Death Jam with 92A1 and WWB: gun locked up. Opnions wanted.

[fixer]

Folks,

Multiple variables with this issue but I think it is ammo related. I wanted to run this by folks here to get some opinions.

Ammo used: WWB in 200 round value pack. Not steel case.

Frequency:

2x in last 500 rounds with 92A1 (2015 vintage).
*In early 2013 I had same issue with American Eagle 124 gr in a 92fs (2013 vintage).
(These are the only 3 stoppages I've had with any 92 platform in shooting the platform since 2006 and seriously for the last 3 years.)

Issue:

Early in range session, within first two-four mags, will fire gun slow fire, freestyle, for 'cold marksmanship' drill.

First one or two shots are fine. The gun cycles as expected. Then it gets horrifically stuck out of battery about 1/4-3/8".

Can't unlock it. tap rack is like hitting a concrete curb. can't force it with hands.

I put safety on which lowers hammer. grab some blue shop towels. grab a large rock (yeah I know...but they are plentiful out here) and smack the hammer with pistol downrange and oriented downward.

It takes about 3 whacks and you can "press" the round into battery.

Now you can work take down. remove slide and barrel and pull round out.

Case looks smooth, no defects obvious.

Compared to other cases it looks visually similar. Maybe a slight bit large in diameter. But after being pressed into chamber who knows what it was before.

*In 2013 when this happened with Am. Eagle 124, and 92 fs, I had first tried the offending round in a PX4 and it wouldn't load at all. Like it was a 0.40.

I put it in the 92fs and it went 90% into battery with a slow 'kerchunk' sound. Same remediation as above. I know this round was out of spec in diameter. So I've experienced this issue with rounds being out of spec radially and the 92.

There are no defects in chamber. It is acceptable from a visual standpoint.

Have not ever had this issue with aluminum or steel case. I've run a lot of each type through this pistol. Never had this issue with Federal Champion.

So am I looking at

WWB QC?
WWB QC combined with a tight 92 chamber?
(Are 92s known for tight or loose chambers?)
Riding the slide and reducing slide's energy to load?
Magazine issue? (Happened with different mags that are known to be clean and function)

The only common thing between these issues is that both the 92fs and 92A1 were fairly new when it happened (within first 2000 rds)

Thanks for any input.

[Edster]

Within the last month, a friend and I had identical failures to go into battery. We both were shooting 100 round loose-pack Winchester White Box 115 grain. Our different boxes were bought at about the same time.

The failures were with two different Gen4 Glock 17s.

It's just anecdotal evidence, of course. Personally, I'm not bothering with the stuff anymore.

[breakingtime91]

I had nothing but issues with wwb a few years ago through a couple of MPs that were incredibly reliable besides that. I would personally stay away from it

[Nephrology]

Sounds like a bulged case that you re-shaped by forcing it into the chamber.

Incidentally, I had this issue with a round of 180gr .40S&W made by Winchester for a federal LE contract (this was the purple box/purple brass stuff that SGammo sold for way cheap sometime last year). I don't buy Winchester ammo anymore.

[fixer]

Thanks for the input. Heading to range with same stuff this afternoon.

I can usually tolerate ammo issues during training but this failure type is a straight up buzz kill. If this happened in a match I'd have to give up the stage. UNSAT.

[JV_]

Keep an eye out for rounds like this, they will lock up a lot of guns.

[Totem Polar]

No extra insight, save this: it has long been said that magazines are the weakness of any magazine fed weapon. After our politically-driven supply and demand ammunition hijinks over the last few years, I'm not as sure about that.

I've been using German/euro ammo for range fodder, and getting more reliability than with the big American budget stuff. FWIW.

[Hambo]

I got some Winchester Q4172 that is packaged in 50 rounds boxes. Not sure if it's the same as the 200 round boxes or not, but no FTF yet. I have had 1-2 dead primers.

[Joe in PNG]

My BIL had issues with a large mixed batch of ammo this summer- lots of out of round cases locking his XD up hard.
And most of those had Winchester headstamps, and looked like WWB.

[fixer]

300 rounds. no issues. Chalking this up to ammo.

Noticed that when I was loading the 17 round gloss mags, at 10 rounds the mag became impossible to load further unless I had a hydraulic press.

Removed the rounds and found one that looked fatter than the rest.

I think this is a case of a well-vetted $600 pistol versus a $0.20 round.