubber)..when you shot the 80 rounds without cleaning or oil.....how long did the rifle sit before you took it out again? Im sure that was the culprit....a good clean and lube is what it needed

phsieh10
05-08-2009, 6:05 AM
Try giving Arth ttp://www.ssarmory.com a call. He swapped out a case of Xtreme ammo for me because it was not compatible with my LWRC.

Linus
05-08-2009, 7:19 PM
Read Q.7 in their FAQ.
http://www.ssarmory.com/frequentlyaskedquestions.aspx

TZL
05-19-2009, 7:57 PM
What 6.8 spc setup are you running? I've never had any problems with SSA ammo, i'm guessnig weak hammer spring