Results of cheap Chinese ammo.

[Poncho]

I recieved these pics in an email. Content of email below. Anyone seen this before?

Email:
A guy came into the police department the other day to ask a favor.
He had a S&W 629 (.44 Mag) that he wanted to dispose of after a mishap at the range.

He said there was a loud bang when he tested his new ammo (Chinese made), and the gun smacked him in the forehead, leaving a nice gash.


When the tweety birds cleared from around his head, the pictures show what he saw.

Bet he never uses Chinese made ammo again!


Looks like when the round in the chamber went off, It also set off at least two other rounds in adjacent cylinders.
I would have hated to been the one that pulled the trigger on that one!
A really good reason for not buying cheap ammunition.

They are proving this statement to be true.
You get what you pay for.
A really good reason for not buying cheap ammunition.

[MilProGuy]

I never buy cheap ammo (whether it's Chinese, American, Russian, etc.).

[Robert Harvey]

Cheap as in price or cheap as in quality.
How do you tell which is quality with out testing it?
thanks
Robert

[Coastie]

I never buy cheap ammo (Chinese, American, Russian, etc.).

+1.  I've long read on forums about cheap ammo and
have stayed away from it, usually buying American.

Robert, you can read about most ammo before you buy it.
Many advertisements will claim that it is Russian (insert
other nationality) "surplus" ammo and there's usually a
great 'deal' (sales) on the stuff.  Great deal/steal for whom,
the place selling this worth-less ammo or for you? 

Below at the top result-link of a search on google for "surplus ammo" netted this ad:

"Unbeatable prices & great selection for all your ammo needs.
Bulk, premium, pistol, rifle, rimfire, military surplus, shotgun, defense
ammunition, "

No, I enjoy my carefully researched and bought weapons and won't
chance it.  I've routinely stayed away from any and everything titled
"Bear" on ammo.  Bear is the PC term for Russian and this ammo is
crap - while you might like to shoot it, and I heaven't heard of any NDs
with it, you have to clean your barrels and weapons twice as hard
because the residue, spent powder and all is twice as bad as other
ammo.

[MilProGuy]

Cheap as in price or cheap as in quality.
How do you tell which is quality with out testing it?
thanks
Robert

Cheap as in price.
 
If it's priced less than Federal FMJ ammo I don't buy it.
 
I buy name brands: Federal, Remington, Corbon, Speers, etc.. and I never have any problems.
 
However, I consider Winchester White Box (name brand ammo) to be cheap, as I've had problems with it cycling through my semiautomatic pistols when other brands fire and eject just as they were intended to... so I stay away from it too.

[MilProGuy]

I never buy cheap ammo (Chinese, American, Russian, etc.).

No, I enjoy my carefully researched and bought weapons and won't
chance it.  I've routinely stayed away from any and everything titled
"Bear" on ammo.  Bear is the PC term for Russian and this ammo is
crap - while you might like to shoot it, and I heaven't heard of any NDs
with it, you have to clean your barrels and weapons twice as hard
because the residue, spent powder and all is twice as bad as other
ammo.

I am with you on this.  I, too, carefully research the firearms that I've purchased or traded for, and I'm fastidious about cleaning them after ever session of firing.  Whether it's for hunting or self-defense, I want (and expect) the ammunition to perform on par with the fine firearms I have.
 
I enjoy cleaning my firearms as much as any gun enthusiast, but avoid using those ammos that leave an excessive amount of  residue and spent powder in and on the firearm.

[Coastie]

Winchester White Box, works for some, and yours is the first
post I've read that didn't like it.  I, myself, haven't tried it,
because I have too much of the other fine ammo to cycle
through my weapons.  Maybe someday, or not (thanks for
your post milpro!)

[barnjoer]

When I went out after getting my PT 1911 back from Taurus for repairs the Winchester White Box is what I shot. For practice it is OK. At 20 yards shooting at 4'' steel plates I had no problem knocking them over, that is when i hit them. I was using ammo out of the 100 count bulk box. Out of every 8 shot mag there would be at least 2 flyer's & some times as many as 4. I only use it for practice for trigger pull practice. For accuracy it is not worth A crap!!

[rdpG19]

Just got the same email this morning from my shooting buddy. Cheap ammo isn't worth it. I've been shooting Blazer 115grn 9mm at the range, its cheap compaired to others but it does work very nice in my Glock 19.

[Coastie]

I've got a box of Blazer 9mm (same same) on my desk
beside me.  It's one of my brands.  No crap for me. 

[Taurian]

Unfortunately, the same can happen with "American" brand ammunition, as was once demonstrated to me when an Iver Johnson "Cattleman Special" .44 magnum decided to blow up whilst shooting factory (over) loaded Winchester .44 magnum ammunition. Although the gun did not strike me in the forehead, it left me minus a canine tooth (a dentist claimed that he could not have extracted the tooth any better than the gun did) and a scar that I still carry today.

The resultant damage to the revolver was very similar to the pictures posted, albeit the revolver was a single-action 1873 copy.

The only "surplus" ammo I use is for my Mosin Nagant (7.62x54R) rifles. I also have Silver Bear and Brown Bear in 7.62x54R that has performed very well in these rifles. With that said, Brown Bear ammunition has (so far) worked well in my Savage .308 but I defer to more modern, and American made (Remington Core-Lockt 180 gr. SP for general use and Remington 175 gr BTHP Premier Match for more serious use), ammunition for this rifle. Due to the expense of the ammunition, I do not shoot my .308s very often. The Brown Bear ammunition is intended only for when the rest of the ammunition has run out.