Ever had a fail to fire with factory shotgun ammo?

[PJR]

Dave McC's post on ammo rotation and an incident last weekend prompted this question. While shooting a round of skeet, another shooter on the squad had a fail to fire. The factory ammo was in good condition with the exception of an apparently dead primer. Several attempts in a couple of guns wouldn't touch this round off.

Thinking back over many thousands of rounds that I've fired I cannot recall having a factory round coming up a dud. I have had two dead primers come up in ammo that I reloaded but that is over many tens of thousands of reloads. I pulled the rounds apart and there was no priming compound in the primer. In all the clay shooting I've done I can only recall one other time when a shooter had a FTF with factory ammo that was in otherwise good condition.

Has it ever happened to you that an apparently good round hasn't fired?

 

[Dave McC]

Yes, but so rarely it qualifies as an anomaly. The ammo companies do a first rate job in making reliable stuff.

Occasionally I've seen a faux dud, a light hit on the primer from a defective or more likely dirty firing pin. Trying again almost always gets it to shoot.

One Savage Model 24 that I was asked "to take a look at" years ago would misfire with one brand of ammo, but was reliable with all others. The fix was obvious in that case,and we never did figure out what was wrong.

 

[Dead]

I had some Italian Ammo, Ficchio or something when it firt came on the market (when I first saw it at a gun-show). I got one box of low brass #8's, stuff missfired like crazy. Thought it was the shotgun, but rems fired fine. Tried some of their slugs later on, never had a problem with those.

 

[JJCook]

A deputy sheriff buddy of mine who just bought a Mossberg 500 Camo Turkey Gun had some unsual problems with his. If I had to guess, I would have to say that 1 out of 3 rounds would fire in his gun...using Winchester and Federal Turkey and Duck Loads. I would put unfired the rounds in my gun, and they would fire just fine. It had to be a faulty firing pin/mechanism, since he hadn't even fired 2 boxes of shells through it. It's a crying shame when you have some healthy birds in your sights and all you hear is "click."

Semper Fi-
JJC

 

[Bam Bam]

Just this weekend shooting trap a guy on the line with me had a dud. The other two shooters were extremely nervous and were almost shouting at him to keep the barrel pointed down-range. He went back into the clubhouse to extract the shell, I believe. Is it wrong to be scared witless about that? Wouldn't be better to extract it on the _empty_ next over station outdoors? Hmmm, I didn't ask if it was factory or handloaded.

 

[GGGLOCK]

As a side note to this thread, for those that use their shotguns for defensive purposes, how many actually practice malfunction clearances on a regular basis? I used to, as part of my dry practice, but stopped after a few weeks.
About a year later, I came across a failure to fire using the cheap Walmart ammo. Stood there frozen for about 5 seconds wondering what was wrong. I thought to myself if I were in the process of defending myself and I froze like that...hmmm.

So I put malf. clearance practice back into my dry practice routine in hopes that the next time I get a malf. I will clear it reflexively. Should be anytime now, as I'm still using the cheap Wallmart stuff for practice.

Sorry for deviating from the subject.

 

[LIProgun]

Just to add another data point to this thread, I have never had an ammo-related failure to fire with factory shotshells. I cannot say the same about rifle and handgun ammo, but then again I shoot more rifle ammo, and much more handgun ammo, than shotshells.

 

[Oldlightning]

Sure, about a half dozen times.....

Out of a bazillion trap loads I've fired over the years.
They were all Rem primed, a change to Win 209's fixed it. Also had two squib or 'blooper loads', again factory target ammo. I'm glad you can call for another bird when your shell or gun malfunctions..... Thanks, OL

 

[PJR]

OL

Hate to say it but Remingtons, either loaded shells or primers have never failed me. My two dud primers were Winchesters and the failed rounds that I witnessed were factory Winchester AA (twice) and the Canadian-made Challengers (once). The Winchester failures were during that period in the mid-90's when there were rumors of an impending primer shortages and the factories cranked up to meet demand. The Challenger failure happened last weekend.

 

[tatters]

Shotgun ammo

Never, but I don't shoot near as much as some people. Come to think of it, I have never heard a hunting tale featuring dud ammo, either.