I recently purchased 2 cases of Boss bismuth duck loads in #4 & #5's. I've hunted ducks for over 45 years and never had the disappointment that I've had with their reliabilty. They knock the heck out a duck, I'll give them that, but I have shot less than 2 boxes of shells so far and have experienced 4 misfires in 2 hunts! I have only had 2 misfires previously in thousands of shells over the years. The 4 misfires happened in both my Browning Maxus and my Remington 11-87. I reached out to the company and they blamed my guns or lack of cleaning to cause short strikes and therefore failure to fire. I assured them that was not the case as the guns are well cared for and have fired every other shell I've shot through them this season without problems. I even sent a picture of a well indented primer. They claim that they have not had any other reports of this problem. That may be true if no one has reported it to them, but I know another hunting partner of mine has had 2 misfires so I know it is not an isolated incident. Has anyone else on this site had problems with these shells? I'd like to know if somehow I got the only bad batch of primers/shells?
Boss Duck loads
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I’ve been shooting them for the past 3 seasons and been through almost 4 cases. Never had any issues with them. Not to say it can’t happen, just that I’ve never had it happen to me. I’ve seen on some others sites where people had some issues and they all claimed Boss was very accommodating in getting them a new case and having the trouble case tested.
I’ve been shooting it for the last couple years with no issues. I have heard others online mention it, But if you are on face book, and join their fan page, they recommend you upgrade to wolf ? Springs to resolve the issue with light strikes. I think the primers they use are of a harder metal than standard.
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Do not modify your shotgun Dr. Oc. Vista Outdoors/Federal/Remington makes Bismuth loads. Winchester makes Bismuth loads. I sold to major ordnance manufacturers for civillian and defense applications for almosf 30 years. I am betting Federal and Winchester would accomodate you if there were issues. I suggest going with one of them. Back when Bismuth first came out, I shot 16 gauge and 2-3/4 12 gauge with a high level of success. You will be well served with either brand.
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Sorry to hear that, they have performed very well for where other brands of bismuth and htl have not. One thing I will say is that their shot does fracture. I don’t know if it fractures on set-back or when it hits the bird or if it even has any affect on the lethality, but it’s something that concerns others.Unfortunately my experience so far has been different. They offered nothing but cleaning advice
Well, that certainly is a dissapointment and I’m sorry to hear of the failures. In all of my use with BOSS offerings I cannot say I have had a single issue that was ammunition caused, outside of two 3” 12ga hulls that failed to eject due to it splitting at firing, which I have had occur with every brand of ammunition and hull type at some point, so it was credited as a “you shoot enough you will see a failure” event in my mind. I have used the 10, 12, and 28ga offerings for several seasons now and not suffered from any primer issues.
I have read and heard of hard primer issues, and I don’t discredit them. Some of it is certainly a combination of a harder primer and a weaker hammer spring, dirty gun, etc., and some of it is sure to be an issue with the primer itself. The approach that BOSS takes with recommending that the shotgun be evaluated, cleaned, and or re-sprung is simply due to the fact many folks allow their shotguns to fall into disrepair and there are a lot of tired action and hammer springs out there. I have resolved my fair share of issues in shotguns with spring replacements and chamber servicing, both often forgotten or neglected servicing points on old and new shotguns alike. So, does it make you happy when you properly care for your tools and are told that lack of maintenance is your problem? Nope, sure doesn’t. That’s when being persistent, polite, and patient in working with them becomes critical. I have had amazing customer service experience with BOSS, but they are still people, so they will have failures.
Boss is using Ched hulls and primers, and Cheddite is not necessarily known to be the absolute highest quality, which is reflected in their more economical price which is passed on to Boss’ customer (especially when compared to other bismuth offerings). Consider as well BOSS has elected to load their 12 and 20ga ammunition with the magnum or “hot” Ched primer and this seems to have been a larger cause of “light strikes” than prior to their change. It improved the reliability of ignition in cold temps, but did increase the number of issues with light struck primers.
The thing is, when you turn out millions of rounds of ammunition a year you are bound to have some duds fall through the cracks; regardless if you are a large or small manufacturer. Most companies accept a 1-2% “lemon” rate in their manufacturing. Times that by millions and it’s a big enough number to seem like a big problem.
It’s difficult to import a hull with an existing primer and have any control over the QA/QC of the primers loaded in those hulls, and with little to no availability of US or Canada made primers that are not made and devoured by the large manufacturers, it is next to impossible to keep that aspect in house without terribly increasing price. It’s a catch-22 to be honest.
Many will claim that they have never had an issue with the big manufacturers, but I will say then they just have been fortunate, because I and others have. It’s kind of the luck of the draw. Dud primers, split hulls, failed wads, bloopers, squibs, stuck hulls, bad patterns, poor shot quality, etc. I’ve seen it happen with the cheap loads and the “premium” ones. I can say certain manufacturers such as Estate and Kent have been my worst experiences, but I’ve seen plenty of problems out of Winchester, Remington and Federal as well in cheap target and premium hunting loads alike.
if you are really unhappy with the loads and do not want to give a newer lot a try, I would recommend either giving Boss’ customer service one more try or just selling them off. Someone will want them.
I have read and heard of hard primer issues, and I don’t discredit them. Some of it is certainly a combination of a harder primer and a weaker hammer spring, dirty gun, etc., and some of it is sure to be an issue with the primer itself. The approach that BOSS takes with recommending that the shotgun be evaluated, cleaned, and or re-sprung is simply due to the fact many folks allow their shotguns to fall into disrepair and there are a lot of tired action and hammer springs out there. I have resolved my fair share of issues in shotguns with spring replacements and chamber servicing, both often forgotten or neglected servicing points on old and new shotguns alike. So, does it make you happy when you properly care for your tools and are told that lack of maintenance is your problem? Nope, sure doesn’t. That’s when being persistent, polite, and patient in working with them becomes critical. I have had amazing customer service experience with BOSS, but they are still people, so they will have failures.
Boss is using Ched hulls and primers, and Cheddite is not necessarily known to be the absolute highest quality, which is reflected in their more economical price which is passed on to Boss’ customer (especially when compared to other bismuth offerings). Consider as well BOSS has elected to load their 12 and 20ga ammunition with the magnum or “hot” Ched primer and this seems to have been a larger cause of “light strikes” than prior to their change. It improved the reliability of ignition in cold temps, but did increase the number of issues with light struck primers.
The thing is, when you turn out millions of rounds of ammunition a year you are bound to have some duds fall through the cracks; regardless if you are a large or small manufacturer. Most companies accept a 1-2% “lemon” rate in their manufacturing. Times that by millions and it’s a big enough number to seem like a big problem.
It’s difficult to import a hull with an existing primer and have any control over the QA/QC of the primers loaded in those hulls, and with little to no availability of US or Canada made primers that are not made and devoured by the large manufacturers, it is next to impossible to keep that aspect in house without terribly increasing price. It’s a catch-22 to be honest.
Many will claim that they have never had an issue with the big manufacturers, but I will say then they just have been fortunate, because I and others have. It’s kind of the luck of the draw. Dud primers, split hulls, failed wads, bloopers, squibs, stuck hulls, bad patterns, poor shot quality, etc. I’ve seen it happen with the cheap loads and the “premium” ones. I can say certain manufacturers such as Estate and Kent have been my worst experiences, but I’ve seen plenty of problems out of Winchester, Remington and Federal as well in cheap target and premium hunting loads alike.
if you are really unhappy with the loads and do not want to give a newer lot a try, I would recommend either giving Boss’ customer service one more try or just selling them off. Someone will want them.
Sound like a Boss employee? Appreciate a detailed analysis. Boss's response to me was 1 in 1 million failures. You are saying 1-2% is acceptable, which it is not. Mine is nearly 10% and in 2 guns. They did not offer a replacement and I surely will not buy any more.
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I doubt he'll waste his time again so you're safe. How many forums did you join to post this?
I’m not an employee, sponsored, or have any connection to them other than I use and enjoy their products. I’m also not stating that a 1-2% overall failure is acceptable to a customer, just that that tends to be what manufacturers find to be acceptable. Personally, I would not be content with that level of failure in my work and would be working heavily to rectify the issue with my supplier.
Everything went to hell in a hand-basket for manufacturing in 2020 and 2021, and barely recovered last year. I am of the opinion that many of the issues we have seen in many products across the board have been due to the loss of QA/QC on final production as well as subcomponents and raw materials. Since a company such as Boss is using sub components they do not directly produce in their load production, they are at the whim of their suppliers’ QA/QC even when internally they do everything correct and to the highest quality.
The failure rate for shotshell primers should only be 1 in 1 million; the folks at Boss are correct. But should be and reality are different. Cheddite seems to have had a serious primer production problem in 2020 and 2021. My understanding is that lots produced during this time frame have the highest likeliness of primer issues. I still have 2020 produced rounds in 12 ga and still have not had an issue, for which I’m thankful.
It sounds like you are done with the product and should just offload the rounds you still have.
Having dealt with Fed and Winchester on issues with their ammunition I can provide a report that they do not care about individual consumers and do not accommodate for your disappointment or lack of satisfactory performance. I have had issues with federal 10ga Grand Slam loads being out of spec on the fired hull length and hull base separation on 10ga Black Cloud loads. I was lucky they responded at all to one inquiry, they ignored the other. Winchester never responded when I had issues with dud primers in boxes of Super-X years ago. Nothing changes much with the big manufacturers- they don’t care. If they are hanging within that 1-2% lemon rate or less, there is no problem in their eyes.
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Sad to hear. I have seen the old Remington be proactive. I worked a little with the old Shot Shell Manager.
It surely does. It would be right if they provided customer care that matches their production capabilities. I am hopeful having groups like that owned by PSA who produces the American Ammunition Co line now and other similar organizations will give the large groups a run for their money. Maybe healthy competition will step up the customer care game.
I have been duck hunting for 30 ish years, can not remember a single miss fire with any shell from multiple manufactures.
Matter of fact I don't think I have had a miss fire with any load, target, dove turkey whatever!
I would say I have shot mostly Winchester, followed by Kent, Federal and Remington. Hell I bought some cheap azz Sellior and Beloit steel 20 years ago, still have some and killed ducks this past weekend with it, zero miss fires and possibly the worst crimps I have ever seen!
I get issues arive but Boss seems to have an our chit don't stink attitude!
Matter of fact I don't think I have had a miss fire with any load, target, dove turkey whatever!
I would say I have shot mostly Winchester, followed by Kent, Federal and Remington. Hell I bought some cheap azz Sellior and Beloit steel 20 years ago, still have some and killed ducks this past weekend with it, zero miss fires and possibly the worst crimps I have ever seen!
I get issues arive but Boss seems to have an our chit don't stink attitude!
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But all the cool kids shoot em !!
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I have been hunting with a shotgun since age 7, 52 years. Even with the old paper hull Winchester 16 Ga. Shells, I have never had a misfire with any shotgun shell. Pistol and Rifle ammo? Different story.
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164 Posts
Never call a cool kid but thanks for the compliment I guess? Usually just old timer😀
Switch to boss and have never experienced any issues. Cross my fingers.
Switch to boss and have never experienced any issues. Cross my fingers.
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