JulieTheCat Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 (edited) Equipment: -Freedom Gunworks built 2011 in .40sw * 3-5k rounds through it, issue has never presented before - Stock STI mags, new - 200 grain BBI bullets, new coating - Dillon 550 - This gun is new to me, but a family member has used the same press, same bullets, same pistol to load and shoot thousands of rounds without ever experiencing this issue. The only change would be the magazines. Issue: - On a few instances in a match and also in testing, selected rounds will fail to chamber completely. * SEE PICTURES * Issue presented itself with 3 of my 4 STI 2011 mags. 3 of those mags are brand new, one is well used. The well used mag has never done this before * I tried to replicate the issue at home by loading full mags with the same ammo and racking the slide, chambering and ejecting each round until empty. ~ That is where all of the attached pictures come from ~ On each malfunction, I could fix it by bumping the bottom of the mag's basepad. The magazine was already fully seated prior to bumping it. - The malfunction was a little more serious in the match situation * I would have the malfunction, and I racked the slide to clear it * The next round would also not go into the chamber * I stopped the stage, and discovered that there was a bullet stuck about 0.5" in the barrel. ~ This happened 2x during the match (after the 2nd time, I quit for the day). ~ In both instances no one heard a squib. I have had squibs in the past. I am 99% sure that this was not a squib. 10 seasoned shooters did not hear one. Without complicating this any further, could anyone provide some possible explanation for this? I talked with other shooters at the match, and we have some ideas, but I wanted to get a clean opinion first. Thanks for your help. Edited May 26, 2014 by JulieTheCat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBamBoo Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Have you tried it with factory ammo? That would be a quick and easy way to rule out a ammo issue. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v1911 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 So you received/purchased this exact gun from a family member? This sounds like a reloading issue. Maybe the person you bought the gun from could provide some insight. The bullet lodged in the barrel sounds like the bullet engaged the landings (ammo loaded too long) and when you went to clear the malfunction, stripped the bullet from the brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cslafrain Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Give me a call at 7313434001 and I can help you figure out the cause of the issues. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TH3180 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Give me a call at 7313434001 and I can help you figure out the cause of the issues. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk Besides an awesome product and service. This is why I will continue to buy and recommend BBI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waktasz Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Shorter OAL or send the barrel out for reaming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3djedi Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 So you received/purchased this exact gun from a family member? This sounds like a reloading issue. Maybe the person you bought the gun from could provide some insight. The bullet lodged in the barrel sounds like the bullet engaged the landings (ammo loaded too long) and when you went to clear the malfunction, stripped the bullet from the brass. You would think one or more people would notice a peice of brass and powder slung out of the gun if the bullet was stripped out of the brass from racking the slide. It's a mystery but I would sure like to find out what caused this..... Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v1911 Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 So you received/purchased this exact gun from a family member? This sounds like a reloading issue. Maybe the person you bought the gun from could provide some insight. The bullet lodged in the barrel sounds like the bullet engaged the landings (ammo loaded too long) and when you went to clear the malfunction, stripped the bullet from the brass. You would think one or more people would notice a peice of brass and powder slung out of the gun if the bullet was stripped out of the brass from racking the slide. It's a mystery but I would sure like to find out what caused this..... Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk I've seen this happen numerous times. During the haste of stripping a malfunctioning round, you don't notice the powder spill out, just a peice of brass flung out and lost among the brass already at your feet. OP, this sounds like a minor issue that you'll have resolved before your next match. Best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3djedi Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Well , it does make sense. I suppose in the heat of a match you might not notice the powder spilling out.... Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waktasz Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 I loaded up some new bullets to test this weekend and had the exact same problem. I didn't notice the stuck bullet in the chamber or powder spilling out until the next round didn't feed. There's video and you can't see it on there either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcqueen Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 OAL on the stuck rounds is to long. Could you be occasionaly slightly short stroking the loaders arm? This could make just some of the rounds too long even on a correctly set loader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieTheCat Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 (edited) Very helpful. Thanks for all the advice. I called Chandler (pretty awesome selling point for BBI), and he suggested that my crimp was excessive, causing a bulge in the bullet above the mouth of the case. The bulge would get hung up, jammed in, and leave the bullet when I racked the slide. He also suggested, like a few of you, that the OAL was a little long. I was at 1.20, and I will shorten it to 1.185. I think it's very possible that I did short stroke the 550 arm, creating a round that was too long. I will load 100 rounds @ 1.185, adjust the crimp, and see how it goes. Edited May 27, 2014 by JulieTheCat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKT1106 Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Make sure your mags are properly spaced at the top as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieTheCat Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 What does that mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waktasz Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 He means make sure the feed lips are in spec/mags are tuned properly. Honestly I've never had to worry about that so I don't even know what the specs should be. All my mags work out of the box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParaGunner Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 (edited) What does that mean? Check your feed lip widths. I tune my .40 mags to .388 +/-.005 Edited May 27, 2014 by ParaGunner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKT1106 Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 What does that mean? What the other guys said - The mag feed lips at the top. I think mine are .388 at the back and a little wider at the front, maybe .392-.394 to allow the rounds to point upward a bit. Is it necessary? Probably not, but I haven't had any issues with those measurements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieTheCat Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 Thanks. I will check mine. Here's hoping that the stock magazines come ready to do their job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike21STI Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 I have had issues with all of my stock mags, still working out some bugs, I just sent them out to get tuned to hopefully eliminate the feeding issues that I have. My issue is close to yours where the round gets stuck on the feed ramp. Is the round below it in the mag looks like it is angled downward? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcobean Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 (edited) I would ensure that your press is belling the case mouth adequately when loading and that you're VERY gently crimping (just enough to undo the bell). If not, the case could be pushing the coating up around the neck during bullet seating, causing in effect an oversize bullet that will stick hard in the chamber. If your COAL is correct, this would be my guess. I recently had a round stick hard in my chamber caused by this exact thing, but with a plated bullet. When I got the round out, I found the plating was pushed up around the case neck. Edited May 27, 2014 by kcobean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKT1106 Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 I would also try to polish the feed ramp on the barrel. Very easy to do with some 600, 1000, and 2000 grit sandpaper and a dremel with a soft tip and jeweler's polish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcqueen Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Please let us know what cures your problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieTheCat Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 I worked on this issue over the weekend. 1. I wanted to address the feeding issues (pictures from original post). On all of the 1.20 OAL 200gr BBI rounds I had loaded and run through the gun a few times (chambered and ejected, not fired), there was a noticeable groove about 1/8th of in inch down from the case mouth. Picture. The line corresponded with the groove in the bullet. I bought some factory Remington 165gr 40 cal 1.125 OAL rounds and chambered and ejected all of them through the gun a few times. No groove on the case. I shortened my load with the 200gr to about 1.170 and ran them through the gun. No crease, and I feel like they chambered a little easier. I am honestly not sure if this issue had anything to do with the malfunction I had during the match, but I wanted to fix it. 2. I shot the rest of the loads that caused me issues last weekend. All but one fed fine, and that was cleared by bumping my magazine's basepad. I made sure to shoot singles on each target so I would notice anything weird. I had one squib out of the 100 rounds. The simplest explanation for all of this is that the malfunctions in the match were squibs. However, this squib did not cycle the slide. The ones in the match did, after which the slide would not go all the way back into battery. This squib likely did not even pull the bullet all the way out of the case, as I had to really work on the slide to get the brass to eject. Bullet was stuck about .5-.75 inches into the barrel. I would like to think that the match issues were caused by a partial powder squib with enough charge to cycle the slide and eject the brass but not enough to get the bullet very far. As an experiment, I loaded a no powder squib in an M&P 9mm and fired it. The bullet did leave the case (stuck in barrel) and did not cycle the slide. I loaded 250 of the 1.170 OAL rounds with reduced powder, slightly more belling, and less crimp. I made damn sure that there was powder in every round. I will run about 100 rounds in practice before my next match, but I am optimistic. Thanks for your help with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitvpr Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I'm new to the 2011 platform as well, and I'm also having feeding issues, but I'm loading to 1.16" so maybe too short ? I read somewhere here that the guns should be able to feed factory, which is significantly shorter than wha I'm running. I'm going to try some 1.18" to see if this helps, I also feel like I'm over crimping mine too, so I guess that will be something to look at as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waktasz Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 What kind of feed stoppages are you having? Your gun should certainly run that ammo 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