Case gauge or chamber check your carry ammo

[rangerover]

My carry ammo is almost always HST 147g. While plunk testing it in my new G19 Gen 5 I noticed 4-5-6 out of every box that failed. Never had an issue shooting it in a Gen 3 19, 26 or 43. I didn’t try and shoot any of these in my 19.5. I just put them in my 19.3 magazines. Is anyone having problems running HST 147g in Gen 5 Glock’s?

[olstyn]

I've found that powder weight is such a low percentage of the overall cartridge weight that bullet and case weight variations are enough to disguise a low or even no charge in 9mm.

Exactly. Bullet is 124/135/147 grains, case is ~60 grains, powder is ~5 grains, and 5 grains is a pretty small percentage of the ~200 grain total package.

[schüler]

I just did a random sample on Federal 147gr HST and the weight varied by 4.5gr from lowest to highest.

Thanks!

[Blackbag]

A reminder to case gauge or chamber check your carry ammo.

It just takes an extra 30 seconds to case gauge every round as you load up and is well worth it.
While a case gauge won't catch every defect it'll cull out way more than just a visual does.

Can you recommend or suggest a particular case gauge for the newer guys? Thanks Jody, and as always your posts are very informative and thought provoking.

John

[UNM1136]

On Hilton' s old website he suggested using the (removed) barrel of your pistol as a case gauge by dropping your carry rounds in it as you load your magazines. With the cheap American Eagle practice ammo we issue I have found many (a Bueno Salsa jar, half full) of rounds with deformed case mouths that kept them from chambering. Also several co-workers clearing and re-chambering the same rounds repeatedly led to visible setback of the bullet in the cartridge. This works for me, for now.

pat

[JodyH]

Can you recommend or suggest a particular case gauge for the newer guys? Thanks Jody, and as always your posts are very informative and thought provoking.

John

9mm case gauge - $20 on Amazon

[Totem Polar]

Great thread, @JodyH. I wouldn't be surprised if random FTFs these days are more likely due to ammo issues than today's magazines.

I've noticed an uptick in ammo failing the plunk test in my various wheelies--which yields instant feedback, obviously.

[Quantrill]

I reload so I’m always gauging & plunking my reloads. I’ve never even thought about checking my Speer/ Federal/ etc carry ammo. I will going forward.

[leathermaneod]

I would never even have thought to do something like this. Thanks for posting!


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[John Hearne]

When I was actively reloading, I case gauged every round. What I found was that rounds that woudn't pass the case gauge almost always chambered in the barrel of my pistol. The ones that wouldn't fit the barrel were had obvious shortcomings that a visual inspection showed. If rounds will pass a case gauge, they'll certainly chamber in your pistol.