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Bad Batch of Federal GMM 168s - OVER PRESSURE - be careful

3K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  Jeffvn 
#1 ·
I had a dangerous situation arise on Friday on the range using Fed. Gold Medal 168s. They were showing abnormally high velocities early in the week when I was testing my .308 loads - I thought my Chrony was going bad. The bolt was a bit stiff, but not overly so, the primers a bit flat, but not overly so. Friday morning dawns and I disregarded the high velocities, sticky bolt, and shot them anyway (not my best move - but its expensive ammo and I had 18 boxes of the stuff sitting there looking at me). They were running with about 1 MOA less drop than normal from 400 yards, then blam a primer blew completely off the casing. NOT GOOD, as the rifle vents gas straight back into your face when that happens - smells not to nice too. That was the last time I pulled the trigger on the ammo. My Patriot Arms M40A1 .308 is fine - shot it on Sunday with other ammo and no problems - built like a tank.

I called Federal, and they are going to replace all of my ammo with that lot number (last 4 digits are "J157"). I suggest that if you bought ammo recently from Keisler's you check to see if you have any of that lot number in your Gold Medal 168s. If you do, be careful and look for pressure signs. If you have pressure signs you should 1) call Federal and talk to Mike Larson, 2) send it back to federal.

Oh, yeah they are reimbursing me the cost of the shipping to return the ammo too. No recall as yet. But if a significant portion of that lot turns out to be over pressure, they will do so.

I bought this ammo from Kiesler's from their web site.
 
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