Mixed day at the range

[sdlsaginaw]

Took the R9 to the range again today.  It was a mixed bag.

The good: I shot 1/2 a box of PMC Bronze 115gr FMJ and all 25 went perfectly.  I was pleasantly surprised.  

The bad:  The highly expensive Hornady Critical Defense 115gr JHPs had 5 failures to fire in 20 rounds.   A second pull fired them off.  This is a horrible ratio.  

I kept one round that didn't fire, I'll get a picture of it later.  It does have a dent in the primer.  I examined the rest of my brass, all the fired PMC had good dents.  All of the fired HCD were flat.  It's like the pressure in the case pushed the primer dents back out?  Weird.  

What you might not notice is that I fired 20.  A box contains 25.  When I went to shoot the last 5, the R9 slide was locked shut.    It would move back a little bit, but not open.  I thought I was going to have to send it home, but after working it over and over, a bit more force each time, it broke free.  A few more cycles felt like it was breaking free.  Now its perfectly smooth again.  

I'll have a good look over it when I clean it tonight for evidence of what happened.  I suspect I'm still breaking in that pocket and a sliver of aluminum got into a bad place.

I know someone else here had to send theirs back because it was locked shut, did they tell you the problem?

Anyway, pretty disappointed the Hornady turned out to be unusable.  I guess I'm back on the hunt for Silvertips.  In the mean time, I'll keep carrying the Gold Dots instead.  

I think I'll call Maria and give her my results with the HCD.  It's not like I was shooting surplus NATO junk or something.  My KT P-32 hasn't had a single failure to fire with *anything* I've fed it, and if there was any gun I'd expect it with, it would be that one.

[Richard S]

I think you may have diagnosed your problem there -- a sliver of aluminum or brass . . . or even a piece of foreign "dreck" of some kind which may have been picked up inadvertently during the range session. Another consideration, depending on the speed with which you ran through those first 40 rounds, might be overheating of the pistol. Being so small and having such tight tolerances, the R9 likes to have a little time to cool down between strings of fire.

Here's hoping that a good clean and lube is all your R9 needs to return it to full reliability. Please keep us informed, and good luck!

[kjtrains]

Took the R9 to the range again today.  It was a mixed bag.

The good: I shot 1/2 a box of PMC Bronze 115gr FMJ and all 25 went perfectly.  I was pleasantly surprised.  

The bad:  The highly expensive Hornady Critical Defense 115gr JHPs had 5 failures to fire in 20 rounds.   A second pull fired them off.  This is a horrible ratio.  

I kept one round that didn't fire, I'll get a picture of it later.  It does have a dent in the primer.  I examined the rest of my brass, all the fired PMC had good dents.  All of the fired HCD were flat.  It's like the pressure in the case pushed the primer dents back out?  Weird.  

What you might not notice is that I fired 20.  A box contains 25.  When I went to shoot the last 5, the R9 slide was locked shut.    It would move back a little bit, but not open.  I thought I was going to have to send it home, but after working it over and over, a bit more force each time, it broke free.  A few more cycles felt like it was breaking free.  Now its perfectly smooth again.  

I'll have a good look over it when I clean it tonight for evidence of what happened.  I suspect I'm still breaking in that pocket and a sliver of aluminum got into a bad place.

I know someone else here had to send theirs back because it was locked shut, did they tell you the problem?

Anyway, pretty disappointed the Hornady turned out to be unusable.  I guess I'm back on the hunt for Silvertips.  In the mean time, I'll keep carrying the Gold Dots instead.  

I think I'll call Maria and give her my results with the HCD.  It's not like I was shooting surplus NATO junk or something.  My KT P-32 hasn't had a single failure to fire with *anything* I've fed it, and if there was any gun I'd expect it with, it would be that one.

Sorry you had that problem.  I do think, also, that you have diagnosed the problem.  The cool down, as Richard suggested, will be a big help as well.        

[sdlsaginaw]

I just finished cleaning it.  It must be getting closer to being broken in, I'm getting less and less aluminum dust each cleaning.  This time there was very little.  I probably have about 125 rounds through it now.

The verdict on the lockup;  two little pieces of metal were found around the recoil spring area.  I'm fairly certain these were fragments from the primers on the Hornady rounds.  They look alot like the pieces someone else found in their firing pin hole earlier.

I guess the rule is, check the primers on your fired cases when trying a new round.  If they don't have a normal looking dent in them they will probably be leaving fragments in the most inconvenient places.

[Wheedum]

Hope you got the "lock-up" problem solved, but if not it may be a burr under the slide.  I had to remove a bad one from mine to keep it from locking up.  All runs well now.  I can tell you where to look if it happens again.

[sslater]

sdlsaginaw,
Sorry to hear about your bad experience with Hornady Critical Defense ammo......because I just received confirmation that 3 boxes I ordered from Midway are en route!   I should get them sometime this week but will have to wait until next week to try them out in my R9S.  

If you shot the PMC Bronze first, then the Hornady ammo, perhaps you had a sliver of [something] in the firing pin area.  
BTW:  I bought a couple of boxes of PMC Bronze at the range last week.  They worked fine in the R9S and my Ruger SR9.

Finally, some primer brands are harder than others.  I've found Winchester and Speer/CCI are the most reliable in my R9S.  I don't know what Hornady uses, nor how to tell by looking.


Steve  

[tracker]

I have nothing but high praise for Critical Defense.

[sdlsaginaw]

Not sure what was going on there, and haven't had time to mess with it further.  I'll talk to the factory when things calm down a bit around here.

I switched between the PMC and the HCD a few times.  PMC never failed, HCD had trouble every clip.  Weird.

I've been seriously jonsin' for a Savage 93R17BTVS (.17 HMR) lately.  I don't know exactly why other than the bug bit me.

I also looked at a Henry lever action youth .22 for my grandson today.  Really nice little rifle.  His two grandpas might just go in on one for him and put it away for a couple years until he's ready.

[Richard S]

* * *

I also looked at a Henry lever action youth .22 for my grandson today.  Really nice little rifle.  His two grandpas might just go in on one for him and put it away for a couple years until he's ready.

That's a great idea!

Life was a lot simpler back then, but when I was nine years old in Oklahoma, my mother gave me my then deceased father's Winchester Model 1906 .22 pump rifle, taught me the rules of gun safety and how to shoot it, and turned me loose on the banks of the Arkansas River to supplement our larder with whatever small game I could harvest. That sainted lady even enrolled me in the NRA. It was a life-changing experience.

[tracker]

I loved that 1906 Winchester pump when I was 9 or 10 and even
more today. It is a great rifle.

[sslater]

sdlsaginaw,
Funny you should mention the Henry lever action .22.  I had the same kind of itch a few years ago.  Scratched it with a Henry pump action .22.  Same basic gun as the lever action - and I always wanted a gallery-type gun because they remind me of my youth.  
That little Henry is very accurate, but I was a bit disappointed in the fit and finish.  

[sdlsaginaw]

My dad has a Winchester 1906 from his youth as well.  I'll inherit it in, hopefully, many many more years from now.

I inherited a Remington model 12C from my great uncle, I love that gun.  I added a Lyman tang sight to it.  I originally bought a Marbles tang sight but it just didn't look vintage like the Lyman.