357Sig KB w/KKM BBL Underwood Ammo

[4949shooter]

   I phoned up Kevin today and it's always a joy to talk with him. They never had a 10mm issue so no changes planned at all there. He did say they may make a change to put everything shoot-able in the Delta.  Kevin said this is the first time any kind of Kaboom has happened with his ammo. Could have been set-back and he said even a hard drop by the UPS guy could do it. I asked about being on the edge and didn't get the sense he felt that way.

He is blaming KB's on the UPS guy?

Really?

[Intercooler]

Not blaming. He accepted full responsibility to this episode and paid for damages. However... did say UPS giving a hard drop or something with the magazines could cause it. I have seen big factory ammo suffer the same thing in pictures. It's hard to tell without being there. I told him I couldn't sell ammo 

[4949shooter]

I am glad he accepted responsibility and paid for the damages. But by saying this could have been caused by the UPS guy he is shifting some of the blame.

Setback is usually caused by loading and unloading the same round numerous times. In my experience Winchester ammo has this issue. It doesn't happen so much with the Gold dots they issue us at work.

[Intercooler]

It could have been user induced. Point he was making is nobody but the one above would know for sure. Won't deter me one bit from buying his ammo. Kevin is one of the most stand-up and approachable guys I know.

[sqlbullet]

I have pulled a fair number of  bullets with an inertial bullet puller. It takes a good velocity and a VERY sudden stop.  Hitting a wood bench generally is too much give.  Much, much better results hitting an anvil or concrete.

Unless the box was crushed and that crushing force is what caused the set-back I have a hard time going along with the UPS guy did it theory.  At least for ammo with a proper crimp.

[The_Shadow]

sqlbullet, I use a 2' long piece of 4x4 and hit against the end grain, this provides a solid enough surface without damaging my kinetic puller.  When doing pull-downs for detail measures, I hit just hard enough to get the bullet to start moving, then softer taps to have it just drop out easy.  That keeps the powder from bouncing around.

When pulling pointed rifle type bullets or other exposed soft lead, (especially exposed lead tip) I place a wad of paper towel in the bottom of the puller tube to eliminate damage to the tip.  For the rifle it help preserve the ballistic potential to load'em again. 

[RMM]

There are some interesting observations here. 

357 SIG is already a very unforgiving caliber to load for.  High pressure, and a bottleneck cartridge with very little surface area with which to hold the bullet.  This leads to a situation where setback (user induced or otherwise) occurs easily.

I guess we'll never know what the true culprit was.  From the results, it doesn't look like a "slight" overcharge.  I wonder what powder he was using for those loads?  800x appears to be very unforgiving.

Was the cause bullet setback?  If so, was it caused by poor neck tension, or repeated loadings of the same cartridge (user induced setback)? 

There are so many things that can go wrong with guns & ammo! 

[gandog56]

Well the number one reason I would NEVER buy a Glock is they do not male a SINGLE model that feels comfortable in my hand. But it is kind of scary that most (Like 95%) of the "KABOOM!" stories seem to be Glocks. At not from like double charged reloads either!

[EdMc]

There are some interesting observations here. 

357 SIG is already a very unforgiving caliber to load for.  High pressure, and a bottleneck cartridge with very little surface area with which to hold the bullet.  This leads to a situation where setback (user induced or otherwise) occurs easily.

I guess we'll never know what the true culprit was.  From the results, it doesn't look like a "slight" overcharge.  I wonder what powder he was using for those loads?  800x appears to be very unforgiving.

Was the cause bullet setback?  If so, was it caused by poor neck tension, or repeated loadings of the same cartridge (user induced setback)? 

There are so many things that can go wrong with guns & ammo!

Have no idea what powder is used but Hodgdon only publishes one load for 357 SIG w/125 gr GD. That is 10.0 grains (no min-max) and that is a compressed load. Perhaps Longshot?

[DM1906]

..........At least one KB, numberous heavy smilies, at least one primer falling out, and velocitites too high for SAAMI spec pressures prove it.  And this is limited to what I can remember off the top of my head that we've simply seen and heard.  What haven't we heard or seen?....

Dead men tell no tales.

[REDLINE]

Dead men tell no tales.

That's a list I'm in no hurry to be on.

[The_Shadow]

There are some interesting observations here. 

357 SIG is already a very unforgiving caliber to load for.  High pressure, and a bottleneck cartridge with very little surface area with which to hold the bullet.  This leads to a situation where setback (user induced or otherwise) occurs easily.

I guess we'll never know what the true culprit was.  From the results, it doesn't look like a "slight" overcharge.  I wonder what powder he was using for those loads?  800x appears to be very unforgiving.

Was the cause bullet setback?  If so, was it caused by poor neck tension, or repeated loadings of the same cartridge (user induced setback)? 

There are so many things that can go wrong with guns & ammo!

Have no idea what powder is used but Hodgdon only publishes one load for 357 SIG w/125 gr GD. That is 10.0 grains (no min-max) and that is a compressed load. Perhaps Longshot?

The Hodgdon loads are; Speer Gold Dot 125 gr over IMR800X 10.0 grains compressed @ 1438 fps 36,100 psi

[EdMc]

Oops....I did leave out a 'few' important facts.

Thanks.

BTW, have you tried the load? I have some loaded but haven't had a chance to test them.

[The_Shadow]

The 357Sig's are OK for me with that load, however I still need to develop from there for my 9x25Dillon loads...

[txgunshowreview]

FWIW, it was my gun.  What a topic for my first post

regards,

- jim