R9s Ammo Help! - Carry/ defense Ammo vs Target Ammo

[Richard S]

I have spent the better part of two hours searching the Intenet and its forums for references to failures to fire regarding the Remington Golden Sabers, the Speer Gold Dots, and the Wnchester Silvertips -- my three favorite brands of ammunition. I have found all sorts of comments, pro and con, on each.

I have also researched primers used in each of the three brands mentioned above -- although the manufacturers tend to guard that informtion as proprietary and one is left to anecdotal reports of the various forums.

What I have determined is that primers seem to be "fungible" in the present market and that when you purchase any of the aforementioned brands for your R9, it is best to test a magazine of cartidges from the box, make notice of the lot and results, and go forward. Also, make certain that your R9 (or other weapon) is clean (especially the firing-pin channel), that the firing-pin spring is full strength, and that the pistol's slide/frame interface is clean and well lubricated. (FrogLube comes to mind.)

Bottom line -- as the current jargon goes, keep your R9 clean, determine what works best in it, and stay with whatever works . . . provided that you can find the ammunitation to make the test these days.

Hell, it's getting so bad in this market that I'm going back through my gun safe to examine and hand-polish individual cartidges. In that process, I've found an almost full box of lead-nose .32 Long Colt I didn't know I still had and for which I no longer even own the revolver. (Does anyone remember those?) Now I'm thinking of calling the friend to whom I sold that Colt and increasing the return on my investment.   




_{[Edit: Spelling errors.]}

[Griff]

Good post Richard.  Thank you for the report on your research findings.

One of the things I really like about the Rohrbaugh is the re-strike ability of the trigger system.  When I have had failure to fire, I have had some of the rounds go off after multiple trigger pulls. The ones that didn't fire in the R9, did ignite from a full size pistol.
  I agree that we should sample every box-lot before carrying.  It might also be a good idea to visually inspect each round, and even remove the barrel from the firearm and test fit the rounds before loading the magazine.
Belt and suspenders.

[tracker]

Second strike capability is swell but doesn't do much for me in a self-defense situation where it needs to go "bang" every time without a big "click" and a question mark. The primers from some out-sourcing manufacturers have been suspect for awhile but with the current supply/demand imbalance the problem seems to be worsening. 

[saltz1979]

As of this morning www.ammoman.com has 124 gr Speer Gold Dot in stock. $450/500 rounds.

[renrew]

Speer Gold Dot 9mm 124gr 500 rounds $375

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=341048768

[Trailblazer]

10-4 Richard S!!!

[MRC]

Second strike capability is swell but doesn't do much for me in a self-defense situation where it needs to go "bang" every time without a big "click" and a question mark. The primers from some out-sourcing manufacturers have been suspect for awhile but with the current supply/demand imbalance the problem seems to be worsening.

tracker, I have to agree with you on second strike capability.  I shoot Bullseye Pistol and the .22 lr ammo lately is lousy about not going off.  If it does not fire in a match, you lose the match.  In a self defense situation, you very well could lose your life.

JMO.  If it does not go off on the first pull every time, it is not going to be in my pocket.  That is why I have developed a preference for striker fired pistols.  I have yet to have one not go off on the first try.

[tracker]

Your point is well taken; however, my primary concern is with the quality of the ammunition rather than whether a pistol is striker fired or hammer fired. Both should function well with the proper ammo components. Like anything that has to work in concert it is the performance of the total system that spells success. It only takes one weak link like an inadequate primer to fail the firing system test.

[MRC]

The design of the firing system of DAO hammer-fired pistols is a give and take situation between trigger pullweght and length of travel, and the force by which the primer is struck.  To get that nice, steady, and light trigger you have to give up striking force.  I carried a Colt Pocket Nine which I really liked except for the trigger.  I took it to my Gunsmith to see if he could lighten it up and he consulted with a friend of his who was known nationally for worjk on Colt DAO pistols and said nothing could be done without jeopardizing the reliability of the pistol.

The trigger on the Boberg pistols leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion.  He has a weaker spring system which helps it a lot, but his Liability Insurance carry will not allow him to ship a pistol with that spring in it and he can only sell it as an "after market target spring".  The reason being that there are now four lawsuits against firearms manufacturers concerning pistols that failed to fire in defense situations.

To me it is not worth the risk if you plan to carry.

[C0untZer0]

I'll shoot the GS in my P7 and my Glock 17L

I'm pretty sure it will do just fine in both guns, the Glock eats everything and in 30 plus years of shooting the P7M8 I've never had one single failure of any kind.

Just for people's information, my R9 was cleaned before going to range that day.  I oiled it in all the recommended spots, I used Tri-Flow.  I did put a tiny amount of LubriPlate SFL-0 on (in) the barrel link.  I fired a mix of Lawman 124gr & 147gr ammo, 29 rounds.  I know that sounds like an odd number to fire, but I shot 50 rounds total that day.  After the Lawman, I fired 7 rounds of Golden Sabre.  After I had failure to ignite with the Golden Sabres I was concerned that maybe something had broken on my pistol, but I put 14 rounds of 147gr Winchester Ranger "T" through it right after the GS - and the R9 worked fine.  That's when I started  looking at the fired and unfired primers.