Rounds getting stuck at top of the magazine

[mikeinctown]

I'm putting this question in here as they are not factory rounds but rather stuff I have loaded from mixed range brass.

 

There are times when I fire a shot near the end of the mag, reload, and then find that no round had been chambered. Occasionally as what happened to me last weekend I tried to rack the slide twice before dumping the mag and inserting a fresh one. When I got done with the stage and inspected the mag I found that the top round was almost stuck in the mag under the feed lips. Upon removing it the next round slid easily so I put the round in question back in the magazine and again found it would not feed when pushed out with my thumb. I set the mag aside at the end of the match along with the round but have not inspected further.

 

At the end of each stage I dump every mag I used and then reload all with 10. I have found that while doing this dump I often find the top round very difficult to push out, but I chalk it up to the mag hitting the ground and the bullet getting lodged in there as all other then dump fine. In fact this is almost always the case, with nearly all rounds sliding out like butter but one or two odd ones here and there just feel "stuck".

 

FWIW I am shooting a CZ shadow with the nickel 17 round MecGar magazines. As i have noticed lately the gun not going to slide lock here or there, I am replacing the springs, but am wondering if there is something else to look for? Oh, and the range I shoot at most often has gravel and dirt bays rather than grass or sand. Loading on a Dillon 650 with Lee dies in all stations.

[perttime]

As this is in the reloading area... Are your bullets on straight?

[TDA]

Sounds like an issue with the follower.

 

With rounds on top of each other in the magazine the top round is sliding on the round below it.

 

The last round needs to slide on the follower in order to feed, so possibly the last round is somehow sticking to the follower.

 

Possibly case lube gumming up the follower upper surface?

[njl]

You need to look closer at what is binding and keeping the top round from sliding forward. Is it not enough "crimp", and the case mouth is getting stuck on the front of the mag body?

[mikeinctown]

8 minutes ago, TDA said:

Sounds like an issue with the follower.

 

With rounds on top of each other in the magazine the top round is sliding on the round below it.

 

The last round needs to slide on the follower in order to feed, so possibly the last round is somehow sticking to the follower.

 

Possibly case lube gumming up the follower upper surface?

 

No, the follower is not the issue as far as I can tell. In almost all cases it is not the last round in the magazine. This past weekend it was actually the first round, and in past instances there is at least one left below the round in question.

[mikeinctown]

3 minutes ago, njl said:

You need to look closer at what is binding and keeping the top round from sliding forward. Is it not enough "crimp", and the case mouth is getting stuck on the front of the mag body?

 

That may be possible but every round is run the same. All the brass is wet tumbled and sprayed with One Shot before runnig through the press. It is almost as if the round has sandpaper on it but it feels in my hand no different. As the brass came from the range I wonder if somehow the case walls got abraided and have very fine scratches keeping them from feeding?

 

[Sarge]

Check the rounds for all being exactly the same. Crimp, oal, etc.

 I would also run some 800 grit paper on the bottom edges of feed lips too.

 It sounds very random so it's some combo of certain rounds in certain lips.

[muncie21]

When troubleshooting (cars, equipment, guns, whatever) I try to break the variables into buckets and then determine if the issue could/could not contribute or cause the failure/issue  encountered.

 

In your case, I'm seeing 3 major buckets, the pistol, the magazine and the loaded bullets.  First thing I would do (easiest) is to try a different magazine in the same gun, with the same bullets.  If this works, you should be able to eliminate the magazine as the primary cause, keeping in mind that some problems stem from a combination of contributing 'causes'

 

Try to use the process of elimination to narrow  down the possible causes and then test each.  Aside from physically being kept in the mag, I wonder if the previous round had enough power (or the recoil spring is a bit too strong) to fully cycle the  slide enough to allow the new round to be picked up and chambered.

 

Best of luck!

 

 

[mikeinctown]

On 9/15/2017 at 2:13 PM, Sarge said:

Check the rounds for all being exactly the same. Crimp, oal, etc.

 I would also run some 800 grit paper on the bottom edges of feed lips too.

 It sounds very random so it's some combo of certain rounds in certain lips.

 

When I took the magazines apart I could feel what I would describe as a small nick with my nail on one of the feed lips. I took some super fine paper and got what I could and put some new springs in. All rounds are very tight now but they all slide out the same with none seeming any tighter than another. I can only guess that the mag dropped empty into the gravel and hit just right at some point. Haven't gotten a chance to test for functionality yet.

[noylj]

Put a weight on the bottom plate so they drop on the bottom.

I was going to say to try another magazine...

[R1_Demon]

17 hours ago, noylj said:

Put a weight on the bottom plate so they drop on the bottom.

 

 

Pretty good idea.    That shouldn't affect functionality and it would make them tend to drop bottom first and less of a chance of dinging anything that would matter on it.  Hmmm...I may have to try that with my mags.  Thanks for the tip!

[rustybayonet]

Has it EVER done this with factory ammo? How new are the mags? If you have new mags and (even once) done it with factory ammo your mag spring tension could be tight or your follower is not running smooth. If it only does it with your reloads then check what the others here are saying.