Mis feeds brand new Hellcat. Normal break in?

[Chomps]

New, 1st time gun owner.

I shot my brand new Springfield Armory hellcat 9mm for the first time today. My first three clips produced three or four misfeeds of the hollowpoint ammunition I was using.

I was shooting Speer Gold dot. 118 grain and 124 hp. Both types produced misfeeds loading from either of the 13 round clips I was using. Both clips are Springfield Armory original OEM clips, one that came with the pistol another I purchased separately at the range. I also used the 11 round clip with some FM J reloads I Purchased at the range those did not misfeed at all. The accuracy of the weapon seems ok! The fellow at the range said this was normal for a new gun first few times you fire it,… I was wondering if that is true?And also if anyone else was having similar issues with the hellcat 9mm and hollow point ammunition?

At what point if this continues should I start to worry that something with the weapon is defective? After 100 rounds,.. 200? When would you consider the weapon to be "broken in " and expect consistency from the feed?

TIA from a nervous newb!

(....last handgun I fired was my Service issued, Korean era 1911 .45 APC and that was 40 years ago.

[BillSWPA]

My experience has been that if a gun works, it works right out of the box.


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[HeavyDuty]

I’ve had more than a few that bobbled in the first hundred rounds before smoothing out.

Chomps, did you field strip, clean and properly oil the weapon first? I think I’d try to find a few hundred rounds of decent practice ammunition to run through it first - I personally like Speer Lawman 124g TMJ. Even bulk “white box” type 115g will work, but is lower power and may be a pain.

[HCM]

New, 1st time gun owner.

I shot my brand new Springfield Armory hellcat 9mm for the first time today. My first three clips produced three or four misfeeds of the hollowpoint ammunition I was using.

I was shooting Speer Gold dot. 118 grain and 124 hp. Both types produced misfeeds loading from either of the 13 round clips I was using. Both clips are Springfield Armory original OEM clips, one that came with the pistol another I purchased separately at the range. I also used the 11 round clip with some FM J reloads I Purchased at the range those did not misfeed at all. The accuracy of the weapon seems ok!

The fellow at the range said this was normal for a new gun first few times you fire it,… I was wondering if that is true?And also if anyone else was having similar issues with the hellcat 9mm and hollow point ammunition?

At what point if this continues should I start to worry that something with the weapon is defective? After 100 rounds,.. 200? When would you consider the weapon to be "broken in " and expect consistency from the feed?

TIA from a nervous newb!

(....last handgun I fired was my Service issued, Korean era 1911 .45 APC and that was 40 years ago.

Modern guns should not require “break ins” and should work out of the box, especially silly with good quality ammo such as Speer Gold Dot.

Contact Springfield for a return authorization tag and have them fix it.

Side note.

I understand why new shooters are attracted to Springfield XD variants like the Hellcat, they are usually accurate and have nice trigger pulls. However, the XD series guns have consistently demonstrated durability and reliability issues when shot regularly. There is a reason there are no significant LE/GOV or military organizations using them outside their country of origin, Croatia. This is a clue.

Springfield’s marketing does everything they can to use their bane to imply the XD series are “American” guns with the implication that they are military /duty grade products, which they are not.

Other makers you might want to consider include: Glock, SIG, S&W, HK, CZ, Walter

[RJ]

New, 1st time gun owner.

I shot my brand new Springfield Armory hellcat 9mm for the first time today. My first three clips produced three or four misfeeds of the hollowpoint ammunition I was using.

I was shooting Speer Gold dot. 118 grain and 124 hp. Both types produced misfeeds loading from either of the 13 round clips I was using. Both clips are Springfield Armory original OEM clips, one that came with the pistol another I purchased separately at the range. I also used the 11 round clip with some FM J reloads I Purchased at the range those did not misfeed at all. The accuracy of the weapon seems ok!

The fellow at the range said this was normal for a new gun first few times you fire it,… I was wondering if that is true?And also if anyone else was having similar issues with the hellcat 9mm and hollow point ammunition?

At what point if this continues should I start to worry that something with the weapon is defective? After 100 rounds,.. 200? When would you consider the weapon to be "broken in " and expect consistency from the feed?

TIA from a nervous newb!

(....last handgun I fired was my Service issued, Korean era 1911 .45 APC and that was 40 years ago.

Warm welcome from Tampa FL. We are glad to have you.

I don't think that advice from the salesman sounds right. For any new gun, I would indeed to expect it to work "out of the box". However, having said that, it might be worthwhile to eliminate some things, though. The Operator Manual for the Hellcat indicates the points of lubrication, on page 26:



Did you perform this step? Or did the salesman do this prior to you receiving the pistol? If not, it would be an idea to do this service prior to your next range session. For lubrication, follow the manual and use "any quality firearm lubricant". (I use Slip 2000 EWL).

Regarding the reloads, you said that they did not misfeed? Typically Speer Gold Dots are some of the best most consistent ammo out there. That is indeed strange!

If it were mine, I would do a simple field strip, perform an inspection (just look for anything unusual), lubricate it per the manual, and re-try with good quality brass case new ammunition. If you don't find it 100% (and by that I mean every single round should go bang, every single time) from any of the magazines supplied with the pistol, inside a couple boxes of ammo, I would be getting in contact with SA customer service to discuss your results.

Good luck!

[sickeness]

Springfield has some real good marketing. My dad who has never owned a gun in his life, who's never shot a gun outside of military service was looking for a pistol and comes and asks me where he can buy a hellcat.

Interestingly enough I took a class earlier this year with a well known trainer which included a couple Springfield reps who brought out hellcats for students to try out. Most people were not impressed and the reps privately admitted to us that they knew the gun was a turd.

[Swandog]

Make sure your wrists are locked and grip it high and hard. Try it that way with some Winchester White Box or Speer Lawman FMJ. If it still fails send it in. I have to have granular grip tape to shoot such small pistols.

[cyberiad]

I've had more than 1 brand new semi-auto fail in some way in the first 100 rounds or so and an new S&W revolver broke before I even fired a shot. I think in some cases things just need to 'wear in' a bit together. Smaller guns are less forgiving of technique, especially with full power ammo. If it were my gun I would make sure it's properly lubricated and keep shooting it before getting concerned.

[O4L]

First maybe you need to switch from clips to magazines [emoji1] and secondly...well maybe hellcat wasn't the best choice. [emoji51]

(Just some good natured ribbing)

Sorry you're having new gun troubles.

[Chomps]

Warm welcome from Tampa FL. We are glad to have you.

I don't think that advice from the salesman sounds right. For any new gun, I would indeed to expect it to work "out of the box". However, having said that, it might be worthwhile to eliminate some things, though. The Operator Manual for the Hellcat indicates the points of lubrication, on page 26:



Did you perform this step? Or did the salesman do this prior to you receiving the pistol? If not, it would be an idea to do this service prior to your next range session. For lubrication, follow the manual and use "any quality firearm lubricant". (I use Slip 2000 EWL).

Regarding the reloads, you said that they did not misfeed? Typically Speer Gold Dots are some of the best most consistent ammo out there. That is indeed strange!

If it were mine, I would do a simple field strip, perform an inspection (just look for anything unusual), lubricate it per the manual, and re-try with good quality brass case new ammunition. If you don't find it 100% (and by that I mean every single round should go bang, every single time) from any of the magazines supplied with the pistol, inside a couple boxes of ammo, I would be getting in contact with SA customer service to discuss your results.

Good luck!

Yup,.. I did lube the gun according to the manual first.

Went to a second range after writting this and I purchased some different ammo. Federal 147 gr HST. I finished firing both the Gold dot ammo (30 rounds) from the 13 round mags. without any problems.

Next I loaded them with the federals and I wound up experiencing even MORE misfeeds than the first time. I even started getting a few mis fires! Primer was struck but round didn't fire. (...misfire mostly occurred with the fmj reloads. But once with the federal 9mm also).

I noticed the slide is not cycling and seating fully forward. It's shy about 1mm and this isn't resetting the trigger. When I release the "MAGAZINE" the slide moves forward the rest of the way with the misfed round in the chamber. This happened several times with all types of ammo.

I didn't have any trouble with misfeeds or misfires with the range's rental Hellcat. Pretty sure the weapon is defective. But im going to disassemble, clean, lube and reassemble it and see if it works any better.



Btw,.. I reloaded one of the misfires. It had a firing pin strike mark on it but it did fire the second time.