Hornady Critical Defense Misfire

[m.ritz]

Has anyone ever had any bullets misfire on them? I've had two cases now where my pin struck, left a dent, but no bang. The first time was a 9mm Remington fmj out of a Glock 19, the second was just today, a Hornady Critical Defense .380acp out of a Kahr P380. I know Hornady is supposed to be one of the elite rounds to carry, but I'm also always hearing law enforcement officers recommending Speer Gold Dots. Is the issue that I experienced today just a fluke that occasionally happens to bullets of all manufacturers, or should I consider switching my protective ammo?

 

[subvet69]

In my Ruger LCR 38 I've had two misfires that worked the next time and one squib that resulted in the bullet lodged in the barrel. All this in about 1000 rounds. In a "situation" I'll take the misfires, the lodged bullet makes the gun a hammer or a rock. :smile:

 

[Bhoffman]

It could be that the ammo just has "hard" primers that your striker fired weapons have trouble detonating.

Find new, different, ammo.

By the way, the bullet is the thing on the other end of the cartridge, end away from the primer.

 

[JimTh]

One other possibility is that the rounds didn't fully chamber themselves. When the pin struck the primer it only pushed the cartridge in further without having fired.

 

[memphis_raines]

I've never had it happen, but I've only shot 2 or 3 boxes. I don't know if I would carry gold dots though. There's a test video on YouTube where a guy shot 5 of them into a gel block, and 2 of the 5 failed to expand and went right through the block.

 

[bofh]

Misfires do happen. They happen rarely with self-defense ammo, but they do. Train to deal with them (i.e. tap rack bang).

Hornady Critical Defense vs. Speer Gold Dot vs. whatever: Ammo performance depends on a lot of factors, including caliber, bullet weight and design, powder load, and barrel length. Don't choose a particular self-defense ammo based on rumors. There are a number of testing videos and ammo comparisons you can find online. For your Kahr P380, I recommend Final Results of the .380 ACP Ammo Quest | Shooting The Bull and for your Glock 19:

I currently use Speer Gold Dot 380 ACP 90 Grain in my Taurus TCP and Federal HST 9mm 147 Grain in my Glock 19.

 

[Timothy Bryant]

The first (and last) box of Hornady Critical Defense I ever purchased was in 380 ACP and I intended to use it as my carry round for a Bodyguard 380. Realizing that it was foolish to carry the round without at least running a couple mags through the gun first I decided I'd fire some off to ensure proper function. Good thing I did! The Bodyguard simply refused to fire multiple rounds from the same box without multiple primer strikes. I did some reading up on it after that and found there were quite a few others complaining that Hornady was using heavy primers that was causing issues with some guns. For what it's worth the Critical Defenses are the only round that has ever failed in my Bodyguard.

 

[BC1]

Two different manufacturers on two different guns is odd. Just for kicks check the striker and spring in each gun. Is the striker slightly bent? Is the striker spring defective or worn?