Not taken the wrong way! Yes, thoroughly cleaned the Shield. It was ammo related. I still don't know what the root cause is though. I'm wondering perhaps if COAL is too long for this gun.....
Shield 9mm - not even a mag shot before failure w/ reloads
- Thread starter webfarmer
- Start date
Not taken the wrong way! Yes, thoroughly cleaned the Shield. It was ammo related. I still don't know what the root cause is though. I'm wondering perhaps if COAL is too long for this gun.....
You are correct! I have to say though, in my 35 years of hand loading ammo, this has never happened - ever. It was certainly failure to feed. That much is obvious. I'll keep looking for root cause. Again, my Beretta has never had a malfunction with this load (accurate actually) and fired some of that same box. Please don't think hand loaders are stupid - believe me - we aren't. I will figure it out
Yeah but who knows?
Poor case sizing can cause a case to jam in the bore and the slide could be held out of battery so it won't fire.
Poor reloads don't always work. I've never had an issue with excellent reloads.
Think of reloads as a hand built car. There's a lot of details to pay attention to....
Both of these are hand built cars, but they won't perform the same....
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rsrocket1
Member
This might be a wild guess, but you should plunk test a batch of 50 reloads in your shield's disassembled barrel. You might find that you have a few reloads that won't go all the way down flush. If they all do go down, I have a feeling they will all shoot fine.
At least with the M&P barrels I have, the throat is very short and bullets must be sized/seated properly to fit into the chamber. Bullets that are slightly oversized or sitting high will not chamber that last 1/10th inch. If that happens, the slide locks up real hard and you can't go either way.
Beretttas and other Euro guns are known for pretty big barrels and won't have a problem if the above is the culprit.
At least with the M&P barrels I have, the throat is very short and bullets must be sized/seated properly to fit into the chamber. Bullets that are slightly oversized or sitting high will not chamber that last 1/10th inch. If that happens, the slide locks up real hard and you can't go either way.
Beretttas and other Euro guns are known for pretty big barrels and won't have a problem if the above is the culprit.
It is if the bullet is too long and begins to engage the rifling and the slide stops before reaching battery. That is probably what is happening in the OP's gun.
Ah, the time-honored technique that all of us Hoosiers know. You are not supposed to be sharing this! You are giving away all of our "technology."
It is if the bullet is too long and begins to engage the rifling and the slide stops before reaching battery. That is probably what is happening in the OP's gun.
Ah, the time-honored technique that all of us Hoosiers know. You are not supposed to be sharing this! You are giving away all of our "technology."
I think you're talking OAL and I believe you're right. I loaded these to 1.080" OAL. That said, I measured some and they were ~ 1.095" - I'm thinking I was adjusting the bullet seater plug at the time (years ago - my records reflect that). My Beretta eats everything but I think you're right on this. That would make sense that some shot and some didn't. The batch of R-P loads (all new components) were at 1.080" and shot perfectly.
My old Sierra manual says the OAL should be 1.015" so I adjusted the plug and pushed them in last night. They won't be accurate but I already tried the plunk test and they all load and eject manually. I plan to settle on 1.050" which should work for both firearms. Make sense? By the way, I use carbide dies and they're set to almost touch the base of the die (thousandths) so I'm quite confident they're full length sized. I'm 99% certain the OAL was too long on a few round for this particular firearms. Will know in a couple hours.
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I loaded some 9mm with lead bullets and they locked up both M&P 9 fs and M&P 9c but would shoot fine in my sigma. They were engaging the rifling when chambering. Some guns have shorter chambers than others. I never judge a gun when using reloads. Try some factory and I think it will feed fine.
dullh
Member
Shield 9mm - not even a mag shot before failure w/ reloads
The title of this thread told me all I needed to know...
The title of this thread told me all I needed to know...
OK - had time to run a couple mags through before the storms roll in. OAL was the problem. Fired perfectly using the batch that were causing the problems with the OAL reduced. Life is good LOL. Thanks to all positive and negative posters!
Life is good LOL. Thanks to all positive and negative posters!
At your service! BTW, most of us here are handloaders, or at least many of us. I had the same problem with my M&P45 using handloads I have used in my Colt 1911s for as long as I can remember. "Handloading misadventures" are nothing to be ashamed of! We're always learning.
Enigma
US Veteran
I had the exact same problem with a 1911 .45 ACP that has an expensive, big-name aftermarket barrel - with factory ammo! My gunsmith said that there was no throat cut in that barrel; he cut one, and the problem vanished.
You mean as in "The Devil Went Down To Georgia?". Billy
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