Help: Rough feeds after cleaning

[fulcrum]

Hi All,

I bought my new pup (R9s) about a week ago.  I've taken it to the range twice since then and put about 50 rounds through it.  The only problems I experienced were failure to fires with Hornady CD ammunition (I've since learned about the primer problems with HCD ammo).  All other rounds through her were Gold Dot 115 gr. and I experienced no problems whatsoever.

I decided today would be a good time to break down the pup for the first time and clean her.  I followed the instructions in the manual and only had a problem during reassembly getting the slide to go fully to the rear, but it got there eventually.  (The snap of the recoil spring going back in using the channel lock technique did make me flinch a bit though.)

After the cleaning, I fully loaded a magazine with Gold Dot 115 gr., inserted it, racked the slide and got a real uncomfortable feeling.  It felt like the round had a hard time getting into the chamber.  I did this multiple times with the same result.  On a couple of occassions, I racked the slide a bit more gently trying to observe how a round was moving up the feed ramp and experienced a jam.

I disassembled and reassembled the pup again making sure I didn't screw something up the first time and tried to feed again.  Same results.

I'm convinced I screwed something up during reassembly, but I have no clue what.  In case it's important, I should mention that I replaced the recoil spring during cleaning (yes, I know it's early  .

Also, after putting the same six rounds through her so many times, I noticed a slight dimple on the casings where they catch the top of the magazine.  Could this cause a safety or reliability issue?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

[ccoorreeyy]

Did you take the mag apart?

[Richard S]

fulcrum:

Welcome to the Forum and thank you for the range report.

Like Corey, I think you may have a magazine problem. Does the problem occur with more than one mag?

[yankee2500]

Steve,
    Welcome to the forum. As already suggested it does sound mag related, if you have not done so, try another mag and see if it works.

John

[kjtrains]

Steve.  Welcome to the Forum.  What Corey, Richard, and John have said.  Again, welcome.

[theirishguard]

Steve, welcome to the forum, looks like it could be the mag. let us know how it goes.  Tom

[Brenden]

Are you sure the pin that you reinserted back into the slide is in properly?

Sometimes if that is not quite in correctly,it may cause a "racking" problem.

Also running the gun by racking the rounds thru will not tell you if the gun will run with those rounds-shooting them will..

Good luck,and good shooting..

Brenden

[fulcrum]

Thanks for the advice and welcome, guys.  Given all the fingers pointing at a potential magazine issue, I performed the following tests:

1) Loaded magazine "A" with 6 rounds of Gold Dot and racked the slide 7 times.  There was a little stutter on the first round entering the chamber.  All other rounds entered the chamber without an issue.  Repeated the test with magazine "B" with the same results.

2) Loaded magazine "A" with 3 rounds of Gold Dot and racked the slide 4 times.  All rounds entered the chamber without an issue.  Repeated the test with magazine "B" with the same results.

3) Loaded magazine "A" with 5 rounds of Gold Dot and racked the slide 5 times.  All rounds entered the chamber without an issue.  Repeated the test with magazine "B" with the same results.

I also checked the barrel pin as recommended and found it to be fully seated.

I'm really trying not to over-analyze my problem...  I'm interpreting the above tests as telling me there's something about the increased force of loading the first round when the magazine spring is fully compressed.  I believe I did not observe this issue at the range because I probably did NOT fully load the magazine -- I've gotten in the habit of loading the magazines for all my pistols in multiples of 5 at the range because I'm probably obsessive/compulsive about going a row at a time through the ammunition tray.

I wasn't taking good notes last night when I first experienced the problem, but I'm pretty sure, at least on most occassions, after I felt the stutter of the first round entering the chamber, I would eject the magazine, eject the chambered round, reinsert it in the magazine, and try again.  That is, I probably did a lot of my tests yesterday with a fully-loaded magazine.  I also know I was definitely being more aggressive racking the slide today than yesterday.

The bottom line is my problem no longer appears to be as severe as I might have been making it out to be last night.  This is my first mouse gun, and I'm still getting used to being sensitive to the engineering issues of a gun this size over "normal-sized" pistols.

There were a couple of suggestions to break down the magazine(s).  I don't know if that's still applicable, but is there anything in particular I'm looking for?  Or should I just clean everything and reassemble them?

Also, the dimpling of the casings appears to happen with both magazines and not only when they are fully loaded.  Is this a legitimate problem or just another aspect of the "tight tolerances" in a gun this size?

Thanks again for the help,
Steve

[tracker]

Steve,
As I recall there were no suggestions to disassemble the magazine. The question was asked if you did that, implying, I think, that you could have reversed the spring.  

[fulcrum]

Steve,
As I recall there were no suggestions to disassemble the magazine.

Sorry, you're right.  My mistake reading too much into the question.

[Brenden]

Shoot the Pup,and let us know how it feeds then!!

BTW,welcome to the forum!!

Brenden

[kanuist]

I've had this problem with my pup as well when chambering a round with a full magazine.  I've gotten into the habit of loading 5 rounds into the magazine, chambering a round then reloading the magazine with two additional rounds for a total of 6+1.  

I have not had this problem when shooting it, just when manually racking the slide to chamber a round.  Perhaps I'm not racking the slide briskly enough.  The pup is small and has a lot less slide to grab then a full size pistol.

[kjtrains]

Steve.  All the above is good information, however, Brenden makes a good point.  Fire it and let us know.  Wishing you the best.

[fulcrum]

Hi All,

As I mentioned above, the times I have fired the pup at the range, there were absolutely no failures to feed.  However, I never had the magazine fully loaded when I initially chambered a round before firing the first shot.

I've had this problem with my pup as well when chambering a round with a full magazine.  I've gotten into the habit of loading 5 rounds into the magazine, chambering a round then reloading the magazine with two additional rounds for a total of 6+1.

Thanks for making me not feel crazy, kanuist.  I'll try your tip the next time I'm at the range to see how the pup itself chambers a round from a fully-loaded magazine.  If there are no issues, I'll chalk it up to the user (me) not racking the slide with enough force, as you pointed out.

Thanks,
Steve