P30 - stoppage, 147 HST, maintenance etc

[YVK]

My P30 just had it second stoppage. The first one happened when TRS broke, so today's really a first unexplained "functional" stoppage. Round count is approximately 11,000; I am away from my log book. The stoppage was failure to extract, empty casing stuck midway on its way out of the chamber. It fell out almost on its own after I removed the magazine and flipped gun upside down.

The most concerning part was that I was expending a magazine of my carry ammo, and this was a third round from the top. The ammo is 147 grain +P HST. Following that, I shot 40 more rounds of it, and 20 rounds of 147 grain Ranger bonded without any problems.

Questions:

- anybody had any problems with 147 +P HST? I admit I only had shot 150 rounds of it before today;

- what do I look for as a cause of failure to extract? In 1911s it is almost invariably extractor tension; any way to trouble shoot P30 extractor?

- with round count of 11K, what maintenance do I do on P30? I dont know what is the dry fire count, lets make it liberally the same as live countand conservatively 50% of live count.

Thanks in advance.

PS: I used my droid for this post and hit a wrong sub forum with my fat finger. Moderators, please move to armorer etc subforum.

[JV_]

- what do I look for as a cause of failure to extract?

Dirty chamber.

with round count of 11K, what maintenance do I do on P30?

I recommend a TRS @ 10K trigger pulls.

[ToddG]

I'd concur on the dirty chamber. I'd also probably pull the extractor, clean it, and clean the interface point in the slide.

I changed TRS every 12.5k on my P30, otherwise nothing should need changing (unless you have breakage/problem) until 25k.

[GJM]

For the TLG trigger set-up, what trigger return spring do you want (not sure if there are different part numbers), and is HK USA or HKParts.net the best source for it? What do you do at 25,000 rounds?

[YVK]

There was quite a bit of stuff caked up on the inside of extractor.

The chamber seemed OK, although the gun was kind of filthy, so the chamber must've been too.

After cleaning it, I found what seems to be a small area of a chamber surface erosion. This also can be of some other mechanical origin like a scratch or something. This preceded my cleaning efforts, i.e. it is not from the brush as there was some stuff caked up on top of it. I initially thought it was a copper fouling, but I couldn't make it go away with copper cleaner or polish. Anyway, doubt it would matter, just posting it for an academic observation: so far my HK has been somewhat less reliable and less durable as far as parts breakage or wear than my 2009 Glock 19.

[Spr1]

Are you referring to the matte looking area on the barrel hood or the area above the bright line/reflection on the far side of the chamber?
My cleaning routine (your what??) involves using a stiff Nylon brush along the extractor hook and corners of the breech area to remove carbon. My P30 got to around 20K rounds before having a FTE. I did a detailed cleaning by removing the extractor and scrapping and brushing the carbon out of the groove in the slide and all surfaces of the extractor. In the last 1500 or so rounds it has been as perfect as before.

[GJM]

There was quite a bit of stuff caked up on the inside of extractor.

The chamber seemed OK, although the gun was kind of filthy, so the chamber must've been too.

After cleaning it, I found what seems to be a small area of a chamber surface erosion. This also can be of some other mechanical origin like a scratch or something. This preceded my cleaning efforts, i.e. it is not from the brush as there was some stuff caked up on top of it. I initially thought it was a copper fouling, but I couldn't make it go away with copper cleaner or polish. Anyway, doubt it would matter, just posting it for an academic observation: so far my HK has been somewhat less reliable and less durable as far as parts breakage or wear than my 2009 Glock 19.
]

YVK, isn't one TRS failure and one other stoppage in 11,000 rounds pretty darn good?

I think this reinforces the importance of having a shooter and another copy for carry -- since round count (TRS) and dirt (this stoppage) are inevitable on a primary shooter.

[YVK]

Are you referring to the matte looking area on the barrel hood or the area above the bright line/reflection on the far side of the chamber?

Yes, except the bright line is actually a linear scratch/loss of metal. It looks so bright because I didn't know how to take a photo, so there is a lot of light directed there from both sides of the barrel. The scratch is a border between matte area and normal looking metal.

G: I am not fond of trs breakage at 5K, but overall your point is well taken: 5500 rounds between stoppages is excellent. My point is that I think that often quoted superiority of HKs in regards to material strength, better steel, better raw components etc is an urban myth.

[Dagga Boy]

Not really an urban myth. What Hk tends to offer is consistently good and high quality everything. They are more complicated mechanisms in order to get specific traits. There is more stuff to break. My older Gen 2.5 and early Gen 3 Glocks are by far the most reliable guns I have ever shot. This is no longer the case due to material and manufacturing changes. My older Sigs are simply machines, I woudn't own a U.S. made Sig. Smith and Wesson is like a roller coaster of quality as is Colt and others. Ruger's are usually good after the first couple of recall's. In the over 25 years of expereince I have running various HK systems, they are all exceptionally good service guns. The parts quality has never been an issue. The day I got a Glock extractor that wouldn't fit in the gun, was the day I went back to carrying an HK as my primary carry gun. This could change again, but the reality is that my HK's have always been consistently very good pistols, and I have only had issues associated with wear and high round counts (normal) and not failure or QC issues.

[SecondsCount]

...

G: I am not fond of trs breakage at 5K, but overall your point is well taken: 5500 rounds between stoppages is excellent. My point is that I think that often quoted superiority of HKs in regards to material strength, better steel, better raw components etc is an urban myth.

You could say the same of Glock Perfection. Your sample seems to run great, others not so much.

Guns break, some earlier than others. Making it to 5K rounds before breaking is impressive but falls well short of HK's 25K round replacement schedule.