Spartan 9mm issue feeding 1.120 at the range

[kreativecid]

A BE forum member commented in a recent thread that his Spartan 9mm OAL was in the 1.130+ range, and it was "odd" to him that my 9mm Spartan would only feed moly truncated cone flat points if the OAL was 1.120. Any longer and my gun will not go into battery. I chalked it up to different mags and bullet profiles.....or maybe my Spartan would get dirty after 100 rounds and create an issue? The Bear Creeks are clean, no fouling, no smoke.

This morning's shoot had my Spartan not go into battery several times as if the OAL was too long. I'd eject the round, clean it off and insert into the mags again, and it would either chamber no problem or I'd have to give the slide a little tap forward.

Mainspring is 14# and recoil is 9# if I remember correctly. Brass spits out about 4 feet in a nice neat pile. Mags are almost new; the oem Mec-Gar and 3 aftermarket Metalform 9 rounders. Last night all rounds were double-checked and OAL was at 1.120, give or take .002 (mixed brass, Bear Creek 125g TC, WST, Federal primer, Lee Deluxe with auto crimper I've used for years with no issue). I have a few hundred loaded up at 1.120 because my Spartan supposedly won't run any longer.

Tonight I built some dummy rounds out to 1.140 per that forum member's input and they all went in without issue! At the range I'd never get anything longer than 1.120 to work. And my old plated round nose 1.140 had no issues tonight with the Spartan. Now I'm confused. Why will my dummy rounds go into battery whether 1 or 2 in the mag or a full mag of dummy rounds in my gun room but not at the range?

Is it a firearm cleanliness issue causing the moly truncated cone flat point to stick and not let the slide chamber the round on my non-ramp barrel? Are Spartans running more reliably with a round nose?

Edited November 29, 2011 by kreativecid

[Strick]

Not go into battery as just out or as in the round is hitting the ramp ans stopping? If it is just a little out of battery I would say it is because of the lead bullet being just a slightly different profile and the shoulder being fatter and to long for the chamber. That is just a guess though based on some things I have seen with a gun or 2 I own when I switched to lead bullets.

[twodownzero]

Mine won't feed flat point bullets with any kind of reliability.

Round nose bullets are the only answer.

Edited November 29, 2011 by twodownzero

[kreativecid]

Thanks!

[Boxerglocker]

All I run is Bear Creek molys in my Spartan 9mm. The MAX OAL that the BC 125g RN will run reliably in my gun is 1.120, with the 147g FP 1.130…. My preferred BC bullet is the 135g RN, with has a narrower ogive compared o the 125g thus I can load it out to 1.150... I back that 135g with 4.0 WST, it gives me a consistent 1000 fps (135 PF) out of my gun. I have shot thousands of these through Spartan and love this load. YMMV

[kreativecid]

Built some BC 135 RN with 3.9 WST at 1.35 OAL. Just a small sample. For the first time my Spartan fed a full mag of moly and/or lead, and the accuracy was laser-like! I may go out to 1.40-1.45 on the OAL and up to 4.0 WST, but it was refreshing not dealing with feed issues.

addendum: went out to 1.45 oal at 3.8 WST with the 135g BC RN. Feeding and accuracy perfection even in the cross-wind and off-hand. You saved me a lot of hassle! Many thanks.

All I run is Bear Creek molys in my Spartan 9mm. The MAX OAL that the BC 125g RN will run reliably in my gun is 1.120, with the 147g FP 1.130…. My preferred BC bullet is the 135g RN, with has a narrower ogive compared o the 125g thus I can load it out to 1.150... I back that 135g with 4.0 WST, it gives me a consistent 1000 fps (135 PF) out of my gun. I have shot thousands of these through Spartan and love this load. YMMV

Edited December 2, 2011 by kreativecid