Herters Ammo...ugh

[Special Ed]

Just thought I'd share my experience from this weekend.

I went to Cabela's and bought a box of 500 rounds of ammo for my FNX-40. On the outside of the box (Cabela's dry box) it didn't say specifically which brand of ammo was inside. But for $160, I figured what the heck.

Turns out it was steel cased Herters FMJ (I knew it was FMJ at least). The first 14 rounds went through the FNX-40 without issue...but then it ended.

First problem was that after loading the 8th round into my mag, they stopped loading tightly...the damn things started falling out. I actually had to smack the mag against the table to get the spring to tighten. That happened with every mag I loaded for the next 350 rounds without fail. The last 100 rounds will not be put anywhere near my gun unless I need something to remind me of why you shouldn't buy crap ammo for such a nice pistol.

Next problem was that the rounds would not chamber all the time. About every third round would fail to chamber so I spent more time trying to chamber the rounds than firing them. What a colossal pain in the arse that was.

Anyhoo...I'm sure you guys/gals are already aware of this sort of thing but I figured since my search didn't turn up specifics about Herter's and the FNX-40, I'd put this out there for the WWW to see. I'll never buy that crap ammo again...as long as I know that's what I'm getting. I should have asked Cabela's to open the box so I could see what was in there. Live and learn.

I guess I should add that I'm sure it was the ammo since when I started loading my Winchester white box brass rounds into the same mags on the same day, I had zero loading or firing problems. The gun worked flawlessly. It just don't like steel cases

Cheers,
John

[MP_OHIO]

Yeah, I saw those in 223 on cabelas site last year and then read the reviews I passed on them.

[djv38]

were they really dirty?

[SpeedyR]

I would check the overall length of the Herters stuff compared to the WWB ammo. I had kind of the same problem with my FNP45 because the rounds were just a bit longer than more other ammo and they would get hung up on the magazine. that also caused some mis-feeds as well.

just something to check but either way it's a pain. if it's an OAL issue, maybe someone who reloads can resize them a bit (if it's not got a huge crimp on it) and then at least you can use them. or just try them in something else.

[Special Ed]

Dan, yes, they were grossly dirty. It looked like somebody ran the inside of my pistol through a chimney.

Speedy, I whipped out the trusty digital calipers and found the WWB are 28.24mm long and the Herters are 28.45mm long. For further comparison, my Winchester PDX1 are 28.4mm.

Thanks for the responses

[jathtech]

I've had so many problems with steel cased ammo in general that I will never get that crap again. My wife's .380 Bersa Firestorm that was the most reliable gun we owned until I got my FNX 40 even had issue with that stuff. The only stuff that failed to fire or jam through that gun. My Kel-Tec PF9 was the only gun that I couldn't see a difference in functionality with the steel vs. the brass. My friend's Ruger P45 did not function well at all with the steel cases. Just about the only guns I would recommend be used with steel case ammo is anything made in Russia. Maks, Tokes, AKs, etc. They will function fine. Other than that, avoid that crap at all costs.

[MP_OHIO]

For use in $350 AKs=Yes
For use in $600 ARs=maybe

For use in $2k+ scar= HELL NO

[Sullivan]

Last time I heard, Herter's was just rebranded Tula. Only caliber I've ever tried it in was .45, and besides being a bit less accurate than HSM reman., which wasn't much worse than Fed. Champion, it was fine (all in the killzone at 25yds). Got a few stovepipes, but they all went bang, and I got to perform some malfunction drills at the range. My RIA GI eats it up.

I'm going to try some Tula in .40 here soon and see if that works alright too. I wouldn't ever really recommend shooting Tula, but for the price and provided it runs, I think it's alright.

Also, not trying to start an argument or anything, but I think anyone that says Tula is really dirty hasn't ever shot WWB. That stuff is NAZZTY, or at least has been in my experience.

[7.62GUNR]

My $1,400 LMT M4 eats it just like LC M855......it just short strokes(weak) and is dirty.

[Vulcan71]

40 S&W OAL is 28.8 mm and those cartridges are known to not feed well in tight magazines or in some metal magazines. Nice polished brass will feed in anything. I see people at the range with feeding problems all the time with that ammo, I am speaking of semi-auto pistols of course. If you have a forgiving magazine and good feed ramp no worries.