Henry Rifle Forums

A few months ago I purchased 1000 rounds of Monarch 9x19mm 115gr FMJ brass cased ammo from Academy. Monarch is their
brand but the ammo is manufactured by others. In this case the ammo was made by Armscorp in the Phillipines. I've had three failures with this ammo in the 650 rounds that I've fired.
The first was several months ago in my S&W Shield. It looks like the case may not have been crimped tight enough to the bullet allowing the rim of the empty case to catch on it. I've fired 2850 rounds through my Shield and this is the second failure I've had with it. The other failure was also a stovepipe
but I don't remember what ammo I was using at that time. I've had no malfunctions with my Shield using my self defense ammo (Federal HST 124gr standard pressure JHP).

This past Friday I took my Sig Sauer P365 9mm out to the range to practice. It's a tiny pistol and rather difficult to shoot well (at least it is for me). I fired 100 rounds of the Monarch and had one failure. I am certain this was not limp wristing because I was very focused on using a strong two handed grip and working on my trigger control. I remembered having another failure with the P365 several months ago and found in my notes that I was using the same ammo then. I now have 850 rounds through this pistol with only the two malfunctions. Both are with the Monarch ammo. I've had no malfunctions with my carry ammo or other brands of FMJ. Take a look at pics of the failure from Friday. The case was covered in soot on one side and it appears there is unburned powder left in the chamber. Here are pics of the ammo box. What do you guys think caused the failures? Not enough powder in the cases? I thought the most recent failed round might not have been properly crimped. What would cause the scorching and the leftover power? I bought this ammo because it was on sale at the time for $8/box. I won't buy anymore unless that's all I can find. I am relived to know the malfunctions in my concealed carry pistols are all or mostly related to one brand of ammo.

I guess one thing to be thankful for is that it is obviously a failure of the ammunition and not a failure of your firearms. I have never seen 'sooting' like that before. How much of the Monarch stuff do you have left?

Greyhawk wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 9:47 am

I guess one thing to be thankful for is that it is obviously a failure of the ammunition and not a failure of your firearms. I have never seen 'sooting' like that before. How much of the Monarch stuff do you have left?

I’ve got 350 rounds left. I’ll probably shoot those in my larger pistols (Glock 19, M&P 2.0, Sig P320).

any idea how many rounds were fired through your P365 between the last time it was cleaned and the failure .. .. after the failure did you fire more rounds ..

Ive got some armscor 22 mag but I think thats all i have in that brand. Never shot any of what you are shooting. Ive bought my 9mm from target sports and like the Speer bulk ammo in 124 gr. Its a little more money than what you are shooting but Ive never had any issues with it. Only other import stuff I have is some Priv, Sellior, and Silver and Brown Bear. Never have had any issues with it.

JEBar wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:20 am

any idea how many rounds were fired through your P365 between the last time it was cleaned and the failure .. .. after the failure did you fire more rounds ..

I clean my firearms after every range session. ESPECIALLY my carry guns. I’m a bit obsessive about that. I also make sure they are lubricated before shooting them. I did fire more rounds after this malfunction but I ran a bore snake through the barrel and applied a small amount of lube before putting it back in action. I guess my main question is why the soot and leftover powder from the bad round. I’ve been shooting about 7-1/2 years and I’ve never seen that. Any ideas?

Could be the powder they are using. Ive experience that with the Priv Partisan ammo. The powder they use is dirty. Some of the powders we get here will do that also. XMP5744 tends to leave particles in the chamber when I have shot it. There is some others also. I cant think of another one right now.

I'm thinking back to decades ago when many semiautomatics weren't anywhere near as dependable as they are now .... as I recall, similar ejection issues were much more common .... I know that was one reason I switched exclusively to revolvers and I'm still in that camp today .... here is where time tends to cloud memories but seem to remember a residue build up in the chamber could get to where it had a slight restriction on the free movement of the case moving into and out of the chamber .... over time I've seen blackened cases, mostly on bottleneck cases .... to emphasize, I'm not a gunsmith and I don't play one on TV .... I've been told that part of the blackening can be caused by blowback when the case necks don't properly seal to the camber .... since you have only seen that degree of blackening on one case, I suspect the problem was with the case

I shoot Armscorp occasionally, but don't recall ever having a problem with it. Still got a couple boxes of it around here somewhere. Sometimes ammo problems are just the luck of the draw/bad lot that got out which happens when a company has to do sampling with anything from airplanes to zuccini. You can't function test every cartridge since you need to sell them, and non-destructive inspection of every one is prohibitively expensive, and is not a guarantee that every single one will perform as desired.

I purchased some of their .223 ammo a while back and couldn't use it (labeled Armscor). I had the same problems. It wouldn't load in the chamber at all in my Ruger American All Weather.
Jake

I didn't read all the posts in this thread so I don't know if it has suggested previously but have you contacted Academy, Ltd. as per their site address on the box?

They might 'comp' you in some way.

My suggestion is to consider reloading.

I think that you might want to chalk it up as a lesson learned about cheap ammo and be glad that you didn't have a bullet stuck in the barrel or something as bad.

Just an observation: In the third pic, that sideways stovepipe case looks awfully clean inside. Odd. When ammo is mass produced at the factory, guessing a couple will "slip thru the cracks", as in a light powder charge. That light/no crimp is concerning also. As you mentioned, shoot the rest in another gun and be done with that ammo. Best thing is, you have ammo that you know works. Good luck.

Rifletom wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2020 10:40 am

Just an observation: In the third pic, that sideways stovepipe case looks awfully clean inside. Odd. When ammo is mass produced at the factory, guessing a couple will "slip thru the cracks", as in a light powder charge. That light/no crimp is concerning also. As you mentioned, shoot the rest in another gun and be done with that ammo. Best thing is, you have ammo that you know works. Good luck.

I thought that empty case looked too clean, also. At any rate, I’m going to take your advice, Rifle Tom. I have plenty of 9mm ammo by other manufacturers that I can use. I’ll use up that Armscor in my Glock 19 and not buy anymore. Thanks.

As a rule, most case sooting is created by under-powered rounds.
The case is not obturating (swelling to seal case to chamber) which allows burnt powders to escape the action.

When this happens with handloads, it generally means you need to up the powder charge slightly to create a good seal.
Under-powered rounds could also be the culprit in the failure to fully eject the empty cases, which, in turn, causes the stovepipes, or failure to feed.

Can't talk to the unburned powder issue, but the rest of your problems seem to stem from under-powered rounds.
Not really that uncommon with mass produced ammunition.

Mgderf wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:11 pm

As a rule, most case sooting is created by under-powered rounds.
The case is not obturating (swelling to seal case to chamber) which allows burnt powders to escape the action.

When this happens with handloads, it generally means you need to up the powder charge slightly to create a good seal.
Under-powered rounds could also be the culprit in the failure to fully eject the empty cases, which, in turn, causes the stovepipes, or failure to feed.

Can't talk to the unburned powder issue, but the rest of your problems seem to stem from under-powered rounds.
Not really that uncommon with mass produced ammunition.

That’s what I suspected, Mgderf. Thanks for the input,