Name the problem!

[KentG]

I have a 9mm 5.25 I bought new when they came out and had SP do the trigger. Its ran perfecty untill last couple weeks or so. Getting the odd fail to feed and I dont see a reason. It started out of the blue after about 2500-3000 rounds without any reason I can see. Pertinent info is Im using Pistol Gear 28+1 mags 3 different ones plus a factory barney mag which all have had the issue, Montana Gold 147 gr over VV and like I said they have run reliably. I cleaned the gun very well last week to take that out of the equation, I dont think its a dirt issue. Happens randomly about 1 in 75 rounds. In the last week I have tried 2 additional recoil springs, a 16 and a 14. Running about 200 thru the 14# spring had no issues and I put in the 16# and it had the one in all of the pics above.

I dont think its a spring issue but again I would not be asking for opinions if I knew for sure. Pistol Gear told me their mag springs should last a lot longer than this and I tend to agree but am going to order new ones Monday anyway. Not a knock on them because I like them and they have ran perfectly till now without issues. I would buy the extensions agian in a minute.

As additional info the gun did NOT like the sample pack of 200 Bayou Bullets very much which I wrote off to the bullet profile having a obvious feed problem with them.

I ordered a sample pack of Precision Delta 147 because from the pics it looked to have a more tapered profile vs MG. They came in the mail today and they are noticably more tapered profile on the tip.

I have had and have XD's for a number of yaars and they have been the most relable feeding guns I have had. This one was well on its way to being the same level of reliability. But my other XDs are all 45s.

Anyone else have issues or ideas? Sorry if some of the pics are dupes but I tried to get pics of the FTF and this is the same condition as all of the past ones.

Edited June 22, 2012 by Kent Grewe

[rq375]

I've got the 24+1 pistol gear extensions, and a 16lb spring, mine will do that occasionally if I barney load (147 PD). When I don't barney, it is 100%.

[Coach]

Back when I owned XD's I had no luck what so ever with them. Once the round count grew to over 5,000 the trouble began. I had three different ones. Never again.

[RIIID]

Check the feed lip width at the front, it might be too tight. Look at the base of the ramp and locking block transition, it may need to be blended.

Does it only do this failure with the 170mm length mags?

Rich

[KentG]

Check the feed lip width at the front, it might be too tight. Look at the base of the ramp and locking block transition, it may need to be blended.

Does it only do this failure with the 170mm length mags?

Rich

Is there a spec for how wide the mag ligs should be? I think its been just the long mags but I am going to do some more testing Sat. Bad part is I need it for a 3G match on Sunday. Gun has ran perfectly untill this. Going to load up the Precision Delta bullets next week but I have about 1K of the MGs left. IF the Precision Deltas feed OK Im going to order a few K but I still have about i K of the MGs.

Edited June 22, 2012 by Kent Grewe

[HadleyOwens]

If you pull back on the slide will it continue into battery ? I would also polish the feed ramp...I know that it does it randomly and works fine most of the time but, sometimes the stars and planets align properly and give us FTF's.. Lol!!

Hadley O.

[Landeeno]

Are the mags seating really well? There not getting hung on the mag release spring just a little? And is this on the first shot of the fresh loaded mag or is it halfway through shooting a mag?

[KentG]

If you pull back on the slide will it continue into battery ? I would also polish the feed ramp...I know that it does it randomly and works fine most of the time but, sometimes the stars and planets align properly and give us FTF's.. Lol!!

Hadley O.

Usually can pull slide back and its OK.

[Landeeno]

I dont know much so take my thoughts with a grain of salt, but if you can still rack it then it sounds like a bullet or mag problem.

[waynes_world_45]

How long are you loading?

Edited June 22, 2012 by waynes_world_45

[KentG]

How long are you loading?

1.130+- and I have a 3G match Sunday. Im blowing off work Sat so I can head to range and check putting back in the #14 spring since it worked better than the 16. Dont want to start polishing on it at the moment. I guess I can break out the CC 45 Tactical that has ran perfectly once I took out the extended mag release that my fat thumb hits at the worst possible time!

The XD platform makes me shoot better which is average on a good day. The 45's have ran better or just as well as any 1911/2011 I have ever had and the way it fits my hand and points Im all in. The way this came up after a good run of a couple K is a head scratcher.

Im going to load up the PD bullets next week and try them due to them being more a tru ball profile. That should help and they are cheaper by a tad than the MG. The gun ran every bit of white box ball I tried and I have to admit I never have tried any HP or "defensive" class ammo cause the 9mm is a game gun cal for me.

Thanks for the input, and Rich, I will be calling you next week.

[promod1385]

Have you tried new mag springs?

[waynes_world_45]

Haha... yeah I fat finger the big buttons too

[ummm]

Is the slide lock lever spring still putting pressure on the slide lock lever?

[kcobean]

So here is what I understand:

1. When you use a heavier recoil spring, the problem goes away. This would seem to indicate that the heavier spring is overcoming some friction or sticking point, or the faster movement of the slide is preventing the friction/sticking.

2. When the FTF happens, manual cycling of the slide clears the issue. This could indicate that at natural recoil speed, something is occuring that's causing the FTF.

Based on these two things, I'm going to guess that weak mag springs are not providing enough upward pressure on the bullet to keep it flat against the mag lips, so when the slide comes forward and catches the top of the round, it's nose-diving the bullet into the feed ramp or front edge of the magazine, and it's probably under "just right" conditions. With the 16# spring, the slide is moving fast enough that the bullet gets shoved forward before the nose-dive can affect it. When hand-cycling to clear the malfunction, the bullet is moving slow enough for the weak mag spring to "catch up" with the movement and keep the bullet level.

Try switching back to factory mags for awhile and see if the problem goes away. If it does, I'd go with new mag springs and continue running whichever recoil spring offers you the best feel.

If that doesn't work, you might try the MG 124gr JHP's. I know it's a lighter bullet than you shoot now, but your gun will love the conical shape of these rounds.

Good luck, and let us know what you find.

[KentG]

Thanks for the replies. I ran it yesterday in a multigun match using the 14 pount spring with no feed issues. I have another one in two weeks. Between now and then Im going to do some polishing on the feed ramp and switch to the Precision Delta bullets. They are back ordered. They said that these bullets will be produced again shortly after the 4th. Going to try to practice some more and pin down exacty which mags have the issue.

[KentG]

Check the feed lip width at the front, it might be too tight. Look at the base of the ramp and locking block transition, it may need to be blended.

Does it only do this failure with the 170mm length mags?

Rich

After looking more at this and actually wondering the same thing about the transition I did a polish job on that transition area. I didnt actually remove any metal to blend it to fit the barrel ramp, yet, but it seems to have helped. Also I got and loaded the sample pack of Precision Delta 147's. The profile seems much better than the MG bullets. They ran pretty well but only got about 100 thru the gun and I needed more anyway so I have 2K of them on the bench unopened and hope to load a few hundred at least this coming week.

I had to take off a week due to being sick but I think the polish and better bullet profile will solve this.

I may blend the locking block feed ramp transition area to match the barrel feed ramp but I wondered why Springfield did not do a better job of matching the ramp area when they machined the locking block. It looks like there is at least .010" and more of gap betweeen the two that serve no purpose and would help feeding from what I can see.