Warning re: Remington UMC .223
I posted this on "the other forum" but thought it would be of interest here.
Went to the range yesterday with my Colt M4 and tried some Remington UMC 55 gr. FMJ ,223 (the value pack stuff). I had a round that failed to fire (luckily) When I pulled it out the bullet was set back in the case for most of it's length and only about 1/8" was above the rim. After that I pulled the mag and chambered round after every round fired and found one more with bullet set-back in the mag. After two in 30 rounds I stopped shooting it.
Unfortunately, I've got about 800 rounds of this crap (about 300 value pack and rest in 20 round yellow boxes of Rem UMC and 20 round Remington green and white boxes.
I won't be shooting any of the value pack in my AR's but is it safe to shoot in a magazine fed bolt action? Is all Remington .223 suspect or just the value pack UMC?
FOLLOW UP.
Today I sat down and inspected each of the 900 rounds I have left. I found 185 that had the bullet seated above the cannelure with none of the cannelure showing. I assume that these would be the ones that would be subject to set-back under recoil.
I'll only shoot those rounds that I can see the crimp on the cannelure in my ARs and shoot the rejects in my CZ 527 and look at each round from the magazine before chambering. The 527 is a 1/2 MOA rifle so even these rejects should be good for plinking in it. I found rejects in yellow box, green and white box and 200 round value packs so it's more than one lot number.
If someone in the Denver Metro area reloads .223 and can run them through a crimping die, I'd happily trade all 900 2 for 1 for Fiocchi or Federal.
