For my 9mm pistols, shooting steel, i normally shoot whatever 115 gr FMJ is readily available, UMC, or WWB, or Federal...I recently order a case of Winchester Ranger 9mm NATO 124 gr FMJ from AmmoMan. This morning I used it for the first time in my S&W 3906. Each time up I experienced some FTE's which were difficult to clear, the casing had partially extracted and then the extractor lost its grip, cycled another round, jam, tuff to drop mag, pull slide to rear, lock, drop mag, release slide, pull slide back ejecting round, reinsert mag, etc, slow going. The casing would be sticking about 1/3 of the way out of the chamber. When I looked at my brass later, I saw a ring around the casing at that point.
The box has a legend, "For law enforcement use only, not for retail sale, Pressure levels exceed industry standards." So was this blowing the slide back a bit and then expanding the remainder of the casing? I think my chamber was clean. Should I avoid using this ammo in my 3914 or long slide 952? I figure I won't worry about my 5906 or Springfield 1911-A1 9mm.
Comments, advice, suggestions?
PS- the brass wasn't being thrown ridiculous distances, I wasn't aware of outrageous recoil, all my pistols are steel frame and slide, and the FTE's were running about 3 out of 24 shots on average. Not typical of this pistol.

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Ed

If that's the RA9124N ammo the velocity is 1235 fps per Winchester's specs., I believe and shouldn't have caused problems. Although they don't specify it as such, it has to be +P+ which again, shouldn't cause problems. I don't know what industry standards are for the 9mm but, this is not pressure enough to be detrimental to the safety at any rate. "Chamber Pressure: Complies with U.S. Military specification recommended pressure levels."


Have you tried it in the 5906 yet to see if similar problems occur? I'd do that and then relook at the 3914 as the source of problems. Someone more knowledgeable than myself should be more helpful on this. Although a different pistol, I shoot Ranger 127 gr +P+ at 1240 fps in the Glock 19 with no problem at all and feel sure the Smith can take it as well.

I bought some of this also, to use in my BHP. Actually Winchester lists this ammo as 1185 FPS from a 4" barrel. I haven't tried it yet.

http://www.winchester.com/Products/l...s/RA9124N.aspx

http://ammoman.com/index.htm

NATO pressure limit for 9MM is 36,550 PSI. SAAMI +P 9MM Luger ammo pressure limit is 38,500. SAAMI pressure limit for 9MM Luger is 35,000 PSI.

So the NATO 9MM Luger round, while hotter than regular 9MM, is between that and 9MM +P.

9x19mm Parabellum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Can't say why it did not function well in his S&W auto. Maybe his particular gun just doesn't like this ammo. It happens.

I will try the 5906 next, see if it acts the same way. Still have 400 rounds to go.

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Ed

Clean your chamber, could have some residue that's causing the hang up with the higher pressure. Get a heavier recoil spring from Wolf or just a standard replacement spring for the used and probably weakened current spring. It could be your current spring is just a bit old and is allowing the slide to open before the pressure has dropped enough and the case contracted a bit to release its grip in the chamber fully.