M1A4ME

I forgot to add (probably won't help, but just for info) that when I was having the problems with my M&Ps I installed a stronger Glock striker spring in the M&P. That didn't help either. It fit, but it didn't stop the problem. I did a pencil test with my Glock, XDM and M&P pistols. The XDM's, by far, popped the pencil up the farthest. The M&Ps and Glocks wouldn't pop the pencil out of the barrels, the XDM would smack it up in the air about 12 to 18" out of the muzzle. So the XDMs usually hit the primers pretty hard.

The only time I've had this issue it was a timing problem. Everyone on the forums I belonged to tried to blame it on the primers, the seating depth, the striker spring, etc. It was a timing issue. The striker block was not completely lifted out of the way of the striker when the sear released the striker. The striker would hit the block, get slowed down and make a slight dent in the primer. This was a couple of M&P pistols (two of them because I took the APEX parts from the 9MM and put them in the .357 SIG and the problem followed the parts move). I know how I fixed it in the M&P, not sure how to do it with an XD/XDM. But that block has got to be completely out of the way (lifted up) prior to the sear releasing the striker. I'm not saying it's not a primer issue, in your XDM, just saying primers are the first thing people point the finger at and sometimes it can be something else.

And powder can change lot to lot, year to year. The same brand/type of powder you just bought can be different than what you bought/used a few years ago. Have you asked your buddy to shoot some of your loads in his pistol (to rule out some issue with your pistol?) Same, thing, shoot some of his loads in your pistol and compare the brass/primers from each gun with the same loads. Good luck with it. On, if that brass was mine, I probably wouldn't use it again. It looks, from the primers, like it was stressed pretty good. One last thing, primers - using the same brand? Can you try some different primers? Another brand of small pistol primers, or small rifle primers even, just to see if they are different/causing the problem. A few years back when I was shooting M&Ps and having bad (really bad - like 3 to 5 failures to fire per magazine) I was checking my primers. I took some brand new primers apart (carefully - its funny how easy the anvil and priming compound pop loose from the cup with a nice sharp dental pick) and was measuring/comparing the cup metal thickness from one brand to another. I also loaded up a batch of 9MM ammo with small rifle primers after buying a different brand of pistol (my first CZ) as another comparison between pistols to see if both would have the same issue. Again, good luck with it.

I don't shoot competition. I do use Blue Dot in my 9MM (115 grain hollow points) and .40 S&W (135 grain hollow points) loads and get excellent accuracy from my CZ's. Both are compressed loads. A characteristic of slow burning powders in small cases. Can't comment on velocity either. No chronograph. I can tell you the P07 with the 135 grain Noslers and the Blue Dot is similar in recoil/muzzle blast to a .357 magnum. You can really tell the difference between the Blue Dot loads and the factory FMJ loads. I got the .40 S&W load data from the Nosler website. They listed their most accurate load with the 135 grain HP was with Blue Dot powder. Can't comment of how dirty it may/may not be compared to the powders you listed. I've also used some 800X, but vowed to never buy another lb. after fighting with it to get consistent charge weights and never really getting there. Ugly stuff through a powder measure.

This happened to me a few months back. No way mine was double charged (can barely get 8.0 grains of Blue Dot under those 115 grain hollow points). Besides I use a Hornady electronic powder measure scale to measure/weigh each charge and still do 5 random weigh checks per 50 rounds. Never had an issue with set back either. Primer doesn't show high pressure signs. The rim just blew off the case and dumped burning powder/gas into the frame/magazine of the pistol. The gun went bang and then didn't. I thought it was misfeed, till I racked the slide and this fell out. Had to field strip it and pull the case walls out of the chamber. No damage to the pistol other than the extra black crud all over the top of the magazine, the first few bullets and the upper area of the mag. well. Old Pre B CZ 85. Built like a tank. Federal brass. It was suggested on another forum that the brass may have just been defective/weak. Another poster said he'd had a piece of Federal brass to the same thing on him. While I've never had a factory load go that bad I have had them blow small holes in the case. Hornady 30.06 and a Remington .44 magnum many, many years ago. Just small slots blown through the case walls, one on each case.

I've wasted time, over the years, trying to use steel picks to force in between the primer pocket (brass) and the primer wall (steel) and just damaged the brass. I've tried drilling it out and just damaged the brass. I hate to toss brass, too, but sometimes you've just got to do it.

I wouldn't. I've only used pistol primers in my .300 BO loads one time. The loads were lower pressure loads, by the book/manual, but I got pierced primers anyway with H110. Not all of them, but just about half. No pierced primers with the AA 1680 loads though, but I decided to stick to small rifle primers after that range trip anyway. .223 is quite a bit higher pressure than the .300 BO loads I was shooting.

I do my brass in batches. You can sort it, or not. Exactly which steps in which order work for you is up to you. I'll clean it and put it in a jug with a lid. One day I'll pull a jug out and resize a bunch and then put that away in a jug with a lid on it. Another day I'll prime a jug of brass and put that away with a lid on it. (edited to change resize to prime) One day I'll grab that jug and put powder and bullets in that brass. I very seldom, and only a few pieces (to fill out a box of ammo or a magazine of ammo), will I resize, prime, powder and seat bullets in during the same reloading bench session. On pretty days I'm sitting on the sunny bench in front of the garage sorting, trimming, priming brass. On rainy days I can sit in the garage at the reloading bench resize brass or reload primed brass.

Case mouth splits? In my experience that's unusual. I've had one or two do it over the years. .45 acp brass that was who knows how old and how many times reloaded. Seen .38 specials do it, too. Again, old as can be and reloaded an uncounted number of times. Something funny about having a bunch split like that. No idea what/why though.

My M&P 9MM developed this issue about a year after I installed the CAEK kit. The advice you were given about closing the gap on that "candy cane" took care of mine.

Usually a CZ P07 in .40 S&W. Thirteen in the gun, a seventeen round magazine in my left front pants pocket and two more seventeen round magazines in a pouch in my left cargo pocket. Occasionally (road trips with my wife, who carries a CZ 75 Compact in 9MM) I carry my CZ 75 Compact. Fifteen rounds in the gun, an 18 round magazine in my left front pants pocket and two more 18 round magazines in a pouch in my left cargo pants pocket. On a road trip I also carry a couple extra double magazine pouches in the car in the "pockets" on the bottom of the doors.

I had a similar event a few months back with my Pre B CZ 85 9MM. Federal case. Less than maximum charge of slow burning powder (compressed load though) under a 115 grain hollow point. Round fired, sounded/felt normal. I had no idea I had an issue until the next trigger pull, when nothing happened. Glanced at the pistol, thought I'd had my very first failure to feed/chamber. Racked the slide and the base/rim of the case fell out on the table. The walls of the case were still stuck in the chamber. Field stripped it, pulled the case walls out of the chamber with my fingers. No damage at all to the pistol, just extra dirty inside where the powder blew out into the magazine/frame of the CZ. No way it was double charged or overcharged. Can't double charge a compressed load. I look at every case with a small bright flashlight prior to placing a bullet in the case mouth to be seated. For this load (it is under max load but still a heft charge) I use the Hornady electronic powder measure/scale to weigh out every charge and I still randomly weigh 1 out of every ten on the scale just to make sure. There are "bad/weak" cases out there. Been reloading since about 1978, never had this happen before in any cartridge/gun.

Two FA vibratory cleaners. One with crushed walnut shell media that cleans the brass up before resizing. It usually runs 4 to 5 hrs. I recently bought an appliance timer from Lowes. I plugged it in, charged up the internal battery and then unplugged it to program it (time, date, etc.) I plugged one of the vibratory cleaners into it. Then I can set it for 4 hrs (on 1 hr.) turn it on and go in for the evening and it will shut off when it counts down to zero time. The second vibratory cleaner has crushed walnut shell media in it but I add about a table spoon full of Nu Finish car wax to it about every 2nd run. I run the brass through this one about 3 to 4 hrs. and the brass comes out noticeably brighter/shinier. Brass on the left just cleaned. Brass on the right polished. Yea, I still load some .38 specials. Got a couple old K frame S&W's that need to eat, too.

Been stopped twice since I got my concealed carry permit several years ago. First time I'd gotten sleepy and my wife was driving. She has a heavy foot, I get on to her regularly, but she doesn't seem to get tickets. The WV State Trooper pulled us over (wife was all shook up, as usual). When he walked up to the car I told him I was carrying. He asked where it was and I told him and he told me to just leave it there. He told us he'd pulled us over because she was driving a little fast and weaving a little bit. He took my wife's license, the car's registration and insurance card back to his car. He came back in a few minutes, handed everything back to her and told us to be careful. We changed places and I drove the rest of the way home. The second time was here in VA. I was on my way to work but not carrying because you can't carry where I worked (and they can search your vehicle whenever they want to because you're parked on company property.) I didn't stop right in the road as it was rush hour traffic. I waved my arm out the window and pointed over to the right to let him know I'd seen him and drove a couple blocks to a parking lot and pulled in. He walked up and told me he'd pulled me over for driving past a stopped school bus on the other side of what I thought was a divided highway. Here in VA it's not a divided highway unless it's grass and trees or a jersey wall between the lanes, as I found out later. I asked to get out of the Jeep because there's just no way I can get to my wallet in that cramped ass little vehicle. I didn't tell him I was carrying because I wasn't. He took my driver's license, insurance card and registration back to his car. Another county police car pulled in behind him and that cop got out. Well, that cop went ape shit. I couldn't understand every word he said but he was upset that I had not informed the first police officer that I was carrying. He and the first guy were arguing and finally the first guy said something that got the second guy to back up and start pacing back and forth between their cars. The first officer came back to me, handed me back my stuff and wrote me a ticket for passing the stopped school bus. All I had to do to get that dropped was take the driver's class for $50 (kind of a racket here in VA as the class was pretty much a joke when the guy spends almost as much time out smoking as talking/teaching and then stands there spends the teaching time stories about his career as a police officer and then tells you the answers when you take the tests.) The first officer never mentioned the concealed carry permit or asked why I didn't inform him I was carrying (I was waiting, but since he didn't ask, I didn't tell him the 1911 was at home). Got stopped in a small town in WV many years ago and got a speeding ticket for 28 mph in a 25 mph zone. Yup. Three miles over the speed limit. Had another small town WV cop pull me over, tell me my inspection sticker "looked funny" and then threaten to draw on me because I got to close to him when he made me get out of the car to look at my inspection sticker from the front/outside the car. I saw that USMC tie tack on his uniform tie and I figured the crazy bastard was itching for an excuse to shoot somebody. I'm standing on the side of the road with both hands up in the air and him with his gun unstrapped and his hand on the grip and about halfway out of the holster and I'm backing up to put distance between us after he asked me to do what I was doing. That was the scariest traffic stop (from the wrong end) I've ever had. Good and bad, every job, just people, not all of them suited for the job they do.

I have the dual illuminated RMRs on two of my CZs. One amber, one green. The green one is bad to disappear if I'm in a low light area "looking" into a more brightly lit area. I can still see the amber dot, either way. I've read of one other person saying it's the opposite for him, he can see the green dot easier in those conditions. In the house, day or night, I have no trouble seeing the dot, either one. I have back up iron sights on my pistols in case I can't see the dot (probably won't be in the house shooting at anything outside through the windows anyway). I have a DP Pro on a smaller CZ 75 Compact for my wife. She really likes it. So far it's used up the original battery (no idea how old it was) and the replacement has been in it for a couple months or so. It really doesn't get handled much but does go on a road trip once a month so the instant on feature probably keeps the sight "on" for about 10 or 11 hours that weekend. That DP Pro is the dot model. I also go a triangle model for her to try and she didn't really like it vs. the dot.

I had an issue, early on, with the original magazines in my P14. The rounds would stop moving upwards and you could jar the magazine a little and they'd pop up to the lips again. I tried a little grease on the springs. Didn't work. The original springs, in mine, where made with smaller and larger square looking coils. The smaller coils "nest" into the larger coils and were binding/hanging up as the follower moved upwards and the smaller coils moved out of the bigger coils (or that was my guess at the time). I'd already bought a few spare magazines and they had different spring in them. Not the smaller/larger coils but coils that were uniform in size top to bottom. I ordered new springs (don't remember where) and those were made different, like the springs in the newer magazines. I installed the new springs in my magazines and had no further issues.

Latest CZ project. Not quite done with it, but almost.

I only tumble the resized brass to remove the lube (rifle cases). I did buy an appliance timer at Lowes a few weeks back. If it will handle refrigerator's/freezers I figured it should handle vibratory brass cleaners/polishers. I programmed the time/date in and plugged in one of the case cleaners. I can set it for 15 minutes or for hours (I sometimes set it for 4 hours when leaving the garage so it'll clean a batch of brass that will be ready for resizing the next day) and walk away till later that day or the next day and it will run the programmed time and shut off. I did find it turning on again the next Tuesday (seems the way I did it was having it turn on every Tuesday at 12 noon and run for 4 hours). I unplugged it till I figure out how to remove that particular bit of programming/scheduling. But it works great to dump in some brass, punch up 3 or 4 hours run time (or just a few minutes), press the ON button and walk out the door to go do something else. Cost just under $26 but it will be worth it if it lasts a few years.

I've read a theory (on another forum) that the Lee carbide dies may not have the taper that other companies use in the carbide ring (cost savings measure). The theory further stated that if the inside of the carbide ring was not tapered, but straight, then in order to resize the top of the case to the correct diameter the bottom of the case would be smaller than it would have been originally. That would result in a bottle necked looking cartridge once the bullet is seated (aggravated by the use of somewhat larger diameter bullets, of course). Can't say that theory is correct, or not, I can say that with my new RCBS dies I don't see the bottle neck look like I did with the Lee dies. Yes, the Lee dies made good shooting (functioning/accurate) reloads but what about the possibility of overworking the brass by sizing is smaller than needed and then blowing it back out when the cartridge is fired? Maybe not an issue with 9MM like it could be with higher pressure. The point, made in another post above, about alignment, is a good one. Sometimes I'd see a 9MM case when a lip of brass rolled off the surface and pushed down the side to the point where the bottom of the die stopped on the case. A time or two I tossed brass in the scrap brass can because it was damaged so bad. I was using an RCBS single stage press, Lee die, and an RCBS shell holder. I wondered if there was an alignment issue, due to the mismatched components, or even an incorrectly made shell holder, press wear (pretty old press) but the damaged cases were only seen every few hundred resizings, so it could have been screwy brass, too. Anyway, now I'm running the RCBS carbide die set and I'm happy with the results in my CZ pistols. If the reloads work in the CZ they'll work in the safe queens (XDM, M&P and Browning 9MM semi-autos that don't give me the groups/reliability the CZ's give me.)

I just don't lube carbide dies. Not .40, not .45 acp, not .357 or .44 and I'm not lubing 9MM. Lube is for non-carbide dies. That's why I paid more money for carbide dies - so I wouldn't have to lube the cases and then take the lube off. My new RCBS dies resize the 9MM brass with much less effort required. Some folks bad mouth RCBS dies but mine are working great, so far. The Lee dies go back on the shelf for back up duty. If some folks want to lube brass sized in carbide dies that's fine. I'm not.

I have the regular Lee 9MM set with the carbide sizing die. Resizing was extremely hard (more effort required than resizing military 7.62X51 brass) and the reloads had that same coke bottle shape in your picture. I bought a set of RCBS 9MM dies with the carbide sizing die and no more blisters on the fingers, no more sore fingers/hands and no more coke bottle shaped reloads - but they still chamber/fire/eject just fine in my CZ pistols. Different dies. are different.

I've always read that (in rifles anyway) that is caused by the firing pin hole being too large in diameter. That leaves room for the primer cup metal to flow back around the tip of the firing pin.

Looks like you've got a really big firing pin hole in the bolt. That would let some of the primer blow back into the hole after the firing pin set the primer off. The sooty brass does look like the pressure isn't very high. Higher pressure will seal the brass against the chamber walls better and prevent some of the soot/gas from blowing back around the case walls. High pressure can reduce the rounded edge where the primer meets the primer pocket brass and make the primer look very "flat" from the center all the way to the brass of the primer pocket.

The new Sierra Manual doesn't have pressure data in it (disappointment) or .300 BO data (another disappointment). The new Lyman manuals do, both the standard reloading manual and the lead bullet reloading manual. My older Lee manual has pressure data in it but gets "funny" on powders in places (only showing data for AA powders for some bullets, or only Winchester powders for other bullets). Reloading manuals are sort of like car repair manuals. You end up buying several to find out that something you needed to know was in one but not in the other(s). I've bought some of the Zero bullet 124 and 115 grain hollow points, the rounded nose looking types, and intend to start working up some loads for them after some other reloading chores are completed.

I've never had that problem and I'm a trigger rider, too. Then again, I don't shoot competition or have competition guns so mine aren't highly modified. I do like your diagrams and "borrowed" it to saver for future reference, if that's okay.