So, I ordered 2000 75gr Hornadys from HOP Munitions. Was supposed to be 20 boxes of 100 with hopes of same lot expressed in order notes. Pleased with price ship/delivery times. Upon arrival, the box showed wear, but wasn’t too bad. Upon opening, the box has possibly 1250 (haven’t counted, yet) loose bullets in it. Instead of 100ct boxes, there were 8 bags of 250, 5 of which were busted open (2 small peices of bubble wrap). Labels only said “250 ROUNDS”. No manufacturer name or bullet weight, much less a lot number. Guess I’ll be counting bullets tomorrow instead of working brass (slight openings in smashed box corners) so I’ll be ready to call them Monday.
I can’t help but wonder if they’re bulk blems. Is there any way to tell without putting each bullet under a microscope?
I visited the Sierra Bullet factory, and their process for identifying blems was straightforward:
A conveyor belt moves finished bullets by the dozens, if not hundreds per minute. An employee stands or sit at the belt behind a giant (think 6"x12") magnifying glass, and removes any bullet that catches their attention. The sorted “blems” are tossed into a drum to be sold as blems.
You could by them blems at the pro shop, which I did, and they shot well. I weighed them several at a time to ensure their weights were correct, and had no issues. Obviously, you’ll have the occasional deformed bullet, but those were obvious.
So it’s just a “that don’t look right” that catches the eye for blem id?
I’m trying to finish sizing 500 cases before the football game ends, but I grabbed 7 or 8, they looked fine, and 1 weighed 75.0, and the rest were 75.2…
I just don’t want to discover they’re blems by shooting them!
Thats what I gathered from seeing the manufacturing process. There’s certainly not enough time to inspect things closely. If it draws attention, it’s a blem, and the process keeps flowing.
Makes sense if you think about it. There should be very few actually defective bullets, and they’re making millions of bullets across different product lines.
No way to tell unless there’s just major damage to the bullet. I load and shoot blems all the time. Basic inspection as you pick them up to seat them is good. Then if you can any weird feeling neck tension, set that round aside.
They were probably bullets that they bought in bulk, then separated out the bullets for your order. Powder Valley has done this to me before.
When I have bought blems in the past, the issues I could see were the tips varied on size, base to ogive varied wildly, and minor things like scratches or discoloration.
I have a bunch of 75 grain Hornady BTHP pulldown bullets that will hold sub MOA at 500 yards. Might not be good enough to win benchrest matches but are perfectly fine for my needs.