Hi All,
I bought a flat of Remington Game Loads (cheap target/dove ammo) from Cabela's on sale.
When I got it I assumed UPS or Cabela's had packed or abused it in shipping. There was loose shot everywhere and some of the boxes had opened.
I called Cabela's and they sent me 3 more boxes to make up for what was messed up (as a guess on the amount).
The 3 new boxes had the same issues.
At that point I contacted Remington through their website (no response)
What I have are 13 boxes of shells that look like the hulls were never skived, the crimps are opening, are dished, or have holes in the middle.
I have never seen factory ammo this bad in the 30 or so years I have been shooting.
I assume it is safe as worst case there is less or no shot so pressures will be less not more but my god....
Last Remington product I will buy and I own a lot of their products, guns and ammo both.
It's the I don't give a shit part that bothers me from Remington, Cabela's has tried to do the right thing, as it turns out it wasn't their problem, it was non existent quality control from Remington

I would not shoot any that the crimps have opened on. Loose shot is thought to be one of the causes of riveling in barrels.

Also with an open crimp pressure as you say will be lower. It Could, in fact, be too low for proper burning of the powder charge. This could lead to a stuck wad in the bore. If you do shoot any of them be sure & look through the bore prior to reloading the gun.

Premium shells are the best way to go imho.

I shoot Federal target ammo and have had very few problems in 12 or 20. I shoot AA in small gauges because they last when reloaded.
I quit Remington when they told me the reason for misfires was my new K-80. The next flat of the same shells pierced the primers quite often. Figureing that Remington would say that the gun had long fireing pins I solved the problem, no more Remington. I will say that sense Remington got rid of the investment groupe that sent there QC to the pits the people are much happier and things may turn around.

bill

I shoot Remington GL’s in 16 gauge during hunting season. For the last 15 or so years. I’ve NEVER had any issues with the shells, hulls, components, etc., ever. I reuse the hulls and reload them 5 or 6 times during the off season for practice loads too. I have 3 cases of Rem. GL’s stashed away for hunting season...no problem with the crimps from what I can tell.
I also use Remington Sportsman Steel loads quite a bit during waterfowl season. The common thought is that the Sportsman load is a low quality budget priced shell. It’s definitely not low quality. I challenge anyone to cut one open and look at the components compared to other loads.. including premium loads. The Sportsman is built with the same quality as the STS target load.
I’ll continue to use Remington ammunition.

I love Remington STS shells.

I have used Remington Game Loads for years mostly in 16 gauge (I probably have 5 or 6 flats downstairs), I have had issues in the past with them as well but not with bad crimps and the shot falling out of brand new shells.
My issues in the past were with hard primers and pierced primers, but they work in some of my guns if not others, and they were 16 gauge so harder to get.
Before this experience I was going to be buying 2 flats of the new Peters steel shells, those will be Federals now.
I am pissed at the lack of communication but honestly I have never bought new shells with loose shot rolling around in the boxes.
For premium target shells I load my own or shoot Federal papers as I don't like the new AA hull and at this point I wouldn't trust STS or Nitro 27's from Remington.

Interesting you should bring this topic up. I've recently been shooting Remington .22 Hornet ammo in two rifles and have gotten multiple split case mouths in both on firing the factory ammo. The first reloads had cases separating upon firing in both rifles. They were, to put it graciously, a huge disappointment. I've long avoided the lower grade Remington .22s because I could always count on between 1 and 5 out of a box of 50 failing to fire the first time and some no matter how many times I moved the case rim and reshot it. I still shoot a lot of Remington shotgun hulls with my own reloads, but haven't bought a new box of Remington shotshell ammo in years. And I've heard a lot of complaints about Remington rifles, including one today from a guy who ordered a higher grade short action Model 700 on which to do a custom rifle build in .223. The box arrived correctly marked, but with a .308 bolt face. And his dealer, who had ordered half a dozen of these, found all of them were the same. Remington corrected the problem, but how pissed off would you be as that dealer? And how many other dealers had the same problem?

Being acquired by a venture capital firm is not good for quality control.

Ship em to me. I'll pay freight and shoot em up for you. Life is too short to stress over some spilled shot. One phone call to Remington and they would have sent you a call ticket to pick up the ammo and after a couple of weeks sent you new stuff.

I must be lucky again. I’ve burned through 14 cases of Gun Clubs so far this year and not a single problem.

Have you given the thought that is the reason Cabelas put the shells on sale? Maybe they were seconds, thirds, etc.
Jim

Federal Cartridge is right up the street from me, and I have purchased ammunition from them that was “seconds”. It is always in plain, unprinted boxes that are clearly marked “seconds”. I’m not sure how an ammunition company would not get sued out of existence selling seconds without making sure everyone knew that is what they were getting.
A few years past, I bought some Winchester labeled ammunition for my 7.62X25 CZ-52 that had a few defective brass bases, holes in the side. Winchester made it more than right with me, took the two 50 round boxes I bought and replaced them with 500 rounds of perfect ammunition. It was European ammunition, not loaded by Big Red, but, labeled for them.

Bet Remington would do the same.

Best,
Ted

I've not shared your experience w/Remington shot shells. Agree w/Ted. I'd try calling them again tomorrow and if you can't make contact then I'd suggest that you write them a polite note and include a box top &/or pic of your ammunition received and issue experienced.

In recent years I've seen some Remington 20 ga. Gun Clubs that the steel head pulled away from the body after firing and some AA 28ga. skeet loads that had longitudinal splits in their brass heads right out of the box before ever being fired. In the first instance I think/suspect it may have been caused by an overly large chamber dia. In the second, something to do w/the annealing or gauge[as in 'thickness']of the brass used in those heads. Stuff happens, but not always for the same reason.

I've some friends that are very high volume target & tournament skeet shooters who load the Remington Gun clubs in 20ga. exclusively. They are buying them new and reloading them 6~8 times before discarding them. Zero problems and I see and/or shoot w/some of these guys a couple of times a week on average.

A number of years ago I purchased a very large quantity of 20 ga. Federal 7/8oz. field ammo originally made for use on dove & quail. It was perfectly good ammunition. I stored it in a warehouse where the temps could get like the inside of a car parked in the Texas heat w/the widows rolled up. Don't know that it ever froze in there, but it might have. I shot the last of that ammo about a year ago. Sometimes I would find a cartridge that had the plastic split at the crimp and it would be bulged enough to not want to feed in a pump gun, but you could twist it into the open chamber of a double gun w/a little effort. Was it defective ammo? Nope, just improper storage on my part and not paying attention to the fact that some ammunition has a definite 'shelf life' because of the type of plastic used for the case. Just saying.

Split casemouths on brass hulls is often an indication of age. I go through several boxes of .22 WMR a year, in my Ruger 77/22WMR. I once used the remainder of a box of some old cartridges that I had used with no problem years before. The older ones split upon firing, almost every one of them. The only difference was the age of them. They had been kept cool and dry for several years.

I shoot vintage paper shot shells a good bit, too. Not unusual for case heads to split from rim to paper. I've never seen any sign of gas leakage from this, in shotshells.

SRH

The black gl 16 rems are very thick/stiff in the main body, such that they must be heavily skilled if cut back for 2 1/2 inch shells. Have never seen unskived opening hulls yet.

I bought a dozen or so flats of 20ga Rem Game Loads. The pattern was notably spotty compared to Federal game loads. I noted that the shot was very soft compared to the Feds.

Not quite ready to give RGL's the label of the worst ammo I've bought, but I'll crown it the most ironic ammo I've bought. About 10 years ago I bought a new Remington 870 SuperMag Turkey/Waterfowl gun in 12 ga. to shoot steel shot. First time in the field, right out of the box, I tried it out on snipe with RGL's. Every shot had to be pried out of the chamber with a pocket knife or slide forced downward with both hands, gun butt in the mud. Gun worked fine with Winchester promos. Granted the 870 is an "Express" model and not the Wingmaster, but come on now, a Remington shotgun won't extract or function properly with Remington shells? Gil

I'm on my third order of GC's this year. No issues at all...I only shoot 12 ga. though.

Some of my guns like Gun Clubs, some do not...Geo

I shoot Remington 16 gauge Game loads. Never had a bad shell. Just bought another flat of 1 ounce 7 1/2.

I finally got a hold of someone at Remington. It looks like they are going to replace my flat of shells. I have a mail ticket to send back the bad flat. Apparently quality control is now laser guided and computerized and this wasn't caught. ..?

Call Remington! They will stand behind the shells SXS Ohio

no issues with all rem shells I shoot.
maybe the assy line was manned by weekend hangover workers on a Monday morning.