My first Glock failure ever.

[suspiciousmind]

I picked up a couple of boxes of the cheap aluminum cased Federal 115 grain 9mm to take to the range today.

I've never had a problem with this ammo before, but today I had 3 stovepipe failures. There was nothing wrong with my shooting technique.

I went to the counter and bought a box of brass cased 9 and it shot without a single hiccup. Can I chalk this up to #### ammo or should I be genuinely worried about my Glock 19 failing when I need it most?

[1gewehr]

Could be wimpy ammo or dirty gun.  Stovepipes are almost always caused by a failure to completely eject the fired case.  I've noticed several manufacturers selling less powerful ammo than they used to.  I fired many thousands of rounds of Aguila 124gr 9mm that had been chronographed at about 1200fps from my CZ75.  The last case I bought was really weak, barely holding 1100fps. Penny wise and Pound foolish as the Brits used to say.

[suspiciousmind]

2 minutes ago, 1gewehr said:

Could be wimpy ammo or dirty gun.  Stovepipes are almost always caused by a failure to completely eject the fired case.  I've noticed several manufacturers selling less powerful ammo than they used to.  I fired many thousands of rounds of Aguila 124gr 9mm that had been chronographed at about 1200fps from my CZ75.  The last case I bought was really weak, barely holding 1100fps. Penny wise and Pound foolish as the Brits used to say.

I'm thinking it was the ammo. I clean my guns after every range trip.

[Garufa]

Unless you are using that ammo for self defense, which I certainly hope your aren't, I wouldn't worry about it too much.  

Believe it or not but Glocks are not perfect and if you look closely at that Federal aluminum ammo you'll see the tolerances are way on the sloppy side.  I think they are loading the cases like it's brass.  In the couple of hundred rounds I've used there is a noticeable bulge where the bullet is seated....and using 17 round Mec-Gar mags for a Smith 5904 I can only get 16 rounds in.  17 rounds of Federal brass goes in with no problem.

Edited November 11, 2016 by Garufa

[suspiciousmind]

I'm not using aluminum cased federal for my self defense ammo. Haha!

I have just never see a Glock malfunction ever. I've been shooting them my whole life.

[chances R]

3 minutes ago, suspiciousmind said:

 

I have just never see a Glock malfunction ever. I've been shooting them my whole life.

You don't get out much........it happens with all guns, but some less frequently than others.

[hipower]

I had several FTE problems today. I was using a combination of older ammo, all 9mm. Some Blazer aluminum case, some Freedom Munitions reloads, and some old PMC.

The Blazed gave no trouble at all. Nor did the PMC. But the Freedom Munitions did. In both a G19 and a Roni carbine shell with a G17. Several times.

I've had several issues with the Freedom products lately, from the FTEs to a couple of split cases and cases jamming in the barrel throat with the primer base being ejected.

It's enough that I'm beginning to think that the FM rounds I have(several thousand) may be relegated to last case use status. Maybe I shouldn't say that. I've had good luck with their products in the past.

[suspiciousmind]

There is a first time for everything. Maybe I've just been lucky.

[hipower]

6 minutes ago, suspiciousmind said:

There is a first time for everything. Maybe I've just been lucky.

I really shouldn't get too upset over it. With the unbelievable volume of ammo produced from literally all over the world; it's amazing we all don't see more problems than we do.

[Will]

I hear this quite often with aluminum cased ammo and you never see it at  Glock GSSF Match,always Brass case. I have never shot it for this reason.

Your Brass does not jam tells you everything. Never had a Glock jam after thousands and thousands rounds and  a G22 range gun that was never cleaned

for four years.  I had a Beretta 92FS that was good for about 800 rounds and then would quit until cleaned.

[ohell]

damn gen 4s 

[Wingshooter]

I used an older G19 for 3gun a while back just to get to know the gun. It ran fine for several matches, and then one day it failed me twice. I replaced the extractor and it ran fine many times after that to this day.

It taught me that certain parts of my glock still wear out with a lot of use, so I replace parts in my others as I think they need it. Never had to in any of my others, except for a G17 gen1 that had some old replacement parts in it.

It's probably the ammo, but parts are cheap and easy to replace if necessary. I'd at least keep some on hand.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Wingshooter

[Erik88]

I have a Gen 3 19 with probably 5K rounds down the pipe. The only malfunction I've had was with a crappy reload that someone tried to shoot through it.

That being said, I've owned other Glocks that have had malfunctions. I wouldn't worry too much about it unless it happens more frequently with different kinds of ammo.

[Sidecarist]

I wouldn't call this a Glock failure, it's an ammunition problem. it's a bit extreme to blame the weapon for this.

There are many contributing factors to malfunctions wear, maintanence, ammunition, etc all can be a factor. Troubleshoot the problem, don't loose faith in your weapon over one event.

[suspiciousmind]

3 hours ago, Sidecarist said:

I wouldn't call this a Glock failure, it's an ammunition problem. it's a bit extreme to blame the weapon for this.

There are many contributing factors to malfunctions wear, maintanence, ammunition, etc all can be a factor. Troubleshoot the problem, don't loose faith in your weapon over one event.

Fair enough.. It just took me by surprise, I guess. 

Thanks for the responses, guys. I posted mainly to gauge how much I was overreacting. Everybody helped. 

[bud]

.

Edited April 26, 2017 by bud

[musicman]

I'm shooting some 7.62x54 from the 50s.  Two spam cans down without an issue so far.  I got some 38 special lrn that an older gentleman at my church gave me about a decade ago.  He found and told me it must have been his father's, because he never had a 38.  I shot one box and kept the second for posterity.  Shot fine.  

[Wingshooter]

14 minutes ago, bud said:

Not to change the subject to, but since you mentioned older ammo...

If stored in climate controlled, dry conditions, what's the shelf life of high quality ammo? I'm treating it as though it's going to be available to the next generation. Hope I ain't saving up for nothing 

I still have (and shoot) some ammo that my grandfather had probably 30-40 years ago. It wasn't always kept in climate controlled conditions either. The way I understand it, is if the case is not corroded, split, damaged, etc. then it should be just fine. Lots of surplus still around.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Wingshooter

[bud]

.

Edited April 26, 2017 by bud

[hipower]

4 hours ago, bud said:

Good to hear. I've got some surplus 5.56 that's older than I am that has been flawless, and I sorta just based my ammo stock-piling on that one experience. Thanks for the reassurances. 

All good answers. Storage condition is the key. I've shot 50+ year old 45acp my dad loaded, and some military ball with boxes stamped 1950. I wish I'd just kept them instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Will]

Good storage is a must,but there is a huge difference between ammo for a rifle and a semi auto pistol.  Rifle ammo usually is can be weak and function fine in bolt guns and still have plenty of power to cycle semi autos. Pistol ammo for semi autos is much more touchy and is best to use newer ammo.

At the range cheap and old ammo may be fine,but for carry ammo it is best to have near new. The Police change duty ammo every six months to

a year for this reason.

 

[Omega]

11 minutes ago, Will said:

Good storage is a must,but there is a huge difference between ammo for a rifle and a semi auto pistol.  Rifle ammo usually is can be weak and function fine in bolt guns and still have plenty of power to cycle semi autos. Pistol ammo for semi autos is much more touchy and is best to use newer ammo.

At the range cheap and old ammo may be fine,but for carry ammo it is best to have near new. The Police change duty ammo every six months to

a year for this reason.

 

I don't think there is any degradation there, it's probably just a matter of over-caution in those departments.  We have soldiers that carry the same ammo for their entire 18 month rotation, if they're lucky, and no issues have been reported.  Back in the eighties I found a whole bunch of ammo in en bloc clips someone had dropped in a lake, they all ended up firing just fine.  Of course I cleaned them up a bit first, and by the looks of them they weren't in the lake too long but some did have a bit of corrosion.

[chances R]

Avoid extremes of temperature, and high humidity and ammo will last a life-time.  Add good storage container such as ammo cans with a little desiccant and the grandkids can enjoy ammo ( hope so .....I've loaded more than I will shoot ) 

[1gewehr]

They oldest ammo I have fired was some .52 Spencer black powder rimfire ammo that I bought and fired in the late 1980's.  At that time, the ammo was over 100 years old and I did not have a single misfire or problem with the 77 rounds I fired.  The ammo came packed in 7-round cardboard boxes in a 7-box sleeve.  I bought two of the sleeves at the time and still have several boxes.  In about 1980 I acquired a case of RA .30-06 with 1918 headstamps.  I shot most of it at the time with no failures of problems. I still have some as it's in the original bandolier and clips.

Likewise, since then I have shot a lot of surplus ammo.  If it was corroded or looked bad, chances were I had hangfires or dud primers.  French surplus is junk.  I don't even bother with it as I've never heard of a single batch that didn't have problems.  US and British surplus has never given me a problem.  German WWII surplus got worse from 1943-45.

Good ammo stored well will last a LONG time!

[hipower]

2 minutes ago, 1gewehr said:

They oldest ammo I have fired was some .52 Spencer black powder rimfire ammo that I bought and fired in the late 1980's.  At that time, the ammo was over 100 years old and I did not have a single misfire or problem with the 77 rounds I fired.  The ammo came packed in 7-round cardboard boxes in a 7-box sleeve.  I bought two of the sleeves at the time and still have several boxes.  In about 1980 I acquired a case of RA .30-06 with 1918 headstamps.  I shot most of it at the time with no failures of problems. I still have some as it's in the original bandolier and clips.

Likewise, since then I have shot a lot of surplus ammo.  If it was corroded or looked bad, chances were I had hangfires or dud primers.  French surplus is junk.  I don't even bother with it as I've never heard of a single batch that didn't have problems.  US and British surplus has never given me a problem.  German WWII surplus got worse from 1943-45.

Good ammo stored well will last a LONG time!

This has been brought up several times, but I just like to get and hear opinions from others. What do you think of using cleaning media and tumbling rounds for cleaning.

I have some 38 and 357 rounds that were subject to some humidity issues and have done a bit of cleaning on them. Just to clean discoloration off. Never tried with heavy tarnished rounds.