When you shoot your reloads and there is an issue- do typically blame yourself or the pistol. Last weekend I shoot 190 rounds from my G19 and had 2 FTE. I put the blame on myself as the 19 pretty much eats up everything else.
When you shoot your reloads and there is an issue- do typically blame yourself or the pistol. Last weekend I shoot 190 rounds from my G19 and had 2 FTE. I put the blame on myself as the 19 pretty much eats up everything else.
This country needs an enema- Blues approved sig line
As for myself, I put the blame squarely on my own shoulders!
I know my Glocks with OEM barrels are ridiculously reliable, and they are the primary guns I load for, and work up loads in.
My most challenging development handloads were using some Lone Wolf barrels and store bought lead 147 gr bullets from Falcon. The bullets were quality made, but the tolerances in the LW barrels were much tighter vs the OEM and I had to tweak the OAL while reducing charges incrementally (monitoring pressure and velocity) to build some loads that worked reliably. Not being the sharpest tool in the shed I would invaribly get an FTE (read as stuck in the friggin' barrel) during an IDPA match. At least I developed a robust clearing technique!
As we cast & PC now I stick with my OEM barrels and experience boring reliability. I like that.
Jamie
Last edited by Jamie; 08-23-2017 at 03:59 AM.
Most (virtually all) of my handloads get fired from revolvers, single-shot rifles, and bolt-action rifles, so "duds" are entirely my fault. Except for one gun: My Ruger Redhawk. Redhawks are known to have an issue where the firing pin doesn't protrude quite enough, so as the mainspring ages, you can get light strikes. The "fix" expensive*, so I just replace the mainspring periodically. I don't blame those "duds" when fired from my Redhawk on my reloads. especially when the same ammo is 100% reliable in my 629.
*The pin that holds the frame-mounted FP in place is flush with the frame and in a curved surface, requiring not only refinishing, but careful removal in the first place. What a PITA.
Chris
I don't know that I'd blindly blame one or the other just because I'm running reloads. I've long since standardized on a single powder, throw, OAL and crimp and have run enough of my own loads through various guns (>15k) to know that they function consistently. In all of my time loading I've had exactly one failure and that was an FTE through my most well-run G19. Where does the blame lie? Who knows...could have been a unique brand of brass that the gun didn't like but I assumed it was the gun's fault and moved on.
On the other hand I have a G26 that was a BTF gun and that was clearly the gun's fault and not mine nor the loads I ran through it. A few trips back to Glock solved the problem and it functions as expected now.
Depends on the actual issue.
I did up a batch of .45acp with locally cast bullets(before I started casting my own)that it turned out were slightly oversized. They ran just fine in my M&P45c but would not run reliably in any of my 1911s. Sure the ammo was probably slightly out of spec. but the malf was more gun related than ammo.
I also found that a target load I worked up for my M&P45c with Barry's plated bullets did not reliably cycle my S&W 1911 but did OK in my Llama and Colt. It was just under powered enough to FTF about 10% of the time in one gun but worked in all my other .45s. Would that be considered ammo or gun related?
Then I had a batch of .223 that I had to tear down due to a malfunction of my powder dispenser. Definitely my fault and completely due to complacency on my part. Had I been more rigorous in my spot checks, I'd have caught it before I loaded 500 rounds. Fortunately I noticed an over powered shot followed by an under powered shot in slow fire and investigated before I got a squib load.
I now run a powder check die on any cartridge I cannot see into clearly while loading.
Last edited by Rich@CCC; 08-23-2017 at 10:02 AM.
TANSTAAFL
Managing Partner, Custom Carry Concepts, LLC
I don't have that problem.
Semper Gumby, Always Flexible
Is FTE extract or eject?
I always thought dud was a failure to fire, like a dead primer. I think ive had about 5 or 6 dead primers since I started loading in the early/mid 70s. I dont recall ever taking them apart to see, but I believe I could hear powder in them, that being the only check I did.
When I shot 1911s in the past, it was nearly all lead bullets. The RN 230s fed better in the GI and National Match/Gold Cup guns I had, the 200 gr H&G bullets would fail to feed about 1-2 per thousand rounds, so i stopped using them. I used 18.5 lb springs to help get the NM to close, it was very tight.
You can't automatically blame yourself for malfunctions from reloads. Newer Glocks are finicky about lower powered ammo. This is analogous to blaming yourself for say, a shitty group out of some rifle ammo you loaded up for testing, but the next powder increment you test groups well (ladder test).
#RESIST
I guess it depends on if the gun or load is otherwise proven. In terms of functionality, if my gun is normally reliable and it's a new load that fails in some way, I'm going to blame the load.Originally Posted by LittleLebowski
Then again, I mainly shoot non-semi-auto firearms, where suspected ammo malfunctions are pretty straightforward to troubleshoot. It's a different ballgame with semi-autos and fire/feed/extract/eject/load issues.
Chris
Yeah, of course, if the load is proven. I speak of tailoring a load to the weapon.
#RESIST
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