I chose to wait to post anything about this until after everything was resolved-but 3 weeks ago I dragged my Mk12 Mod1 clone out to my long distance range for a little trigger time with my shooting buddy, our very own Allen of Polite Society.
I had grabbed the rifle as an afterthought as I didn't have any of my precision ammo loaded up, so I grabbed a box of the Black Hills 60grn Soft Point (Red Box) that my Department issues for our Patrol Rifles. I figured that it was good ammo and that it would work fine figuring that I wouldn't stretch it out much further than 300yds.
Well, I didn't shoot the rifle all day and loaded up a mag with 10rnds so I could at least get a few rounds down range with it before going home. I settled in and started shooting at the plate at 300yds getting a nice looking group in the center mass of the target. As I squeezed off the 7th round in the mag, I didn't hear the ringing sound that I had heard every other time the bullet struck the steel. Not hearing or feeling anything out of the ordinary, I figured that maybe I really slacked off on the trigger and didn't think anything about it. I fired the 8th, 9th and 10th rounds in the mag and it fell within the group of the other rounds I fired.
As I got up and put the rifle back in the rack, Allen with Polite Society Inc. was standing there and pointed out what appeared to be an endcap strike on the suppressor.
Seeing that, I was particularly dissapointed and then noted some odd looking discolorations along the outside of the suppressor tube. I removed the suppressor and then saw what I had always particularly feared-a baffle strike.
After further examination of everything, it appeared that I may have had a bad bullet. I've never been a fan of Hornady bullets (the manufacturer of the 60grn bullets in this particular BH load) for long range use, but it appears that I may have had a bullet where there was a defect in the bullet such as a void or a jacket seperation where the bullet went erratic as soon as it left the crown of the muzzle. As you can see in the picture below, the bullet hit the inside edge of the muzzle brake before careening on into the suppressor. For those not familiar with Ops Inc brakes, the distance from the crown of the muzzle to the inside edge of the muzzle brake is a hair over an inch. So the bullet left the crown and then immediately veered off that much within an inches space.
For a little background on the rig, the rifle was built by GA Precision of Kansas City and the barrel is a Broughton 5C. I had the barrel turned to Ops Inc specs by Dave Walker and Jered Joplin at Patriot Arms as they're local and I can trust them with my precision rigs. I'm 100% confident in his work that the barrel was turned to the proper specs and the suppressor was installed as I always do-snug. I had approximately 535 rounds through the suppressor on this rifle prior to this event so had no reason to question the mount. Removing the suppressor, I found that it was still snug and had not loosened. Since it's a precision rig, the can and barrel weren't very hot at all.
I have to give Allen with Polite Society credit, because he offered to speak to Ron on my behalf and give him the background on everything, including me. I was apprehensive to call a manufacturer to only be taken as some numbnut who has no clue what he's doing. Allen spoke with Ron and made him aware of what had happened. Ron simply said to send it in and that he'd take care of it. Going off of the pictures that I provided and what both Allen and I had told him, we were able to deduce that it most likely was a bullet issue-Ron's response "sometimes you just get a bad one". I found Ron to be extremely professional and he was a pleasure to speak with under the circumstances, so I boxed it up and sent it off 2 days after the incident happened and waited for a bill for payment.
After sending the suppressor off to Ops Inc, I called Black Hills ammunition to make them aware of what had happened. I was extremely surprised with the response I received from Black Hills. After explaining to them what happened and sending them pics, they agreed with what everybody had deduced and simply said "send us the invoice and we'll get it taken care of". I really expected to have to fight tooth and nail in order to get anything accomplished with the ammo maker and they were another joy to deal with.
Fast forward to today, 3 weeks after sending in the suppressor. Ron called me and wanted to verify my address and informed that he would be overnighting the suppressor to me so that I can be sure to have it for this weekends suppressor shoot. I had asked him what the extent of the damage was and he said that the only thing salvaged was the tube itself and that everything else was replaced. He said that it appeared that the bullet after hitting the muzzle brake, did a 180 and went through the suppressor sideways as it took out all the baffles. He said that things were already worked out with Black Hills and that payment was not an issue. The total out of my pocket spent was $15 to send it out to California.
Ron's attention to the matter at hand as well his timely handling of everything makes much more happy that I bought the product. I've heard of others who have had baffle strikes who are now going on 6 months and don't have their cans back-Ron was able to get it done for me in 3 weeks.
Here's a huge thumbs up to Ron and I'll definetely be buying more Ops Inc cans in the future.