twoskinsoneman 72 Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 (edited) Just wanted to share I had a failure to extract today. Gun fired. did not extract, of course it tried to chamber another round into the back of the stuck casing and jammed. Tried cycling several times. Every time the bolt popped onto the case but when I pulled back on the charging handle it was stuck. I had to strike the charging handle with the base of my hand to get it to go back. Of course it was slipping off of the casing as it was stuck. I had my leather man and tried to lever the casing out but could not. Got home, stuck my cleaning rod down the throat and struck it with with a rubber mallet. The mallet really wasn't needed. It came out VERY easily. I could have just shoved the rod in briskly and it would have popped out. Using my micrometer, the case is about .005 fatter along the entire length of the case from shoulder to base compared to another spent casing. I checked head space with my Brownells, Colt 5.56 field gauge when I got home. Definitely no go. Cycled the action several times to see if I felt any signs of the slightest resistance to go to battery and everything seems great. What do you think? Also FYI it happened after I had shot about 90-100 rounds. Also added a comparison pic of a new round stuck it the chamber and tapped gently to see if it looked fully chambered. Also in case it isn't clear, after popping out the stuck casing, I chambered another round and it went into battery easily, normally. Is this just a case of crappy, cheap Tulammo, possibly too much powder? These are advertised to be .223 rounds. Edited June 24, 2012 by twoskinsoneman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mancat 2,368 Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Tulammo (and Herter's, by extension) is well known for this, both in AKs and ARs. I have a friend with a SIG 551A1 that won't cycle Tulammo at all. It's completely hit or miss as to which rounds will fail. Too much variation in case neck length, case size, bullet setback, cases too soft, etc. Some of the case necks could be seen with the bare eye as having a large variation in neck length between several rounds. Twice now, I've bought 500-rd cases of Herter's/Tulammo that would jam up hard about one round per box on average. The case was stuck hard in the chamber, the extractor would rip the rim off of the case, and if I didn't have a long cleaning rod with me, that was it for that range session. They are usually stuck hard enough that I can't knock them out by hand with the cleaning rod - it has to be tapped with a mallet. I've NEVER had these problems when firing Wolf, Wolf MC, or Brown Bear .223. Tulammo is selling the absolute bottom of the barrel from their various suppliers. I highly suspect that Tulammo is buying their rejected lots. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DrThunder88 912 Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Weird! I've gotten steel cases stuck in my AR but not my Saiga. I think it was Herters too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twoskinsoneman 72 Posted June 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Yeah thanks. It's hard to resist the temptation of buying that dirty cheap ammo. It's like 22 cents a round. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mancat 2,368 Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 The frustrating thing is that you can run through a half case of it and have no problems at all, but that one dud Tulammo case can ruin your entire range trip. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vance665 225 Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 I only have 100 rounds of Tula through my s223 and it all worked in Surfire 20 and 30 round mags. I'm trying to get some more but Walmart is always out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jng518 0 Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 I have run about 200 rounds ( 55GR. FMJ ) thru my Saiga 223 with no problems. At the range where I shot I have asked other shooters about any problems with TulAmmo and there has been only 1 problem a FTF from a shooter after he ran 90 rounds thru his rifle. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
muvef 3 Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 (edited) I've seen 2 fail to extract (same as your pic) out of about 700 rounds and 0 fail to feed issues with the Tula. I've shot the 55 grn and 62 grn HP's and FMJ's. I have only cleaned my gun one time when it was originally purchased. So I'm not sure about how dirty it is. I like the stuff. Edited June 25, 2012 by muvef Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cgp 12 Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 Perhaps check your extractor? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twoskinsoneman 72 Posted June 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 Perhaps check your extractor? I did check it. Just by looking at it, feeling it's spring resistance, and the edge. It looked fine. Also the fact that after I pulled the charge handle and let it cycle home the extractor engaged the case. Then in order to pull the BCG back off of the case I had to pop it pretty firmly with the base of my palm. I think the extractor is okay. Any other more precise test you recommend to check it? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RED333 1,025 Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 Steel case will not expand to seal the chamber and it will get dirty. If it is steel case. There uis a thread on here about this some where, I just can not find it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mothrgoosr 0 Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 Exact same thing happened to me on my Saiga 223. I have had a total of about 400 rounds on the gun since new. I got a FTE after about 80-90 rounds of Tulammo. Mine looked exactly the same as you. Tried to pull it out with the bolt handle and after a strong pull eventually the extractor would slip off. Ended my range day. I tried to pull it out on the case rim with a leatherman--> no go. I was starting to worry I would have to take it to a gunsmith. When I got home I had to hammer on a cleaning rod to get the case out. When I got the case out it had a black speckling on it. I dont know if this was just powder residue or if it was related to the stuck case or not. I have shot brown bear and also monarch (brown bear) without any problems. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mossb 1 Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 (edited) Thought I'd add this here. Go all brass or all steel. Don't mix without cleaniing in between. http://www.theboxotr.../docs/edu18.htm Edited June 28, 2012 by mossb Quote Link to post Share on other sites
muvef 3 Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 Thanks for the post mossb. Funny thing, I have brass cased ammo loaded up for this weekend. I haven't shot brass out of it since new. I hope I don't get the same results. I will be sure to bring my cleaning case with me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
grimm100 13 Posted June 29, 2012 Report Share Posted June 29, 2012 I have at least 500 hundred Tula down the pipe, from different LOT and have had no FTF/FTE. Thanks for the info, Tula probably wont be on the shopping list anymore. G Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ImperialArt 29 Posted June 30, 2012 Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 I've pumped federal, american eagle, tula, and wolf through mine in one outing, over 500rnds and not one FTF or FTE. No cleaning inbetween... I like shooting tula, its cheap and acurate enough for some sport plinking. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twoskinsoneman 72 Posted June 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 Yeah I've shot about 850 rd of the 1000rd case of Tul I bought off of Ammoman. Probably 6-10 FTF total this is the first FTExtract, Had a few problems with light strikes but that wasn't the ammo's fault. So 830ish good shots. May buy again strictly for range plunking. It's so cheap. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mothrgoosr 0 Posted July 2, 2012 Report Share Posted July 2, 2012 Update: Went to the range today and shot around 60 rounds of monarch without an issue. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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