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9mm reloads not ejecting

I have an S&W Shield. I loaded some 124 grain round nose with Autocomp. Went to shoot today and they wouldn't eject. I had to manually eject them. I thought it was the magazine so I loaded some factory rounds and they worked perfectly. I did notice the factory rounds had more recoil. The Shield does have a very strong spring and can be hard to rack. I've seen a few complaints about that online. Should I load hotter? Can I put a softer spring in there or is that a no-no?
 
I'm with the others. It sounds like your load is too light for the spring. Spring weight is a delicate proposition. Part of the spring's job is to cushion the slide when it slams back. If that spring is too light the frame can suffer severe battering and eventual failure. The installed spring sounds like it's doing its job for standard pressures (factory ammo). I agree that you probably need to increase your load rather than putting in a lighter spring and then accidentally using factory ammo and forgetting to change out the spring again.
 
I have an S&W Shield. I loaded some 124 grain round nose with Autocomp. Went to shoot today and they wouldn't eject. I had to manually eject them. I thought it was the magazine so I loaded some factory rounds and they worked perfectly. I did notice the factory rounds had more recoil. The Shield does have a very strong spring and can be hard to rack. I've seen a few complaints about that online. Should I load hotter? Can I put a softer spring in there or is that a no-no?
Was recoil and report more distinctive with the factory load? If so your reload is under charged.
 
You answered your question quite well and have confirmation from posters. The factory load is fine and your STARTING loads are not. Easy. Increase slowly in batches until you get ejection.
 
@tgonza , if at all possible, find or borrow the use of a chronograph.
Measure the typical speeds of factory ammo that works well for you.

Then, do all your load recipe homework and pay particular attention to how your rig performs compared to load recipe data.

Often times, you may see that their reported speed is a little higher or lower than yours. If for example your reference books say your starting load should be something like 1055, but your loads only make 955, be even more careful as you work up.

Some of the published Autocomp recipes for a 125 gr show a 0.5 grain range from min to max, so put at least a few steps in between those levels as you go.


As you gain experience with multiple pistols, bullets, powders, and calibers, you learn to spot trouble earlier. If at all possible, find a mentor and use a chronograph. It isn’t impossible to work up without those if you are being careful, but you learn faster with those two things than you do on your own.

Here is the Hodgdon data for a similar weight 125 LCN
9FABCE29-CB4C-4DCA-B379-4FB4F298C4FD.png
And another for a 125 gr Sierra FMJ.

43A1A2F8-1D30-495E-ABD7-4039640333F0.png
You can see you are not maxed out, but those are data for a 4” bbl. You almost always find some differences based on brands and barrel lengths. Try and bump up just a little at a time to get ejection, then see how your data stacks up against the published numbers and don’t go over whatever value they gave you as a max unless you have the experience yourself or are with a mentor. Good Luck.
 
Come on guys. Chrono is overkill dont you think ? Chron ?? It is way way more simple than that. More powder, more slide action, more eject. He is at STARTING load. He can go up 0.1g in 5 round batches from 4.5g to Max load somewhere between 4.8 and 5.2. That's a HUGE spread in max loads between similar bullets. Remember that 9x19 comes in Factory +P and +P+ loads. Speer shows up to 1250 fps with 124g FMJ. Don't overthink this and complicate it. A few 1/10 g more and he is happy. Done quicker than we can talk bout it. The most universal cartridge loaded across the entire planet and it has a ton of range and forgiveness. Within reason, the only load that wont work is the one that is too weak to run the slide sufficiently.
 
I once loaded about 1000 9mm rounds only to find out that they were loaded far too light, even for a target spring. I eventually used them up in failure drills, as they were an almost guaranteed to stovepipe.
 
Forgot one little thing that might help. If your weapon is not clean and lubricated, it can get sticky on the important sliding contact parts and points and slow down the mechanical things trying to happen. I got my first Failures after about 1,000 rounds or so without cleaning. Tah Dah Wiped and oiled it is flawless now.
 

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