BobS761 Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 The malfunctions we experienced are probably due to our reloads. But, being new to the game, I'm solicitng opinions. All three of us experienced the same thing, 2 XDm .40 4.5 and an XD .40 tactical. During the course of fire, there would be a misfire, and the slide would be a real bear to rack and clear. Bullets were reloads, 175 gr cast lead, 1.125 OAL, all run through case guage, and about 160 PF. Also loaded on a Lee Loadmaster, just before we gave up and bought a Dillion. Guns are bone stock. While I'm not a pistol expert, I cannot understand the difficulty racking the slide to clear. Any ideas? B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3gungeezer Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Sounds like the rounds were too large for your chambers. You might want to check the rounds in both your case guage and your actual barrels. When I was a seriuos competitor I checked every round in the actual barrel that was going to shoot it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 While I'm not a pistol expert, I cannot understand the difficulty racking the slide to clear. Any ideas? B Bad rounds, with lead, make sure they are nut curling the lead when you seat the bullet. If the round got stuck in the chamber, odds are they dind't fully seat, and that is why they didn't fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobS761 Posted November 17, 2012 Author Share Posted November 17, 2012 While I'm not a pistol expert, I cannot understand the difficulty racking the slide to clear. Any ideas? B Bad rounds, with lead, make sure they are nut curling the lead when you seat the bullet. If the round got stuck in the chamber, odds are they dind't fully seat, and that is why they didn't fire. Probably need to move to the reloading forum, but perhaps more crimp? The bullets are sized, but I can see the outline of the bullet in the brass on some of them. At first, we had some issues with the bullets seating just a little askew. Scrapped those. Also all brass goes through the bulge buster. Sorry for the ignorance, we are new to the USPSA shooting, AND reloading AND auto loading pistols. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Be carefully with crimping, you need to use what is suggested. If the bell is not sufficient or the right seating cone is not used, you can get wacky bullet seating. Please have someone who is familiar with reloading inspect your rounds. I once replaced 3 barrels in one pistol because the gentleman was learning to reload on his own. Once he brought his rounds in for me to look at, it was obvious why he was blowing up barrels, so it is worth the time to make sure you are doing thing properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic_jon Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Loves2shoot hit it on the head. Get some calipers and have someone knowledgeable check your bullets before you use them, your die set up, and then all of the measurements after you load them. More or less crimp does not always solve things. There could also be other things wrong as well. I had a seating die that was loose and it floated the OAL all over the place but was still in spec in a case gauge. Let me tell you... those bullets did some straaaange things... One *whistled* as it went down range as the plating peeled off... I now always check all of my dies before loading...I filed that under things you only let happen once... Take the time to check, and double-check things, and make sure you are doing it right before "something bad" happens. You only have one set of eyes and hands... so take the proper precautions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMB Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Did you have these problems with every round? The sizing issue has been pretty well covered. Here is another thought. Was there any sign of a light strike on the primer? If you had light strikes, it may also be a high primer issue. You should always case gauge your ammo. I f you don't have one just take your barrel out of the slide and use that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapemeister Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 (edited) Sounds like your OAL is too long. Throw out the case gage and always use the chamber to check your rounds. Rounds should fall out of the chamber freely. I also push down on the rounds on occasion to make sure they're not sticking in the chamber. If they're sticking, that means the bullet is probably getting stuck in the rifling, which isn't a good thing. You didn't say what kind of misfire you're having, but if the primer is too high and/or the bullet sticks too far out of the chamber when loaded, you could experience light primer strikes. Again, it sounds like your loading the round too long, to the point where the bullet is sticking in the rifling and the other end is sticking out of the chamber. Study how a factory round looks when it's in the chamber, if you're not sure what too look for. Edited November 20, 2012 by grapemiester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cslafrain Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 My issue with my XDM 40 was similar. Cast lead 40 is normally sized to 0.401 which is what I normally size all 40 BBI bullets to as well. I was seeing a few rounds scrap the coating on the edge of the chamber. I was loaded to 1.135 OAL with my 165 grain BBI with casing that had been thru a GRX. I decided to size the bullets down to 0.400 to see what would happen. It worked great. No more issues. Another customer had the same experience and we sized him down to 0.400 as well. Just a thought. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobS761 Posted November 20, 2012 Author Share Posted November 20, 2012 It looks like we aren't properly seating and crimping. Loading to 1.125 OAL. Fits in the case guage, but sticky in the chamber. I read elsewhere on Enos not to crimp much with cast bullets, so we tried to just get the bell out and crimp a little to prevent setback. We also size the bullets. By no means is the investigation over, going to double check every aspect and component. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobS761 Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 Update. I have learned that one doesn't always know what one thinks he knows. As it turns out, grapemeister had it nailed. After inspecting our rounds, all but the first batch were too long, about 1.140. Great lesson here, and thanks for all the replies! Now to eliminate the smokescreen.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMB Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Switch to a coated bullet or go jacketed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobS761 Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 Have to stay with casting our own for economic reasons. I'm supporting 4 shooters including myself. Going to experiment with a different lube. I think the last batch were also coated too heavy. Not getting as much smoke with Clays, but TG was a fog! B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jogan Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 This might be a simple point, but while trying to rack the slide, were you engaging the grip safety? When I first started with my XDM, I thought it was locked up since I was having trouble racking the slide. Turns out I wasn't holding in the grip safety with the palm of my hand. Just a thought. Sometimes it's the simple things.....lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobS761 Posted November 30, 2012 Author Share Posted November 30, 2012 This might be a simple point, but while trying to rack the slide, were you engaging the grip safety? When I first started with my XDM, I thought it was locked up since I was having trouble racking the slide. Turns out I wasn't holding in the grip safety with the palm of my hand. Just a thought. Sometimes it's the simple things.....lol Oh yeah, a death grip! Beyond a doubt, it was long rounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txmac66 Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 When it comes to changing C.O.L. make sure to take into account the geometry of the bullet. I found out the hard way to make sure the bullet does not engage the rifleing when the pistol goes into battery. I was loading 124 Rainer RN and switched over to Montanna Gold 124 HP without changing the C.O.L. In the XDm the rifleing starts really close to the chamber and when in battery those MG would lock into the grooves and lands. When it came time to unload and show clear, I had a chambered bullet and could not rack the slide to remove it. When we did get it to rack the extractor pulled the cartridge apart, dumped the powder down my magwell and left the bullet in the barrel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshoxx Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 out of 10k rounds I have had one malfunction due to some Atlanta Arms reloads with a burr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now