My First FTF

[Writer_Ron]

I suppose it was inevitable, but I finally had a failure-to-fire shooting my relatively new R9s. Happily there was only one in 28 rounds -- and the second strike did the trick.

The problem cartridge was a Federal Premium LE 124 grain H-S round -- from a newly purchased box of ammo. Seven "old" (pre-shortage) Federal Hydra-Shok 147 grain cartridges fired before the FTF worked fine, as did seven "new" Gold Dot 115 grain rounds and seven Win WhiteBox 115 grain FMJs (all fired later).

Assuming I recovered the right casing, the primer strike looks mighty shallow, which might point to a hard primer (supposedly unusual for Federal, but maybe a "feature" of their Law Enforcement ammo).

Also ... I don't know why, but the Gold Dots definitely felt hotter than the other rounds.

I guess I'll go with Gold Dot 115 grain like so many others.

Ron

[Richard S]

Ron:

Thank you for the range report. The Gold Dots should serve you well.

If you haven't already done so, I might suggest that when you clean your R9 you take a close look at the firing pin assembly area to see if any shards of brass or other "break-in dreck" may have contributed to that shallow primer strike.

Good luck!

[kjtrains]

Ron.  The Gold Dots should serve you well.  They're my backup should I ever run out of Silvertips.

[tracker]

Ron,

One of my new best friends who works in ammo production at Hornady said that Federal makes the best primers, in his opinion, but they are unavailable to Hornady.

I would stick with your present plan unless KJ wants to share some of his Silvertip stash with you.

[kjtrains]

What stash?