Buffalo Bore 10mm Overpressure with FN 510

[nighthawkf-117]

Hello everyone!

I didn’t want to have to post this, however I’ve attempted to contact Buffalo Bore about this issue and haven’t received a response via email or phone. That’s pretty unacceptable to me. I understand issues and failures happen but a company needs to be reachable and especially when it comes to something that could be a safety issue.

With that out of the way I wanted to share an overpressure issue I experienced with Buffalo Bore 10mm 220gr outdoorsman hardcast ammunition. I previously had good luck with Buffalo bores 9mm hardcast in my Glock 19 of course for bear defense. I had no issues with accuracy, function, or pressure with those rounds. This year I purchased an FN 510 to carry as a buddy will be using my Glock on an upcoming hunt. I’ve since shot several hundred rounds of blazer 180gr FMJs through it with zero failures. The gun has shot tremendously well for me. The ergonomics of that pistol just seem to work with my technique and I shoot it much better than my Glock despite the higher recoil.

I’m about to head out for a spring bear hunt and finally got around to testing the Buffalo bore in my FN 510. I purchased a box of 20 rounds. I planned to shoot 4 to verify function and carry the rest. Upon shooting the first round I noted a pretty substantial recoil and failure to feed. I cleared that and fired the remaining 3 rounds with no malfunction but still with a much larger recoil than i experienced with the blazer FMJs. I wasn’t too concerned about the recoil as these are a heavier bullet and higher powered charge. However upon inspecting the spend brass I noticed all 4 rounds blew the primers out and deformed the primer pockets, as well as significantly deformed the cases.

Following this I inspected the pistol and found no obvious damage, and then fired 50 rounds of blazer FMJs with no function issues and the same accuracy I was used too. To me these buffalo bore rounds are loaded too hot and clearly show over pressure. Buffalo Bore states “Item 21C is designed for all 10mm pistols that are in ordinary working condition.” On the product page for this ammunition.

Am I correct to be this concerned about this? At the very least I wanted to warn other owners of FN 510s that this could be an issue. Unfortunately as previously stated I have not been able to reach Buffalo bore so I’m not able to get their take on it. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions on other hard cast 10mm rounds to try.

Thanks!

 

[Jbehredt]

Yikes. Trash those. Maybe try underwood. Their coated hard cast is a sweet setup. Was cooler when it was 50 rd boxes but I digress. I threw away half a case of black hills 9mm last month. After shooting half a mag and having 2 cases rupture and them not responding. Glad I was shooting my m9 and not a Glock as it might have rapidly disassembled.

 

[Samson7x]

Wow, looks like that barrel is a little light on the case support as well. Definitely wouldn't shoot anymore. I'd keep trying to contact BB to at least comp you that box.

 

[ProRoad]

Wow! I shoot those same loads and have never seen anything like that! Good luck in getting a response.

 

[Leaf Litter]

Have you had any issues with other ammo brands?

Buffalo Bore is a company ran/owned by an absolute dipshit, FYI. Customer service and QC will always reflect company principles and values, for which they have none.

Move to Underwood or Grizzly and don't look back.

 

[Thegman]

Definitely look significantly over pressure, but out of curiosity, can you pull out your barrel and post a picture of your barrel chamber with a Buffalo Bore round chambered? Like @Samson7x said, the case support looks like it may be making the issue even worse.

Regardless, case support should have little or nothing to do with primers pockets opening to where primers falls out.

 

[nighthawkf-117]

Here is a round in the chamber. Definitely looks like plenty of case support but I’m not expert on firearms.

I will keep attempting to reach out to Buffalo Bore. In the meantime I’m leaving for a hunt tomorrow. What’s everyone’s thoughts on just carrying the blazer 180gr FMJs that are known to work well through this pistol? My other opinion would be to find something available locally I could test fire at the trailhead.

 

[dreadi]

How much time has passed since you emailed them?

Have you measured your headspace and chamber depth?

 

[Thegman]

Here is a round in the chamber. Definitely looks like plenty of case support but I’m not expert on firearms.

I will keep attempting to reach out to Buffalo Bore. In the meantime I’m leaving for a hunt tomorrow. What’s everyone’s thoughts on just carrying the blazer 180gr FMJs that are known to work well through this pistol? My other opinion would be to find something available locally I could test fire at the trailhead.

The main spot to look at with respect to case support is the area of the case exposed right above the feed ramp. That's where the main part of the bulged case in your picture occurred. Hard to tell what that exact area looks like from that picture, but I agree with you, it doesn't look too unusual from that angle, anyway. Certainly not like anything that would do that with a case without a significantly over pressure load.

Fwiw, I'd roll with your Blazer ammo for now without hesitation.

 

[2ski]

I can't help you on the technical stuff. I will say I shoot HSM out of my Glock 20. And my experience with customer service has been great with them. I don't know maybe 10 years ago I bought some 270 ammo for them for my Riger Mark ii and when I went to the range to shoot it, I really had to force the bolt closed. So I thought thats weird, didn't pull the trigger and ejected the round. But the bullet was lodged in the throat of the barrel and the casing came out alone. Since the gun was angled down I had a mess of gunpowder in my action so to be safe I took it to a gunsmith to disassemble and clean to be safe. I called HSM to ask about it and he asked for the lot # and said they'd had an issue with those guns and that ammo and that they shouldn't because it was made to SAMMI specs but they would send me a new box of ammo that wasn't quite as long and have me send the other box back. All that to find out the gun is really picky with ammo and accuracy and the 135's that these were aren't super great out of it. Nor are 150gr. Literally has to be 140gr.

So long story short good experience with HSM.

And if you're leaving to hunt today just carry the 180gr. Not sure what you're hunting for or what state but outside of MT, WY, and ID you're talking black bears. You have a rifle in your hands too right? Or carry spray.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Curious to see how long its been since you tried to get ahold of them

 

[Thegman]

One other thought I had is a higher pressure load (not abnormally high, but higher than Blazer, e.g.) and defective brass via annealing error, etc. Probably not too likely, but I suppose it's a possibility.

 

[Justin (Raz) Rasmussen]

You should be able to find another load of something 200 grains and solid construction at pretty much any sporting goods store. underwood, g9 (that will be lighter but they penetrate awseome and recoil like range ammo) Hornady HSM... there are alot of options.

 

[nighthawkf-117]

Here are some more photos. Sorry this is the best I could do while sitting in a moving vehicle. There is a small area above the feed ramp that is unsupported but it doesn’t look bad to me.

This is with a blazer round. I did notice the blazer round dropped right into the chamber with no force needed. The Buffalo bore round took a small shove to fully seat into the chamber. Maybe they were sized wrong? It’s also been a full week of attempting to contact them. When I try calling I basically get a “we don’t answer our phones” message at their voicemail.

For this asking I am doing a backcountry bear hunt in Montana. I definitely have a rifle but don’t always have immediate access to it. For example hiking in I carry it on my pack, or taking a crap. I’m just carrying the 180gr blazers. I’ll look into another hardcast option before my next trip.

 

[Thegman]

Looks totally fine to me. Seems there's something up with that ammo.

The Buffalo Bore cartridge not dropping in as easily as the Blazer is probably just due to the meplat shape and size of the hardcast bullet. The cartridge sounds like it's on the cusp of being too long for your chamber with that bullet. But as long as the slide is fully going into battery with them, that shouldn't be a problem. My hardcast wide-meplat 9mm loads require a little extra force to seat in some of my pistols, but they do allow the pistol do go fully into battery and they shoot with zero issues.

Considering you noticed that, however, it would be worth checking to see if you slide is going into battery fully with them. Another thing that could be part of the problem.

And don't sweat carrying the Blazers, at all...

 

[Luke S]

I had a load of BB 358 Win blowing primers years ago. I run their 9mm ammo in a Glock but it has issues in another pistol. I suspect they are pushing the limits trying to one up everyone else. Since I'm hearing more and more of this I'll keep my 9mm ammo but probably not buy more. I'd rather be 100 fps slower and totally reliable.

 

[2ski]

Here are some more photos. Sorry this is the best I could do while sitting in a moving vehicle. There is a small area above the feed ramp that is unsupported but it doesn’t look bad to me.

This is with a blazer round. I did notice the blazer round dropped right into the chamber with no force needed. The Buffalo bore round took a small shove to fully seat into the chamber. Maybe they were sized wrong? It’s also been a full week of attempting to contact them. When I try calling I basically get a “we don’t answer our phones” message at their voicemail.

For this asking I am doing a backcountry bear hunt in Montana. I definitely have a rifle but don’t always have immediate access to it. For example hiking in I carry it on my pack, or taking a crap. I’m just carrying the 180gr blazers. I’ll look into another hardcast option before my next trip.

I just wouldn't worry too much about a bear getting you while you're taking a crap....

 

[Thegman]

I just wouldn't worry too much about a bear getting you while you're taking a crap....

You just jinxed him...now that's exactly when he'll need it.