survivalshop Posted February 1, 2018 Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 (edited) Well I pulled a Bullet from one of the new XM 80C ( even though I had one already pulled from another batch ) I cut the Bullet in half with a cut off wheel & yes cutting through the Jacket made a lot of sparks . What I was not expecting to find was a void in the Tip of the Bullet that had no Lead in it , now that may be by design , but the issue I see is its not uniform & seemed to be a larger void on one side of the Bullet & Lead reaching higher on one side , closer to the Tip . It may be the way it was made , but that cant be good for Bullet flight or performance down range or grouping . If this is an example of how these end up from manufacturing , I not only will not purchase any more of this ammo , but it makes me wonder what any pulled or surplus Bullets for sale through various sellers are made the same way . with a magnet stuck to the bullet Photos of the void , no Lead melted away , didn't get hot enough it did get hot enough for the Plating to flake off on the tip of the half on the left , exposing the Metal Jacket material Loaded with 44.4 gas. of some kind of Ball Powder with some lighter gray in color balls Edited February 1, 2018 by survivalshop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sketch Posted February 1, 2018 Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 thats interesting.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtallen83 Posted February 1, 2018 Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 That odd shaped void is messed up! Makes me wonder what kind of groups I can expect, maybe it's just blasting ammo and I better keep saving that FN ball in my stash I was going to swap with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtallen83 Posted February 1, 2018 Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 1 hour ago, survivalshop said: Loaded with 44.4 gas. of some kind of Ball Powder with some lighter gray in color balls What did the bullet weigh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
survivalshop Posted February 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 I didn't weigh it before I cut it , didn't expect what was inside , but I did weigh another one & it was 147.9 gr. ..I will weigh it on my Pact Scale , but doubt it will be much different . Reads 149 gr. Bullet on the Box . I dont think this ammo was made for match , probably meets MilSpec grouping at what ever their specs are & I always thought it was blasting ammo . The one guy on M14.com said the newer Fed. M80 ball gave him the worse scoring out of all the Mil.surplus he tested , thats Bad . He did get good results with other Fed Ball ammo I assume M118 & such . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmackc Posted February 1, 2018 Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 I have a sample order of 60 rounds on the way. Shipped on Tuesday, will shoot 20 rounds in the LR308 and 20 in the M1A. It has been several years since I shot any in a semi-automatic. I think I shot some in an M-60 before. Wish the USMC would have given me one instead of that Ruptured Duck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
survivalshop Posted February 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 4 hours ago, mrmackc said: I have a sample order of 60 rounds on the way. Shipped on Tuesday, will shoot 20 rounds in the LR308 and 20 in the M1A. It has been several years since I shot any in a semi-automatic. I think I shot some in an M-60 before. Wish the USMC would have given me one instead of that Ruptured Duck. All that I have got over the years had no problem shooting , this was a surprise to me about the Void in the tip , not so much the Void , but how its not uniform . I have some Targets shot & Chrono results from it in at least two different barreled 308AR's & as said it didn't shoot all that bad , wasn't MOA , thats for sure . Glad your feeling good enough to go out & bust some cap's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmackc Posted February 2, 2018 Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 Yes, SS I am not the old Mack using a cane. But I am itching to bust some caps and kill some paper. I am wondering if maybe the heat of that cut off wheel melted a small amount of the lead and blew it out. The actual weight of the bullet has to reflect some metal loss. A small Dremmel abrasive cutoff generates a lot of heat in a small area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
survivalshop Posted February 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 No melting , I took many breaks in doing it , you don't need a lot of rpms to cut through a Bullet . I started at the Base & cut through the jacket on one side & then flipped it over & could see the void when I cut through the Jacket , I didn't have a choice , the Bullet kept dislodging out of the Vice & I had to move it back into the position I needed . I guess some Lead could have popped out , but doubt it . I not sure if its hot poured into a formed Jacket or Swaged into it or some other method . The Void is probably not an accident , I'm cutting another one apart today , because I'm curious . The Bullet lost some weight because of the 1/16" thick reinforced cut off wheel , I have a thinner one to try . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
survivalshop Posted February 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 I cut another apart , this time the one half of the Jacket fell off & no Void or pocket in this one , weight was 145.5 Grains. Probably filled to weight when assembled ( Lead can have different densities ) . It got just as hot or warm as the first one , but used a unreinforced cut off wheel ( went through four of them ) & I used Vice Grips to hold it & the Vice grips were locked in the Vice . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtallen83 Posted February 2, 2018 Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 Looks like the jackets are copper clad before the lead is added. Wonder if there would be a method of sorting out the rounds with voids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmackc Posted February 3, 2018 Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, jtallen83 said: Looks like the jackets are copper clad before the lead is added. Wonder if there would be a method of sorting out the rounds with voids? I would think the QC for the lead alloy core is a mechanical process and a very limited actual inspection I wonder if the DOD has a feedback process. Other than that it may be kind of like our old method of electric blasting cap testing. Load them up and see if they go BANG.If they don't go BANG carefully replace them with some from another lot number. Edited February 3, 2018 by mrmackc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
survivalshop Posted February 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 (edited) 14 hours ago, mrmackc said: I would think the QC for the lead alloy core is a mechanical process and a very limited actual inspection I wonder if the DOD has a feedback process. Ya , we are getting their rejects , there could be many QC processes , including what I read the other day about the loose rounds swept off the floor & packaged for surplus , which shouldn't be an issue , I don' t think . I'm going to cut another one the same way , to see how it looks , I might have found a bad one with the first or there was indeed an issue with the way i cut it , but i was careful not to do anything to disturb the interior of the Bullet . I've just been seating a 155 SMK in the Case , so as not to lose the Primed , Charged Case . Edited February 3, 2018 by survivalshop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisco Posted February 3, 2018 Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 Guess you get what you pay for. I look at ammo like that as material to go out and blast clay pigeons and what not at 50-100 yards. But I treasure those LC cases! Then they get loaded up with 168 gr or 175 gr Sierra SMK's for now for some detail work When those are gone, I am going to change to the Barnes copper bullets. I wouldn't expect much accuracy from the originals, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
survivalshop Posted February 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2018 (edited) The XM 80C just gages on my LE Wilsons 308 Cartridge Head Space Gage at Max. HS , which is 1.634" ( which is max SAAMI spec for 308 Case HS ), I got that info from LE Wilson yesterday . The Min. on the 308 Gage is 1.629 " . I set my Sizing Die to set the shoulder for a little above then Min. reading on my LE Wilson , which I would say is around 1.630-31" , just above the Min. flat on the Gage . Edited February 4, 2018 by survivalshop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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