Yondering

Got a link? The only "Match Pro" on EAA's site right now is a polymer frame. Are you referring to the Elite Match? That one is a steel frame.

Yes, this. I've pushed quite a few loaded rounds through various Lee sizers, there are no issues. If one is really concerned about the flat nose of a .40 bullet setting off the primer of another round just sitting on top of it, you might want to re-evaluate all the other things in life that are far more dangerous.

Your trigger bar looks pretty much like mine in a new Stock II a couple months ago, and standard model Witness pistols 10-15 years ago. You'll need to polish that rough grooved area in the center of the bar where the plunger head rides. The plunger head should be one continuous arc, not those two bumps.

double post, sorry

You may be right with specific guns and configurations, but as a general statement for 9mm Glocks - yeah, that is an innacurate observation, especially with 124/125gr bullets as the OP is using. There are a number of things wrong with that claim: - Power factor does not correlate to the minimum load needed to cycle across different bullet weights. For example in my stock G34, the following loads all cycle 100% reliably, even left hand only: 147gr @ 128 PF, 125gr @ 118 PF, 100gr @ 106 PF. Looking at actual power (i.e. muzzle energy) gives a more realistic correlation; all three of those loads are right about 250 ft-lb. - Different Glocks need different power levels for minimum function; a 17L needs a hotter load than a 19, which needs a hotter load than a 43, and that's without changing springs. There is no "one size fits all" power factor that Glocks need to function reliably. In my experience, if a Glock 34 needs the level of loads you guys are recommending, there's either something wrong with the gun or the shooter's grip. If it's the grip, the issue is rarely the partial feed the OP described, it's usually a failure to eject and/or stovepipes. The OP has clearly shown in his pictures that the gun has a mechanical problem; it may function right most of the time with hotter loads, but that's just masking the problem. With the 125gr bullets I use, my G34 is runs reliably with 2.9gr of Titegroup. 4.0gr is way above what it needs to cycle reliably. And that's in a gen 4 with stock springs.

This is very cool, and I'd be willing to contribute on the hardware side. I don't have the free time right now to commit to building a complete system, but I can help out with machining on various parts and some design input. One thought & question on the software side - could this be used to separate between crimped and uncrimped or processed brass? I'm guessing so, it would just need to look at the primer pocket crimp instead of (or along with?) the headstamp. I'd love to have an easy way to sort out crimped primer pocket 9mm brass; that stuff has been a plague on my reloading process lately.

Not really. It should feed all the way down to the point that the slide won't cycle far enough to eject the previous case. Sounds like his load is ejecting fine, so something else is wrong. Hotter loads may feed correctly with higher slide speed, but that's masking the feeding issue, which is probably caused by the breech face erosion as shown in his last picture.

Thanks! Ordered a copy.

Can you tell me the name of that book? I'd like to read it.

I don't know how many others do this, but I work on using the same eye as whichever hand is shooting (left eye -> left hand, etc), with the goal of eventually getting to a point where my left side is as good as my right. I do this with both eyes open, so it takes some mental excercise to pull off, but here's a trick I've found that helps me: When focused on the target with the gun pointed in, I see two (sorta blurry) images of the gun, one for each eye. I aim with the one closer to my body centerline, this selects the same side eye as my shooting hand, and I don't need to close either eye. Another eye excercise I find helpful is to look through a magnified (like 3x or more) rifle scope while keeping both eyes open, and mentally switch between looking through the scope with one eye or seeing openly with the other, without making any physical movement. It takes practice but can become very quick and natural. I find this is easier to do with 3x or higher power scopes, the zoom levels near 1x are more difficult for my brain to distinguish which image is which. Hope that helps.

The Lee FCD absolutely does size down oversized lead bullets in 9mm. It sizes them down to approximately jacketed bullet diameter, give or take a bit depending on the thickness of the brass. Since we want lead bullets to be oversized at least a couple thousandths, this is usually a bad thing. With certain loads it works out fine, but is not generally a good idea unless you've tested your load with and without this die and know it doesn't hurt accuracy or cause leading. You don't have to take my word for it, pull some bullets from ammo you've run through a FCD and measure them. Anyone here should be able to do that and see for themselves.

I had some of those Winchester issues with both LR and LP primers, and pitted the breech face in my 10mm because of them. I stopped using them before they got anywhere near as bad as the OP's gun though.

Yup. And you can still check all the rounds if you want, just use the barrel to do it. Or, have a case gauge reamed to match your barrel instead of the minimum spec that doesn't apply to you. The barrel the ammo will be shot in is the most accurate case gauge you can get.

That pitted breech face is one of the worst I've seen, and could definitely be part of or the whole problem. Hard to say if polishing the pitted area would help, but you could try this - smear some heavy grease all over the breech face and try cycling those rounds by hand. If it feeds easier, that's a good indication it was hanging up there. Can you reproduce the malfunction again? If so, get a picture from the same angle above, showing where the brass is hanging up on the breech face. That'd help a lot in diagnosing the issue.

This. The malfunction shown by the OP is cause by something that stops the case from sliding all the way under the extractor. That could be an extractor issue, the striker as I described above, or a lack of magazine pressure pushing the case head upwards.

This is one of the main problems with focusing on a case gauge. If your rounds fit correctly in your pistol barrel, you're not doing yourself any favors by chasing other solutions to make them fit the case gauge. It won't be better ammo when if fits the gauge, and it won't shoot better. Make the ammo fit your barrel and just shoot it.

I've dealt with this before myself, and can probably save you some time by pointing out a few things that are NOT the problem: - it's not OAL, especially with that bullet profile. This is a Glock, not a drama queen. - if you get lock back, it's not a problem of the load being too light, especially if the problem just recently started. If the slide moves back far enough to pick up the round, it should chamber. - it's not your crimp, or anything to do with fitting a case gauge There are two likely causes - the extractor and the striker. Striker first - did you recently change strikers? When the failure to feed happens, is the striker tip sticking out of the breech face? (And does the round stop against the tip?) I experience this same problem when I accidentally installed a large frame (G21) striker in a 19. The longer striker let the tip stick out of the breech face and caused this same feed issue when racking by hand, although the gun fired and functioned fine otherwise. Extractor - #1 thing to check is that the extractor moves as designed. I don't think your optic mount system can do it, but sometimes with milled slide RMR installations people install a screw that's too long and binds the extractor plunger, causing the same malfunction. Check to make sure the whole extractor plunger/spring/plug assembly are all installed right with no gunk, corrosion, or flaked plating, and that they move freely in the plunger channel. With those parts out, check the extractor movement, and inspect the hook of the extractor for burrs or broken spots with sharp edges. Is your recoil spring just worn out and too light? Do the vertical check to make sure it goes into battery with the trigger held back. If it passes, that's not the problem either. If you've eliminated the mags as a potential issue, the only other thing that comes to mind (and I think it's unlikely) is to make sure your magazine catch is holding mags securely and at the right height. Maybe it's worn and the mags sit too low?

As a Glock shooter myself, I've been really impressed by the Canik SFX I picked up recently. The size and weight are comparable to a G34, but my SFX is considerably more accurate than my G34, and more importantly, it's easier to shoot accurately fast.

Shortening the ejector does tune the ejection, but it masks the larger issue of excessive slide speed with hot 10mm loads. The post above yours about slide cracking is a valid concern with these guns. You are correct though that the recoil spring alone doesn't do enough to tune for full power 10mm. I forget the exact numbers, but in the 10mm Witness pistols I had (standard full size steel frame, not Hunter, Match, or poly), I ended up with extra power recoil springs, extra power hammer spring, and Wolff +10% magazine springs. Adding a brake/comp helps a lot to tame slide speed as well if you can tolerate it; with an effective comp you could go back to the lighter springs like a lot of us are using for 40 and 9mm. (To be clear, I did not comp my 10mm Witness pistols, but have done so with good results on other 10mm pistols.) When we talk about "full power 10mm" to me that means at least in the range of 200gr @ 1200 fps, and likely hotter. For the guys shooting factory 10mm ammo that is barely warmer than 40 S&W, I wouldn't recommend the extra power springs. Once you get slide speed under control with the hot loads, you probably won't need to tune the ejector, but the option is always there.

That's been my experience as well - Hi-Tek coated bullets tended to build up a lot of lead in the comp, but good powder coated bullets build up very little if any unless there's something wrong with the load. Using a large enough bullet size and proper loading practices for lead bullets is important too though; you can make any coated bullet lead up a comp if you load it wrong.

I had exactly the same problem with an RCBS seater die in 454 Casull. RCBS sized the inside of the seater die too small, so it removed the case mouth bell before the bullet was seated all the way, causing lead shaving. That is strictly an RCBS problem in my experience, and one example why I don't buy their dies any more. Remember when they came out with their "Cowboy dies" for lead bullets? That was to partly fix this problem, instead of just making their standard dies to more appropriate dimensions like everyone else.

Thanks, I learned something today!

I was guessing the OP's "38sc" meant "38 Short Colt", but it looks like you're talking about 38 Super. What does 38SC mean to the rest of you guys?

Thanks for the response, but yes, definitely. How did you interpret my comments that you quoted to mean milling the slide flat in the vise? I was specifically talking about why not to mill it that way. What did you think I meant by "sight plane"? Please read my post above again. Ideally we want to the optic to point to the same spot as the sights, so milling the slide parallel to the sight plane (meaning the top edge of the sights, what we aim with) gets us there. That is why the OP's slide is milled at an angle. Indicating to the bore gets close enough as well, although not technically what the optic cut needs to be be aligned to.

It might be your trigger plunger too. If youre only seeing this issue in double action, I think it’s unlikely to be the seat at fault. Look over the sliding surfaces in the trigger & bar, plunger, and the ramp in the frame. if it’s the hammer, strut, or spring you should be able to feel it when cocking the hammer with your thumb.