Has anyone ever gotten a bad Apex shell ? We had a group of hunters from Colorado NWTF come hunt with us this weekend. A buddy of mine called in what would have been, a young ladies first ever gobbler, with one small problem, the Apex 20 gauge shell in the gun was a dud !!! It basically sounded like a cap gun going off, and I watched the wad and most of the shot go about 10 feet. I never would have expected that from those shells. Especially for the money you pay for them !!

Been shooting them for 3 years with no issues so far

Yes. Let me dig up that old thread without the guy trying to go all “special forces” on me. On second thought it be better for me to shut up. He sponsored the outfitter I guided for a few years ago and I had 3 primer strike failures in the first season with clients. Dude wanted to run my name down but good luck getting blood out of a turnip. You must have gotten the first year’s batch when they were filling fiocchi hulls/primers? There’s no “benelli click” when your hunters are toting 870s. That’s all👍

I've only shot 3 shells with Apex 20s and all fired fine. I got them at MPW in Stuttgart and paid a pretty penny for them. I'd be PISSED if one misfired at $10/shell.

Happened to me on an out of state trip a few years ago. Cap gun and a lot of smoke is how I described it. How old are the shells you have?

Fiochii hull and vp 91 or 92 wad with no nitro card I would assume?

Never had it happen but heard of it from a few folks.

Had it happen twice,once with a 12 and once with a 20. The 20 did not fire while I was trying to pattern the gun. The 12 failed on a bird. I was able to get a second round in and kill the bird anyway.

Ive only shot 3 so far and they all fired,they’re bad business on a turkey too

Yep!! It's a Fiochii hull out of a box that i got several years ago when I purchased 3 boxes from them at the Deer Expo in Bham. Sounds like turkey247 and Jstocks have had similar experiences.

Never had a problem with them.

Knock on wood, I’ve never had a problem. I buy mine directly from them.

Powder migration.

Never had a problem with Apex. I load my own.

However, the scenario you described I am familiar with, I understand the issue (I believe) that I experienced in loading recipes I was provided, and yes I have unfortunately experienced the effects of shooting fiochii without some type of gas seal below the wad.

Never experienced it with federal hulls, but they are more narrow. I now shoot a different hull that is narrow similar to the federals. If using fiochii, I probably would not advise shooting any recipe that doesn’t use a gas seal or nitro card. I have no idea what’s in their recipe, so I can’t say for sure if that’s their problem.

I have enough components to load my own from here on out, so hopefully I never have to buy someone else’s problems. If I experience problems, they are of my own doing at this point.

Dang - I May switch back to my 12 - I May only get 1-2 opportunities this year - can’t afford a dud

That’s why I roll my own. I bought two boxes of Apex 12 gauge 3” #8s to do some testing. I weighed every shell. Now, these were loaded shells, so you have to account for varying weights of hulls, wads, etc. Those 10 shells were all over the place in weight. Something like 20 grains difference from the lightest to heaviest. Meanwhile, I loaded 50 12 gauge 3” #9s myself. Same deal, weighed loaded finished shells. Mine were 4 grains difference from the lightest to the heaviest. I load my own because I take great care to make sure each is the same. My shells pattern the same, each time the trigger is pulled. No surprises. I wound up cutting the apex shells open and robbing the shot and the plastic overshot cards. I used those to build my own #8s and killed turkeys with them.

Was it a 1 7/8oz load? That’s the only load of TSS that I have personally saw a misfire with. It is the load that uses a BP gas seal that has 2 holes in it and Win 296 powder. There were some duds with it if you did not seal the 2 holes with silicone. It allowed moisture or powder migration which caused the misfires. I’d be very leery of the remaining shells. Probably no way Apex will take them back if they are several years old though.

So it sounds like this was a problem with some of their older loads and has since been corrected? I have a new box from this season and want to be sure this isn't a recurring problem. I shot Apex for at least two seasons without any trouble but have been shooting Federal and Hevi shot the past two years. Too much work goes into getting a shot to have a misfire at the moment of truth.

Shot a decent number of them, 12 and 20, no issues so far.

I had a hand load that was a dud because of that gas seal, but that happened about 10 years ago and I wasn't the only one who had it to happen. It's inexcusable if Apex is still loading shells using that seal and they aren't plugging the holes. The issue was talked about a lot on all the turkey forums, so they should have known about it.. I don't think it would have to be 296 powder for it to happen; most shotgun powders are fine enough to pass through those holes. I have no idea why BPI thought it was a good idea to put 2 holes in a seal. They must not know what the word "seal" means. With those holes in it, it's a spacer, not a seal. Plug the holes and any load that calls for that seal will work fine.

There aren't many ways to get a dud in shotgun shell. The primer went off, so somehow it ignited without igniting the powder. That can happen if the shell has gotten wet, or it can happen if there is an air space above the primer. If the shell got wet, that would be the fault of the hunter. If it has never been wet, it's either a bad recipe that allows powder migration, or there was some sort of error in loading. Some of the old shotgun powders from decades ago needed good compression of the powder when loading. I don't think many of the newer ones require it.

They used to say to put 30 to 50 lbs of pressure on the shell when loading, and I still do that. I like the red seal once the holes are plugged because it's easy to put a lot of pressure on the powder and I'm confident that seal will keep it compressed properly until I shoot it. If all you use is the wad, then the crimp needs to stay tight to ensure the powder remains compressed.

I can understand someone who hunts occasionally just buying their turkey loads, but if you really take it seriously I would invest the little bit of money required to load my own. All you really have to buy is $30 scale and a $20 roll crimper. You won't have to load many shells to make up for that, as you can load them for half of what retail is costing.