Major problem with blazer rounds in my 10MM!!

[CC Italian]

Well after my brother, father and several friends shooting hundreds, if not thousands of rounds in 9mm and .40cal I thought 2 boxes of blazers would be no big deal. I was wrong!!! The rounds were cheap for 10mm, if there is such a thing for 10mm. I shot 150 rounds of blazer about 2 months ago through my Glock 20SF with no problems. Saturday I took some friends to the range who had little experience with firearms and let them shoot several different guns that I own. Everything was great until my friend could not get the Glock to load the 13th round in the 15 round clip. I told him to let me look at it and to my amazement the blazer aluminum cartridge was stuck in the barrel. It had shot about 2 inches into the barrel. Needless to say I could not get the cartridge out and I took it to the gunsmith at the range. He said he can get it out but he told me this is not the first time this has happened with the blazer rounds. He has seen it several times with 9mm and .45 ACP. It goes without saying that I have learned my lesson and will never use Blazers again. Not even for target practice. I am just glad the 13th round did not feed into the chamber and fire. If it did my friend could have been seriously hurt. I know many will say that they have used thousands of rounds of the stuff with no problems but the gunsmith says he has seen it before. I wish I took a picture before I gave it to the gunsmith but what happened was that the rim of the cartridge broke away and ejected like normal but the rest of the cartridge shot forward two inches in the barrel.

Never again, I have learned my lesson the first time.

[dicion]

Wow! Thats crazy! Have never seen that before.
However, I also don't shoot anything but brass cartridges.. this just cements my practice

[CC Italian]

I normally use only brass and have never used blazers for anything before my 10mm. I always told my brother I would never use the cheap stuff. Well I ate my words in an attempt to save a few bucks. I thought it would be ok because they are owned by Speer but it seems not. Now I will only use brass for all my guns. At least nobody was hurt. That is all a really care about. I don't think my friend realized how dangerous that could have been.

[adam71176]

Wow, that is really scary, I will certainly never use them after hearing this story. Thank goodness that next round did not chamber!

[gemini]

Check all measurements of the unfired rounds with a Dial Caliper. See if the rounds are in spec.
I advise you to contact the Blazer guys and let them know what happened. If the specs are out of
normal range for 10mm they need to know. Anyway, here's their email addy: BlazerAmmo.Experts@ATK.com
Good luck.

[CC Italian]

Let me clarify. When I say the cartridge was in the barrel 2inches I mean the front of the cartridge. The back was about 1/2 inch-3/4in or so into the barrel. The 10mm is a long cartridge. The gunsmith said another 1/5 of an inch was probably all that was needed to chamber the next round. That is scary.

[CC Italian]

Sent an e-mail to Blazer detailing the problem. Hope to hear back soon.

[RECIT]

WOW is all I can say. You and him both a are lucky folks. I have used the Blazer aluminum .45 before reluctantly. Do you think it is the cheaper aluminum ammo or all of there ammo is lower quality? I tend to buy brass only for my pistols, but the aluminum 45 was the only thing available at the time so I bought a few boxes. I had no issues, but I also threw in the last two boxes of .45 I had when I sold the 1911. Glad to hear no one was hurt. Lesson learned...

[CC Italian]

Just got an e-mail and a call back from Blazer tech. They were nice but the tech or gunsmith didn't really make it sound like a big deal. Asked me to send the box and ammo and they would test it and send me more 10mm Blazer in return. I told them no thanks. The guy said that it can happen with brass cases also. Either way I will not use it again.

[CC Italian]

My next big question is how do I dispose of 100-150 rounds of ammo that I would only give to my worst enemy?

[MoJo]

My next big question is how do I dispose of 100-150 rounds of ammo that I would only give to my worst enemy?

I think you answered your own question - - - - -

[function12]

I have fired at least a thousand rounds of Blazer Brass though my G30 45 acp and never had a problem. Burns cleaner than White box winchester. I know a lot of ranges don't like the Blazer steel but I believe that is because it cut into their reload sales.

[gemini]

Just got an e-mail and a call back from Blazer tech. They were nice but the tech or gunsmith didn't really make it sound like a big deal. Asked me to send the box and ammo and they would test it and send me more 10mm Blazer in return. I told them no thanks. The guy said that it can happen with brass cases also. Either way I will not use it again.

At least they responded promptly and offered to replace your current ammo. If you're not comfortable shooting the Blazer
Alum., then post the remaining rounds "For Free" and someone will take it off your hands. Tell them your story etc.

I bought 500 rounds from Natchez S. S. before the ammo drought. (.45acp). I had no problems shooting any of it in
any gun. I did find a few rounds that had excessive bullet set-back. They made the same offer to me, return & replace.
Nice offer, but like you, I refused. However, I shot the remaining Blazer ammo with no problems. Keep us posted.

[WildBill]

WOW is all I can say. You and him both a are lucky folks. I have used the Blazer aluminum .45 before reluctantly. Do you think it is the cheaper aluminum ammo or all of there ammo is lower quality? I tend to buy brass only for my pistols, but the aluminum 45 was the only thing available at the time so I bought a few boxes. I had no issues, but I also threw in the last two boxes of .45 I had when I sold the 1911. Glad to hear no one was hurt. Lesson learned...

There is probably more room for forgiveness with .45 ACP ammunition using aluminum casings. The .45 ACP has a maximum pressure rating of 21,000 psi, while the 10 mm is 37,500 psi.

[lfinsr]

I had a similar problem with a .22 round in my Mark III. Fortunately I felt it happen and stopped. Knowing the feel and behavior of your weapon adds another dimension of safety when you're at the range. If it doesn't feel right, STOP and investigate.

For those interested a picture of casing is on my website. It can be seen at http://www.roanokewx.com and add "22_case.jpg" to the end of the URL. (Sorry for the hassle but I'm not big into Google indexing any gun related photos on my website.)

Larry