Re: Grendel/6.5CSS Cartridge Change?
Okay,
After a long pause here's what I discovered. I sent an email to Hornady asking (politely) WTF? They contacted me prompty via email and said they wanted me to ship the ammo back to them for testing by their lab as well as telling me they would do everything to make it right. So far, so good for Hornady.
At the same time I sent an email to Alexander Arms asking if they had heard about this issue. I was sitting at my desk at the office and who should call? It was Bill Alexander himself to discuss the issue. I was expecting an email response from someone like "Fred from accounting", not the developer of the round. He said he had heard that some were having issues with the ammunition, but hadn't considered the possibility that maybe there was a problem with the gauge, not the ammo until he read the description of the ammo not seating in my Sheridan (sold by AA) gauge. He ran an internal dimension check on the gauges he had in inventory and discovered there was an issue with the chamber neck length. Apparently Sheridan's supplier of tooling sent them a (I'm not a gunsmith so excuse the poor nomenclature) cutting die that was slightly out of spec. He also said Hornady's ammunition has done nothing but get better and better, so he didn't think they were at fault.
Bill asked me to send my gauge back for a touch-up on AA's equipment. When it arrived back at the house I checked all the "defective" ammo and it all seated perfectly in the gauge. So apparently the issues I was having was centered on an out-of-spec gauge.
I then contacted Hornady and let them know it appeared to be a gauge issue, not an ammo issue.
Great news for my opinion of both Hornady and Alexander Arms. Both responded promptly to my inquiries and both addressed the issues politely and quickly. Bill actually spent about 45 minutes on the phone with me and came across as very customer focused. He said that he will fix anything that is suspect from Sheridan, even if it wasn't purchased through AA. So if you are having this issue contact AA and they should hook you up.
The real test will be when i try this ammo in my as yet to arrive Lothar Walther barrel which is due in any day.