Dont leave your levergun magazine loaded

[Vlad G 345]

These came out from my Winchester 94. They are Federal 170gr Hi-shock, they have been in the magazine for about 1 year. The left one came out of the factory ammo box for comparison.

 

[Recon Racoon 49]

All those projectiles are pushed past the crimping canulure (sp?). Pretty cool to see the effects of them sitting for a year, but those rounds are trashed now because of it.

[Vlad G 345]

yeah of course they are garbage and a couple likely very dangerous in the relatively low pressure action of a 94.

[TonyJ 17]

Hard to imagine that the the tension of the magazine spring would cause that to happen.

But i guess under long term storage it obviously did.

 

Just wondering if the bullets were not crimped properly?

thanks for sharing

[Vlad G 345]

Well looking at them it sure does seem that Federal applied a VERY light crimp. That rifle has been previously loaded for extended periods of time with Winchester ammo without this issue.

[TonyJ 17]

Who's to say this didn't happen shorty after loading them.

I would contact the manufacturer and see what their response is.

Good Luck,

[Vlad G 345]

I'm not really worried about $5 of ammo.

 

Looking at the rounds from the same box, it seems to me like the bullets are seated quite high, the crimp only barely catches the crimp canelure. Combine that with the notoriously soft Federal rifle brass, and the spring pressure of a full mag and this is what happens. On the two badly set back rounds you can see the entire crimp has basically been rolled out, which i never really seen before on anything, but I suppose if the brass is really soft this is what you get with a year of spring pressure.

[TonyJ 17]

I was thinking to contact them because of the possible injury or damage they may cause.

In your case you were knowledgeable enough to identify the problem, others may not be so lucky.

[RedBowTies88 41]

Was the gun carried at all ofter being loaded or just loaded and stuck in the rack/safe?

 

Also, just wated to say that if you have a .22 tub fed gun this isn't an issue becuase of the heeled design Saying this only becuase I keep my .22 loaded at all times to deal with those pesky critters that attack my trash.

[Old School 611]

Vlad - Was there any recoil involved? I don't like that at all. You know you can save them if you want. And other stuff from that lot I would only fire single shot or add crimp which can be done with any 30 cal crimp die.

[Vlad G 345]

Nope, no recoil, just sitting in the safe. I'm not worried about saving them, I'll just pull them apart and dispose of them or save the brass just in case I ever want to reload for 30-30 (I do have the dies).

[Parker 213]

Never seen that before. Those cases look to have a poor stab crimp on them though. Usually the crimp is more pronounced on factory ammo, and most that bite the cannelure stay put. I'd send them to Federal and ask "what's up?"