Preacherman
Member
John Farnam distributes the following warning in his "Quips" for April 13, 2005:
From a department training officer in CA:
"We made a startling discovery yesterday that quickly developed into a
significant officer-safety issue here. We just received a shipment of
Winchester, low recoil, 1 oz. 12ga slug ammunition, which, for the past five
years, has been the standard, issue round for our department's Mossburg 590
patrol shotguns. As always, we tested several boxes at random prior to
general issue.
To our astonishment, our Mossburgs repeatedly experienced feeding failures!
Rounds could be seen through the ejection port 'dangling' vertically, having
'fallen through' the shell lifter. Our hasty investigation revealed that
Winchester's new shells are one-quarter inch shorter than their previous
version, and they are not now long enough to be reliably held on Mossburg's
skeletonized shell lifter. Winchester inexplicably made this
modificationwithout any change in cartridge designation or stock number.
The new shells did feed reliably in our single Remington 870, as it has a
solid shell lifter.
Our investigation led to a heated conversation with Winchester's West Coast
distributor, who informed us that Winchester shortened their shells to make it
possible to charge a 'four-round' magazine tube with five rounds. A laudable
goal, but they neglected to publicize this modification, nor obviously, test
it in all major manufacturers' shotguns.
To reiterate, WE REGARD THIS AS A SIGNIFICANT OFFICER-SAFETY ISSUE,
and the entire shipment has been returned to Winchester. That this new
ammunition will find its way into a Mossburg shotgun, owned by a police
department, is inevitable. Winchester needs to recall this stuff and
immediately return all production to original dimensions. If all ammunition
manufacturers decide to go to this new dimension for 12ga shells, then
Mossburg will have to redesign its shell carrier, so that it will reliably capture
these shorter rounds."
Lesson: TEST YOUR EMERGENCY/SAFETY EQUIPMENT REGULARLY! Winchester is a fine company, but a faux pas like this is going to happen every now and then. In this case, the problem was discovered and corrected immediately (at least in this department). Had it gone undiscovered, it may have resulted in an unnecessary injury or death. Serious gear needs serious attention!
/John
