New 40 XDm and Federal Ammo

[mwx40x40]

I invited a friend at work to come out and try USPSA at my club last weekend. He had a great time, but was surprised to find that his new blaster was not getting along with the Federal Ammo he had purchased at Wally Mart. Had a couple of failures to feed, but the most interesting thing was the rounds were key holing in the targets. Has anyone else experienced this with the Federal loads from Wally World? I was curious if these were plated bullets vs jacketed? It is a shame, as the they were only $12.95 a box. Winchester White Box seemed to perform well.

[DT Guy]

I've shot 150 rounds of 9, and it shot OK. It does seem to look more 'plated' than jacketed, though, despite what the box said.

Larry

[buckaroo45]

I've shot my XDM 40 in Limited for some 6 months. I've run Federal, Remington and Wally World WWB, American Eagle and Atlanta Arms reloads (all 180 gr) thru with zero problems or anything different than normal. Gotta be the most reliable pistol I own.

_______________________________________________________________

Ah that I were young enough to have focus now that I see the use of it. - Me

[Classic_jon]

Last time I shot some Federals I actually took one apart to see and they were FMJ. There was more smoke out of the Federals from Wally World than the Molly's or bare lead that I have shot!! Now, that was about a year ago so they may have changed bullets by now but you won't know unless you pull one apart. If it is a plated bullet it is very possible that the bullet is coming apart and stripping the plating off.

That being said, on a friends XDm I have seen the very issue you describe with the FTF/FTE because he did not put enough lube on it after he cleaned it. A couple of drops of oil do not lube a pistol

The keyholing though is something odd though. let me ask some questions.

1) how "new" a gun was this?

2) how many rounds have been shot through it?

3) Is the barrel and gun clean and un-gunked?

4) What range were the rounds Keyholing at?

[mwx40x40]

Last time I shot some Federals I actually took one apart to see and they were FMJ. There was more smoke out of the Federals from Wally World than the Molly's or bare lead that I have shot!! Now, that was about a year ago so they may have changed bullets by now but you won't know unless you pull one apart. If it is a plated bullet it is very possible that the bullet is coming apart and stripping the plating off.

That being said, on a friends XDm I have seen the very issue you describe with the FTF/FTE because he did not put enough lube on it after he cleaned it. A couple of drops of oil do not lube a pistol

The keyholing though is something odd though. let me ask some questions.

1) how "new" a gun was this?

2) how many rounds have been shot through it?

3) Is the barrel and gun clean and un-gunked?

4) What range were the rounds Keyholing at?

Gun is less than 1 year old

Probalby 500 rounds give or take a few

I assume clean . I did not check .

15 to 25 yards and some holes looked round ,but others keyholed

I will check with him this weekend and see for sure.

[ParaGunner]

The failures to feed was probably bullet setback,I've had a lot of that with cheap federal ammunition.

[mwx40x40]

Last time I shot some Federals I actually took one apart to see and they were FMJ. There was more smoke out of the Federals from Wally World than the Molly's or bare lead that I have shot!! Now, that was about a year ago so they may have changed bullets by now but you won't know unless you pull one apart. If it is a plated bullet it is very possible that the bullet is coming apart and stripping the plating off.

That being said, on a friends XDm I have seen the very issue you describe with the FTF/FTE because he did not put enough lube on it after he cleaned it. A couple of drops of oil do not lube a pistol

The keyholing though is something odd though. let me ask some questions.

1) how "new" a gun was this?

2) how many rounds have been shot through it?

3) Is the barrel and gun clean and un-gunked?

4) What range were the rounds Keyholing at?

Gun is less than 1 year old

Probalby 500 rounds give or take a few

I assume clean . I did not check .

15 to 25 yards and some holes looked round ,but others keyholed

I will check with him this weekend and see for sure.

Here is the latest on my friends XD. He told me his round count on the gun is close to 1000. The Federal Wally World continued to keyhole after cleaning the barrel. Switched to WW White box and key holing went away. But now he is experiencing lots of FTE. Is it possible the extractor already needs a new spring? He was getting FTE's on almost every mag and this problem just started. Prior to this last range session he had never experienced FTE's.

[Yagi]

I never had problems with Factory loads on my XDM...This is the first time i've heard it on XDM's... Maybe a bad batch of ammo's? How is he holding the pistol when shooting?

[Classic_jon]

That being said, on a friends XDm I have seen the very issue you describe with the FTF/FTE because he did not put enough lube on it after he cleaned it. A couple of drops of oil do not lube a pistol

The keyholing though is something odd though. let me ask some questions.

1) how "new" a gun was this?

2) how many rounds have been shot through it?

3) Is the barrel and gun clean and un-gunked?

4) What range were the rounds Keyholing at?

Gun is less than 1 year old

Probalby 500 rounds give or take a few

I assume clean . I did not check .

15 to 25 yards and some holes looked round ,but others keyholed

I will check with him this weekend and see for sure.

Here is the latest on my friends XD. He told me his round count on the gun is close to 1000. The Federal Wally World continued to keyhole after cleaning the barrel. Switched to WW White box and key holing went away. But now he is experiencing lots of FTE. Is it possible the extractor already needs a new spring? He was getting FTE's on almost every mag and this problem just started. Prior to this last range session he had never experienced FTE's.

I would personally take the slide off of the gun and check it to see how much lube he has on it. I am betting that he has just a tiny bit of oil on it. The FTE issue with the XDm you are describing is almost identical to the one my friend was having when his XDm was almost dry of lube. Get some slide glide, or at least some gun oil, on that thing and shoot some through it. If it has no real visible lube, drown it in oil/lube and I bet it will "suddenly" start working.

Yagi's suggestion is also a good one. Make sure he has a good *high* grip and that he is not limp wristing when he shoots. I have never seen that issue with that in an XDm series even with people using a "teacup" grip, but it is entirely possible.

[GrumpyOne]

I had some issues with Federal factory ammo in the past. I was duck hunting one morning, brand new box of Federal 12 ga, about every third round, the pellets would go about 20-30 feet and drop. You could actually see them leave the barrel! Completely put me off anything Federal, haven't shot any since. Now, bear in miind, they may have changed since my problems occurred as this was 25 years ago!

[mwx40x40]

That being said, on a friends XDm I have seen the very issue you describe with the FTF/FTE because he did not put enough lube on it after he cleaned it. A couple of drops of oil do not lube a pistol

The keyholing though is something odd though. let me ask some questions.

1) how "new" a gun was this?

2) how many rounds have been shot through it?

3) Is the barrel and gun clean and un-gunked?

4) What range were the rounds Keyholing at?

Gun is less than 1 year old

Probalby 500 rounds give or take a few

I assume clean . I did not check .

15 to 25 yards and some holes looked round ,but others keyholed

I will check with him this weekend and see for sure.

Here is the latest on my friends XD. He told me his round count on the gun is close to 1000. The Federal Wally World continued to keyhole after cleaning the barrel. Switched to WW White box and key holing went away. But now he is experiencing lots of FTE. Is it possible the extractor already needs a new spring? He was getting FTE's on almost every mag and this problem just started. Prior to this last range session he had never experienced FTE's.

I would personally take the slide off of the gun and check it to see how much lube he has on it. I am betting that he has just a tiny bit of oil on it. The FTE issue with the XDm you are describing is almost identical to the one my friend was having when his XDm was almost dry of lube. Get some slide glide, or at least some gun oil, on that thing and shoot some through it. If it has no real visible lube, drown it in oil/lube and I bet it will "suddenly" start working.

Yagi's suggestion is also a good one. Make sure he has a good *high* grip and that he is not limp wristing when he shoots. I have never seen that issue with that in an XDm series even with people using a "teacup" grip, but it is entirely possible.

BINGO! My buddy gave me his XD for the weekend. When I took it home and field stripped it , it was clean , but only lightly lubed with some very thin looking oil . I liberally applied slide glide in all the right spots. Took it out today and ran 100 plus rounds through it without a single problem. I think I will give him a tube of slide glide.

Thanks

[Joe4d]

"E" failure to eject or failure to extract ?

[Field]

i have a hard time beleiving that the gun is going to be butt hurt not working properly because it doesnt have enough loob on it.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Field

[mwx40x40]

i have a hard time beleiving that the gun is going to be butt hurt not working properly because it doesnt have enough loob on it.

Actually I was kind of skeptical too. But, all I know is I took his gun home clean and lubed it with slide glide and it ran 1oo+ rounds flawless.

[Mbauer67]

Now the test is to see if your buddy still has problems, if he does it's time for him to hit a gym and do a little weight lifting. I bet your friend is having a problem with limp wristing.

[mwx40x40]

Now the test is to see if your buddy still has problems, if he does it's time for him to hit a gym and do a little weight lifting. I bet your friend is having a problem with limp wristing.

So far , so good.

[tisch006]

I invited a friend at work to come out and try USPSA at my club last weekend. He had a great time, but was surprised to find that his new blaster was not getting along with the Federal Ammo he had purchased at Wally Mart. Had a couple of failures to feed, but the most interesting thing was the rounds were key holing in the targets. Has anyone else experienced this with the Federal loads from Wally World? I was curious if these were plated bullets vs jacketed? It is a shame, as the they were only $12.95 a box. Winchester White Box seemed to perform well.

Until I just began reloading, this is pretty much the only ammo I used because of the price. I bought my XD40 from a guy at work who has a very good reputation when it comes to firearms. The guy told me the gun had 500 rounds through it and it appeared he was honest by the looks of the gun.

Needless to say, I took it straight to the range and had 4 FTFs and 2 FTEs in 100 rounds!!!!

So, I took it home and cleaned the heck out of it a generously lubed it....I now do this after every trip to the range or league night. I've had 2 FTEs since (6 months and 1000 or so rounds) and one was because my mag was very dirty from being repeatedly dropped in the sand (new mag brush since purchased).

Keeping it clean and well oiled has worked for me...