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Help! Never Seen This 9mm Issue

brandbr

Your expertise would be greatly appreciated. I've reloaded 9mm for 30 years with no issues....until this weekend. During rapid fire in a Bowling Pin Match, I experienced 2 difficult-to clear jams. For competitive and safety reasons I was unable to closely examine where and how the issue occurred.
Here are the particulars: The firearm is a Canik TP9SF that has never jammed in 4 years of use. The bullet-dented reloads (photo attached) were Speer 115 gr. FMJ with an OAL of 1.135; 8.75 gr. Accurate #7 powder, Winchester primer with a reused case. The finished product fits perfectly into a 9mm case gauge.
Other reloads that have cycled flawlessly are Ranier 124 gr., RN-plated bullets with 7.3 gr. Accurate #7 and an OAL of 1.16.
I can't imagine OAL to be the issue, because the firearm has performed flawlessly with Remington factory ammunition that is 115 gr. with an OAL of 1.11.
I don't know where to begin......feed ramp?....upper part of barrel? If anyone has experienced this before, I would appreciate learning from your experience. Thanks.
 

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If you are sure the OAL is good and there are no burrs on the feed ramp I would suggest trying a different primer.
 
Had a similar issue many years ago with a S&W Model 41, rimfire target auto. The bullet was being "caught" by the upper part of the breech.

The problem was traced to the magazine. The magazine "lips" had worn to the point that they would hold the cartridge in place to allow it to feed smoothly into the chamber. The lips were rebent and the problem was solved temorarily, but I replaced the magazine.
 
four years ?? when was the last time you replaced mag springs and the springs in the gun.
difficult to clear jam is typically a double.it is a tuff clear drill.
pull the mag cycle the slide lock it open reinsert mag drop the slide
 
Just going from the photo, it doesn't look like there's any crimp at all; maybe even a slight
flare still remaining. Easy to compare the case mouth measurement with some factory ammo.
That may or may not have anything to do with the problem, but one more thing to check.

I've also loaded 9mm for decades; pistols and subguns. Every round gets a Lee Factory Crimp.
 
With four years of zero issues in the same pistol and I assume mag, something changed. You sound confident it’s not the ammo so my immediate thought was the mag as others have already stated. I’d start there, either replace your mag springs or buy a new mag, also I’d check the feed lips on the mag that was used when the problem occurred. I’ve had the same issue with a pistol I’ve used a lot over the year, in my case a new mag resolved the issue. I hope you figure it out and report back.
 
brandbr said:
Your expertise would be greatly appreciated. I've reloaded 9mm for 30 years with no issues....until this weekend. During rapid fire in a Bowling Pin Match, I experienced 2 difficult-to clear jams. For competitive and safety reasons I was unable to closely examine where and how the issue occurred.
Here are the particulars: The firearm is a Canik TP9SF that has never jammed in 4 years of use. The bullet-dented reloads (photo attached) were Speer 115 gr. FMJ with an OAL of 1.135; 8.75 gr. Accurate #7 powder, Winchester primer with a reused case. The finished product fits perfectly into a 9mm case gauge.
Other reloads that have cycled flawlessly are Ranier 124 gr., RN-plated bullets with 7.3 gr. Accurate #7 and an OAL of 1.16.
I can't imagine OAL to be the issue, because the firearm has performed flawlessly with Remington factory ammunition that is 115 gr. with an OAL of 1.11.
I don't know where to begin......feed ramp?....upper part of barrel? If anyone has experienced this before, I would appreciate learning from your experience. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Is this the 1st time you have used this projectile
 
Just because two bullets are the same weight, OAL is not interchangeable. Keep that in mind. When you say four years of use, that doesn't mean a lot. How many rounds fired? Springs last 3-5,000 rounds. If you're a heavy competitor, change out mag springs once a season.
 
Many thanks for all of the great comments and my apologies for the lack of important information. Here are a couple of considerations: My comment about 4 years of use was deceptive. Deducting almost 1 year of covid-related range closures here, it's more like 3 years, and this particular firearm has less than 1000 rounds wear.
I also failed to mention that I shot 1/2 of the match with my 124 gr. reloads, without a hitch. Trouble came with the 115 gr. reloads. To "deadidarren"....yes this was the first time with this projectile. During the reloading components shortage, the 115 gr. Speer bullets were the only available to me.
To "Minshooter"....thanks, I will check that. but I too use Lee equipment and carbide die sets.
Something else came to mind after I posted......this was my first time at this club's match and they had an unusual format (designed to speed things up in Florida heat), that required more mags than I had with me. Another competitor offered to load mags for me (as I dropped them) with a mag loader that he had with him. My issues didn't start until well down the line, with those reloaded mags. His offer kept me in the match and was greatly appreciated, but I now wonder.....could there be issues with the mag loading devise that he was using?
Thanks so much for your help everyone.
 
Last edited:
When I shot USPSA/IPSC back in the dark ages almost all feeding issues were mag related.
 
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