Shadow 2 - split cases stuck in chamber

[DrJohnson]

Very odd/concerning experience the other day, shooting my Shadow 2 9mm and felt something like a misfire/squib. Slide was also jammed/stuck slightly out of battery. I assumed I had a low charge/no charge (I reload), so cleared it and bumped the stuck case out with a cleaning rod. The case was split, which seemed odd since it had been stuck in the chamber. I checked the gun, and reloaded. Same result - jammed slide and split case stuck in the chamber. Same process, cleared the weapon and checked it. Figuring it was unlikely I could have two low/no charges in a row, I started wondering what the issue might be. I decided to load factory rounds (Blazer 115g) to remove the reload/old case variable, same result - split case stuck in chamber, jammed slide. The barrel was clear each time, none were squibs, but felt like them when they fired. So three rounds fired from two different ammo sources (one factory new), same result each time. 

 

I had recently cleaned the weapon pretty thoroughly, so don't think crud's a factor. idk if I did something really dumb reassembling it, but don't think so. I replaced springs and barrel over 1000 rounds ago and it's worked flawlessly since then, so nothing has changed as far as I know...but I went from flawless to almost 100% failure, jammed & split cases, so clearly something changed. Any thoughts?

[SouperMan]

5 minutes ago, DrJohnson said:

Very odd/concerning experience the other day, shooting my Shadow 2 9mm and felt something like a misfire/squib. Slide was also jammed/stuck slightly out of battery. I assumed I had a low charge/no charge (I reload), so cleared it and bumped the stuck case out with a cleaning rod. The case was split, which seemed odd since it had been stuck in the chamber. I checked the gun, and reloaded. Same result - jammed slide and split case stuck in the chamber. Same process, cleared the weapon and checked it. Figuring it was unlikely I could have two low/no charges in a row, I started wondering what the issue might be. I decided to load factory rounds (Blazer 115g) to remove the reload/old case variable, same result - split case stuck in chamber, jammed slide. The barrel was clear each time, none were squibs, but felt like them when they fired. So three rounds fired from two different ammo sources (one factory new), same result each time. 

 

I had recently cleaned the weapon pretty thoroughly, so don't think crud's a factor. idk if I did something really dumb reassembling it, but don't think so. I replaced springs and barrel over 1000 rounds ago and it's worked flawlessly since then, so nothing has changed as far as I know...but I went from flawless to almost 100% failure, jammed & split cases, so clearly something changed. Any thoughts?

Are you sure you that you don’t have a barrel/chamber issue? Check for cracks or bulging. 
 

Any chance we can see a photo of the split case and the barrel with a close up of the chamber?

 

Highly odd that you are seeing so many split cases. It almost seems as if the barrel chamber is out of spec allowing the brass to expand so much that it’s splitting. 
 

Did you happen to catch the headstamp of the brass that failed?

[DrJohnson]

Thanks. I didn't think to take a picture or save a case at the time, wish I had. I'll try to get a couple pics of the barrel/chamber tonight. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by DrJohnson

[625]

Wonder if the gun is firing just before it reaches in battery, but not so far out that if overpressures the magazine area. 

[tt350z]

Have you checked your barrel bushing? Front of barrel could be unsupported which could theoretically through off locking at the chamber because it’s still tilted.

[GrumpyOne]

You replaced the barrel 1,000 rounds ago? Why? What was the round count on the original barrel? 

[slavex]

Yeah I'm curious as to the round count on the barrel that was replaced too. 

Only gun I've seen do similar as the OP describes was a very very shot out Glock with a cracked chamber. It ran, it was reasonably accurate, but almost every case that it ejected was split too.