Problem with Hornady Critical Duty


Wyldekard

Wyldekard

,
Has anyone using Hornady Critical Duty ammunition in .40 S&W experienced problems with it? I have a new S&W M&P and got two boxes of Critical Duty shipped in. This ammo just won't feed in my weapon. I was only able to get 6 rounds out of 40 to feed and fire. I've ran Federal Champion, Winchester white box, and Winchester PDX1 through it without a hiccup. The weapon had 75 or so rounds through it when I switch to Hornady. So I stopped for the day and gave it a thorough cleaning. Went out the next day and first round chambered and fired, but then I couldn't get another chambered. Switch to WWB and no problem.


I called Hornady and they said mine is the first report they've had. Anyone else heard of or had problems with the .40S&W
 

Same pistol
Same ammo same problem, polished the feed ramp and now it cycles perfect with the hornady
 
I haven't had any issues with mine. I have them loaded in my XD-40.

So is this the first ammo you've put through the M&P? What grain is the WWB?
with the Critical Duty being 175 gr, I can't imagine it would give you any slide issues. hmm. strange.
 
CRW said:
I haven't had any issues with mine. I have them loaded in my XD-40.

So is this the first ammo you've put through the M&P? What grain is the WWB?
with the Critical Duty being 175 gr, I can't imagine it would give you any slide issues. hmm. strange.
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I googled "hornady critical duty failure to feed". The first thing that is returned is a conversation about PPQs with the same problem in a Walther forum. So it's not just S&W.

It was the fourth ammo choice I've run (or tried to run) through it. 1st was a box of Federal Champion. I threw the box away so I can't say as to the weight, but they were flat nose. 2nd was a box of Winchester PDX1. They were 180 grain JHP. Third was Winchester white box. 165 grain flat nose. All good. 100% flawless. Then came the Hornady. After a combined 30 minutes over two days (thorough cleaning in between) I was able to get 6 rounds out of 40 to fire. I have the same type ammo in 9mm and it is fine in my XDm and my 92FS. The bullet of the .40S&W is radically different. It looks like they shaved the 5 grains off the shoulders when compared to a PDX1 and WWB. When you run a finger from the bullet down the case, the case lip is much more noticeable than either Winchester.

I also found that when unloading the magazines by hand the case of the round caught on the lip of the magazines, but that is way different than short stroke recoil operation of a slide. I just mention it as I haven't experienced it before when unloading other ammo/caliber. Of course I rarely unload a magazine by hand anyway.
 
I used a dremel tool with a foam tip and buffing compound from the auto parts store, it didn't take much and now it feeds anything I throw at it flawlessly
 
Critical Duty works great in my SR40c as long as the first 1 goes in.I have had trouble getting the first 1 in a few times when cocking it by hand.
 
squirrelhunter said:
Critical Duty works great in my SR40c as long as the first 1 goes in.I have had trouble getting the first 1 in a few times when cocking it by hand.
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Thanks squirrelhunter. I've been doing some more research and it seems polishing the feed ramp cures the problem. It still seems odd to me about the same problem occurs with more than one manufacturer. I sent the 34 rounds out of 40 I had left back to Hornady as they asked. I'm thinking of not doing anything to my weapon until I get their response. I live a little over a 150 miles from their facility. If they say "no problem found" I could ride to their manufacturing facility in a few hours and show them first hand. If nothing else, it would be a nice ride.
 
S&W and Walther are the same. Smith distributes (and quietly manufactures parts for the domestic product) Walther in the US. Smith and Kimber are notorious for failure to feed issues with any flat nose or sharp bullets.

I polished the ramp on my 3rd gen auto years ago and never had an issue since.
 
BIGJOHN621 said:
S&W and Walther are the same. Smith distributes (and quietly manufactures parts for the domestic product) Walther in the US. Smith and Kimber are notorious for failure to feed issues with any flat nose or sharp bullets.

I polished the ramp on my 3rd gen auto years ago and never had an issue since.
Click to expand...

The way thngs are these days you can't tell who the players even if you do have the scorecard!
 
I just went to the range after reading this thread to try out the Critical Duty (175 gr FlexLock) I had recently purchased. I have a M&P 40 with over 1000 rounds fired and no misfeeds or misfires, regardless of ammo...until today. I loaded up 2 mags with 10 rds each. The first thing I found is that with each mag, the first round wouldn't easily chamber. I tried inserting the mags with both slide open and closed, pull/drop and slide release lever. It took several attempts to get the first round to feed. After that, the first mag cycled 10 rounds with no issues. I did have a misfeed part way through the 2nd mag.

I then fired 10 rounds each of the Critical Duty (165 gr FTX) and the Custom (180 gr XTP). I had no loading or firing issues with either. The Duty ammo has a very pronounced lip between the casing and the bullet, where the transition is much smoother on the other two.

Bottom Line - As long as my store has Critical Defense or Custom available, I probably won't buy another box of the Duty ammo.
 
rbstumbo said:
I just went to the range after reading this thread to try out the Critical Duty (175 gr FlexLock) I had recently purchased. I have a M&P 40 with over 1000 rounds fired and no misfeeds or misfires, regardless of ammo...until today. I loaded up 2 mags with 10 rds each. The first thing I found is that with each mag, the first round wouldn't easily chamber. I tried inserting the mags with both slide open and closed, pull/drop and slide release lever. It took several attempts to get the first round to feed. After that, the first mag cycled 10 rounds with no issues. I did have a misfeed part way through the 2nd mag.

I then fired 10 rounds each of the Critical Duty (165 gr FTX) and the Custom (180 gr XTP). I had no loading or firing issues with either. The Duty ammo has a very pronounced lip between the casing and the bullet, where the transition is much smoother on the other two.

Bottom Line - As long as my store has Critical Defense or Custom available, I probably won't buy another box of the Duty ammo.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your test results. They're very revealing. I agree with you. If Hornady doesn't make a change then it's best to use something else. I like the Critical Duty characteristics. It'll be disappointing if I can't use it.
 
Wyldekard said:
Has anyone using Hornady Critical Duty ammunition in .40 S&W experienced problems with it? I have a new S&W M&P and got two boxes of Critical Duty shipped in. This ammo just won't feed in my weapon. I was only able to get 6 rounds out of 40 to feed and fire. I've ran Federal Champion, Winchester white box, and Winchester PDX1 through it without a hiccup. The weapon had 75 or so rounds through it when I switch to Hornady. So I stopped for the day and gave it a thorough cleaning. Went out the next day and first round chambered and fired, but then I couldn't get another chambered. Switch to WWB and no problem.


I called Hornady and they said mine is the first report they've had. Anyone else heard of or had problems with the .40S&S
Click to expand...

I've had no problem with the Hornady Critical Duty in my G23. However, I've stopped using it and am using Speer Gold Dot since that is what is called for in my Sheriff's Reserve and with LE discount I get it dirt cheap.
 
Hornady called me and admitted they couldn't fire the ammo I sent in through their test M&P either. They said there was a problem with the crimp on the bullet. They are sending me 3 boxes (60 rounds) of ammo to replace the two boxes (34) rounds I sent to them. They paid for the bad ammo to be shipped to them and they are shipping the replacement ammo at their expense. I am satisfied how I was treated and with the resolution.
 
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