grimey121uk Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 I purchased a couple of boxes of Hornady HMR a few weeks ago and I noticed that one of the boxes had very dark coloured ballistic tips compared with the usual bright red despite having the same batch number as the other boxes. Anyway they performed as expected however I came across a round missing the ballistic tip which made me wonder on the construction of the bullets, I was under the impression that the polymer tips filled a hollow point cavity rather than just sitting on top of a flat head (the pictures on Hornady's website seem to suggest this)? Additionally the case seems to be in a worst state than any HMR ammo that I have seen before noting the black spots in the picture below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Could that bullet somehow have been loaded back to front? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grimey121uk Posted March 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Could that bullet somehow have been loaded back to front? Hmm good point, I'll try to extract it later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenhunter Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 That, sir, is a nice piece of observation! You could well be correct. Very odd!! GH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad1 Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Yeah it looks like a boat tail ? Just as we'll you weren't out at night loading in the dark !! That could have been nasty !? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 I know little about the calibre and nothing about the bullet OAL, but I should imagine that if you fired it the pressure could well be excessive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njc110381 Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 (edited) How weird is that?! I'm 100% certain that's just been stuffed in the wrong way up. That's kind of worrying because the extra space the other end is taking up in the case could really mess with the pressures. Never seen that before! Edit... I pulled a 17g Remington HMR round once when it failed to fire and it was a boat tail bullet. Edited March 3, 2013 by njc110381 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperfection Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Could that bullet somehow have been loaded back to front? In WW1 the Germans pulled bullets from their cases and delibretly reinserted them back to front so when they fired at the British Mk1 tank they punched holes through the steel.They proved this correct in a documentory i saw too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 In WW1 the Germans pulled bullets from their cases and delibretly reinserted them back to front so when they fired at the British Mk1 tank they punched holes through the steel.They proved this correct in a documentory i saw too. Cracking and interesting little post. Except that we put them back the same way as they came out, we used to do that in Aden in the mid sixties. They'd been in and out of a magazine (Lee Enfield), so often and were so loose that we'd check if there was any powder left just in case by some exceedingly slim chance we actually needed to fire the rifle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockercas Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 In WW1 the Germans pulled bullets from their cases and delibretly reinserted them back to front so when they fired at the British Mk1 tank they punched holes through the steel.They proved this correct in a documentory i saw too. I was just about to type this. It didnt by any chance say in the documentry how they knew turning the bullets around made them amour peircing did they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperfection Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 I was just about to type this. It didnt by any chance say in the documentry how they knew turning the bullets around made them amour peircing did they? No they didnt,but the British army guy who set up the experiment for the tv crew didnt believe a back to front 7.92 round could pierce heavy steel and was pretty amazed when it did.I would guess it was one of many methods the Germans used to stop the tanks and found it worked well. It was an intresting documentory,but i cant for the life of me even remember what channel it was on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Now someone tell me HMR ammo hasn't been constantly in decline quality wise! That my friends is a backwards bullet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 And the first ever seen on here out of millions used, not exactly a huge sign of ammo quality Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 On the other hand and judging by the state of the cylinder case and no mention of a trip to the RFD for a refund, is April early this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dekers Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 On the other hand and judging by the state of the cylinder case and no mention of a trip to the RFD for a refund, is April early this year? :lol: Who knows, but that's a first for me, not much doubt that is the tail! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grimey121uk Posted March 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 (edited) Well I managed to extract the bullet and it was indeed fitted upside down, polymer tip intact too. As I said in my original post, the box of rounds came out of had a different colour polymer tips than the other boxes I have had (almost black compared with the usual red) however the polymer on the dodgy one is the usual red colour and its also worth noting that this was the only round in the box which has the corrosion spots on the brass which leads me to suspect its from another batch. Edited March 4, 2013 by grimey121uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardo Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 i'd send a stern letter and copy of the picture to the manufacturer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bala Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 hmr wad cutter, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 i'd send a stern letter and copy of the picture to the manufacturer! Yup HMR ammo seems to be a rather patchy affair. I have had a few of the delayed discharge/split case issues, and it really makes you stop and think (and have a good look down the bore before loading another round!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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