[drdriller]

I bought several boxes of Hornady Critical Defense in .357 magnum. I tried to shoot them in a smith and wesson snubnose and a ruger vaquero 6 inch barrel. When I shot them, the casing expanded and extruded out of the cylinder slightly. This jammed both guns, would not let me turn the cylinder, and I barely got it open. I had to use a punch to get the spent shell out of the cylinder.

I sent all the boxes back, and the rep just called me. He told me this is a known issue and that they had manufacturing problems. They are replacing the ammo, but I don't have any more confidence in Hornady anymore. So far, my .40 S&W shoots fine, but I will always wonder if it has a defect.

I think I will stay with Golden Sabre.

[Andy W]

This is ammo that someone may use to save their life or the life of someone else. Problems like this are unacceptable. Hornady should have issued a recall the moment they found out about this problem; not just waited for calls to come in on a case by case basis.

[pilsbury]

This is not good news. I have it in my 1911 EDC, I'm going back to Golden Saber until I can run a few rounds through it.

[glockman99]

I have read the same thing about this ammo is a few other places, so I have switched back to the Federal 158 grain Hydra-Shock in my Ruger .357 magnum Police Service-Six.

[collim1]

I'm just glad you tried your carry ammo before carrying the weapon. Alot of people dont, SD ammo is very expensive.

[DRT]

I'm really wondering about hornady quality control. Besides this report, just try googling "hornady critical defense problems". No product is perfect but the number of negative reports is a little concerning.

I'll stick with HST.

[Zombie Steve]

Wait... what? The brass stretched out of the front of the cylinder?

[Merkavaboy]

Originally Posted by pilsbury

This is not good news. I have it in my 1911 EDC, I'm going back to Golden Saber until I can run a few rounds through it.

So you're saying that you loaded up your EDC gun with ammo that you never thoroughly tested for functioning and reliability? Wow. Talk about brave (and foolish).

[Merkavaboy]

Originally Posted by drdriller

I bought several boxes of Hornady Critical Defense in .357 magnum. I tried to shoot them in a smith and wesson snubnose and a ruger vaquero 6 inch barrel. When I shot them, the casing expanded and extruded out of the cylinder slightly. This jammed both guns, would not let me turn the cylinder, and I barely got it open. I had to use a punch to get the spent shell out of the cylinder.

This tells us several things.

Poor brass. It was not elastic enough. It expanded and failed to "spring back" allowing easy extraction.

Poor quality primers. The metal cup of the primer flowed backwards into the revolvers' face plate binding up the cylinder.

The above two problems are often associated with excessive pressures.

[drdriller]

No, the brass stretched out of the back of the cylinder and the rep said the pressures were WNL.

[Tiro Fijo]

Have your revolvers been "worked" on by someone?

[drdriller]

Negative, stock revolver. Anyway, customer service told me they were defective, and that NOW, the manufacturing process is good.

[sfguard]

deleted found the info I wanted

[Zombie Steve]

Originally Posted by drdriller

No, the brass stretched out of the back of the cylinder and the rep said the pressures were WNL.

I've gone above and beyond in finding ways to screw up handloads over the years. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell would cause that to happen. Hornady brass is usually top notch. Hot loads can make them stick in the cylinder, but I've never seen one stretch out the back... especially since it can only go so far until it hits the breechface.

[Darkangel1846]

Most of the critical Defense stories I read were from 2009 and early 2010. You the first neg. report I've seen since.