Failure to Feed

[Drumbum]

 Just got my new Stealth R9s. Took it to the range today with a box of 115 grain Gold Dots as all seem to recommend & was surprised to have at least one FTF per magazine. Nose of the bullet catching on the bottom edge of the feed ramp. Thought limp wristing was the problem & gave it to my buddy to try. Same result. Had 8 FTF's out of 50 rounds. Now I'm hesitant to carry the damn thing & went back to my super reliable P3AT. Found the bottom edge of the feed ramp to be razor sharp so smoothed & polished the ramp. Gonna try Golden Sabers next due to the more rounded nose. No joy. Am I missing something?

[bamboobob]

Hi Drumbum,

Welcome.
You may have seen it here, but try site search here for "the code" or "maria mag"

Bob

p.s. YIKES!

[bamboobob]

Hi Guns,

Welcome again to the forum.
Lots of good people here, some one should know.
Picture may help.   Maybe a call Maria at Rohrbaugh.

Bob

[bamboobob]

Hi

Another forum member said during a call with me, that  Maria said something like start with less rds. and / or pre-load / stress mag springs for a little while.
Polishing sounds good to me.
I want to test and learn more too.
I wonder what the forum thinks would be good break in (maybe 100 or 200 rds).

[Richard S]

Drum:

First, welcome to the Forum.

Without knowing which bullet in the magazine tends to hang up on the feed ramp (first, last, or something in between), it all sounds like a magazine problem -- possibly a spring that is a bit too aggressive.  I agree with the suggestion of "de-stressing" the spring a bit.  Also, I'm one of the apparent few around here who use Golden Sabers in my R9.  I've never had a problem with them.

Suggestions: Clean and lube the R9 (I recommend FrogLube or Ballistol with a touch of SuperLube on the rails) and give it another range session with Golden Sabers, downloading the mag each time by one round and giving the piece time to cool some between strings of fire.

Good luck.  I've been carrying my R9 for over 8 years now EDC.  Admittedly, I'm obsessive/compulsive about keeping it clean and lubed, but it has shown no vices.

[Drumbum]

 Thanks for the feedback. The FTF's tend to be early. 1st-3rd round from the fully loaded mag. I'll try "downloading" the mag each time as Richard suggested to see if reduced spring compression helps. Loaded the spare mag today to de-stress & will try again when the Golden Sabers arrive. Also ordered a Lubrikit from  http://www.lubrikit.com/ Used traditional gun oil first time. Thanks again for the help. I'll post after trying again.

[dmunofo]

I had a one or two FTF the first time I brought my K380 to the range.  My main problem was a FTE...which I had several. 

A few things....I would put a little extra lube more than what was shipped with the gun.  I personally use the Wilson Combat grease on the rails, and the Wilson Combat oil for everything else. 

Also...loading up the mags for a while to loosen them up is not a bad idea. 

Most importantly, make sure the right side grip screws are tight..the gun will  malfunction if they become loose.

For me....the K380 is my off duty summer carry gun, so it needs to be perfect.  I had a long talk with Carl about my issues, and sent him back my gun.  He shaved down my extractor a bit and did something with the feed ramp.  He shot 30 rounds through it with no problems.

[Drumbum]

dmunofo - I rechecked the grip screws & sure enough, the one closest to the trigger was loose. I had snugged them before going to the range but had an old hex wrench & didn't want to risk stripping. Probably wasn't tight enough & shook loose during the range trip. I'll get a new wrench & not make that mistake again. Thanks for the tip.

[saltz1979]

I'm surprised that screw was loose as I think the new ones are lock-tite from the factory. Maybe someone else can confirm. I have 50 Gold Dot 115 and 50 Blazer Brass 115's through mine which was purchased new a few months ago and have not had any issues. In viewing this thread I just checked my screws and they are tight.

[Richard S]

dmunofo - I rechecked the grip screws & sure enough, the one closest to the trigger was loose. I had snugged them before going to the range but had an old hex wrench & didn't want to risk stripping. Probably wasn't tight enough & shook loose during the range trip. I'll get a new wrench & not make that mistake again. Thanks for the tip.

Drum:

I might suggest some of "Yankee's" O-rings.  I use them on all of my handguns to help keep the grips screws tight.  They work for me.   

[dmunofo]

Oh yes.....forgot to mention about the grip screws.   I have them as well and They do work.   

Glad we are ale to help!!

Dom

[fc2462]

I tried some of those O-rings and found that I could not get the grip screws to seat all the way down.

I put the O-ring on the screw and then tightened it as much as I could until I was afraid of stripping it and the screw was still slightly sticking up and you could feel it easily when running your hand over it.

I much prefer to just use a tiny bit of locktite and have the screws flush and smooth.

dmunofo - I rechecked the grip screws & sure enough, the one closest to the trigger was loose. I had snugged them before going to the range but had an old hex wrench & didn't want to risk stripping. Probably wasn't tight enough & shook loose during the range trip. I'll get a new wrench & not make that mistake again. Thanks for the tip.

Drum:

I might suggest some of "Yankee's" O-rings.  I use them on all of my handguns to help keep the grips screws tight.  They work for me.

[tracker]

Now that is an issue I haven't encountered using John's new screws and "O" rings, initially introduced by Richard; whatever works for you but I avoid loctite on R9 screws like the plague. According to my nonscientific survey more problems have been caused by "too tight" than "too loose" on the screws. 

[dmunofo]

Here's the problem with loctite.  Does it work, absolutely.  BUT....applying it to the screw threads means that when they are screwed in, the loctite is transferred to the threads of the gun.   When you take the screws out, the loctite can "thread walk" and move.  Which means that when  you reinsert the screws again, the material can get pushed down and go deeper into the threads, and possibly find its way into the gun and/or other areas that you may not want. 

While this may not happen initially, there is the potential.  Just my 2 cents for what it's worth...just trying to give a little insight.  Hope this helps. 

Dom

[Richard S]

I'm not here to knock LoctiteŽ Threadlocker.  In fact, I use it for some applications -- just not on the grip screws of my R9. 

Although I don't always remove the right grip panel when cleaning my R9, I do so every couple of months or so and inevitably find an accumulation of dreck, including pocket lint, in the recesses of the trigger mechanism. I also believe it is important occasionally to remove the steel grip screws from the aluminum frame of the R9 to clean and lightly lubricate the threading for the purpose of preventing galvanic corrosion from the dissimilar metals. (Tracker knows much more about that phenomenon that do I.)

For these reasons, I forego the use of Loctite and rely on O-rings to keep the grips screws seated.  Even so, during range sessions I keep a hex key in my bag just in case a grip screw begins to work loose.