It was bound to happen, and today it did.

[Guest Bronker]

EDIT---happened twice again today 7-12-08

My very first FTF. Ever.

Of course, I have been very fortunate for it to have never happened before, during any practice round, or otherwise.

Shooting my XD .40S&W SubCompact. Loaded with my carry round, the Winchester Ranger 155 gr JHP.

Had shot about 30 rounds, no problem. Going through my fourth mag, my slide locks back. I knew I was only half-way through the mag. Looking down into the gun, I see the jammed round, butt in the air, having never cleared the mag.

In other words, the bullet never left the mag lip, but the spring had pushed the rear of the brass upward. (some pics would help all of us, huh?)

Apparently, the round hung up on the feed ramp. I've convinced myself that this was a result of limp-wristing...having hand-fatigue from putting about 50 rounds through my wife's KelTec, and about 20 through the J-frame .38 spl.

I'm calling human-error, and not an ammo issue or a gun issue. All subsequent rounds went through without a hitch.

What say you? Operator error? Feed-ramp needs polishing? Ammo error?

Respect all of the great knowledge and insights my commrades here have, and will share!

Edited July 13, 2008 by Bronker
Updated the fact it happened again. Not necessarily a new thread.

[Guest Bronker]

It was a failure to FEED, by the way. My bad.

[TripleDigitRide]

WOW. You're lucky it didn't blow up in your hands. I'm gonna have to ask you to hand that firearm over to me for safe keeping.

BTW...I'm still waiting to have my FTF cherry popped.

[Guest Bronker]

Yeah Trip,

Moreso than afraid, I was 'shocked' that this precision instrument had hiccuped!!

Didn't sway my faith in the weapon, or the ammo though. I'll just have to make sure that if a BG attacks, I'll have to make sure I don't fire off 80 rounds out of my wrist-snappers before getting down to bit-ness with my XD.:rolleyes:

[Guest Mugster]

I doubt anyone could tell you what went wrong, could be a lot of things including the ones you mentioned.

For self defense in an self loading device here's what I do:

1. Identify a mag, and then test it with the candidate ammo by firing 5-6 full mags to slide lock, as fast as I can pull the trigger.

2. Try to put at least a couple hundred rounds downrange of my ammo choice in all my mags. More is better...I know, I know it costs for the premo stuff.

3. Verify the zero for the weapon off the bench.

4. Identify the tested out mag/mags with a strip of tape and write on it the date and ammo used by lot. I have a label maker, but then, I'm a computer scientist by training...we buy stuff like that.

5. Do a very good cleaning job, and on the next range visit, test fire a couple of shots and holster/bag dirty.

With that, I have done all there is to do, to make as 100% certain that my weapon will fire if I need it. If I had only one handgun (and needed to carry it), I'd clean it at the range and then shoot a couple of shots before I left. I'm blessed with a good arsenal.

Sometimes, a revolver is pretty hard to beat, simply for the practicality of it.

[DWARREN123]

A discomforting feeling. Have to wear it out to make sure it doesn't happen again. Send it to me and I'll test it for you, send ammo too!

[memphismason]

Now maybe some of those Glock Haters will have another gun to pick on.

[TGO David]

I am going to direct you to Hilton Yam's 10-8 forum and a thread in particular that deals with malfunctions on 1911 pistols. Now before you wonder what that has to do with the price of tea in China since you're toting an XD and that thread is about 1911s, a lot of the same principles apply here. A little deduction is all it may take to help you figure out what went wrong with that particular round in that particular magazine under those particular circumstances.

http://www.10-8forums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=52142&an=0&page=0#52142

Enjoy!

[Guest darkstar]

Polish up the feed ramp a little bit and that will most likely solve the problem. The other advice that has been given is very sound. You want to be sure if the XD is your carry weapon.

[Guest Bronker]

Pleasantly surprised about all the great info and advice. Sharp group of classy fellows on this forum. Thanks alot. Keep it coming.

[Guest db99wj]

If you fire until slide lock, drop the magzine errr "clip" on the ground and then reload it is possible that the lip on top of the magzine can become bent. It doesn't sound like your problem, it is just something to be aware of. I have seen this happen with a friend of mines. We are not sure if it was just from hitting the floor or one of us stepping on the magazine. We were doing some movement training.

I had a ftf with some "factory" reload ammo, went click. I waited a little bit, pulled the round out, nice indention on the primer, everything else looked fine. Put it back in the mag and tried to shoot it two more times. Ejected round, disposed of it, blaming it on ammo error. I have since put about 500 more flawless rounds through my XD.

Edited May 13, 2008 by db99wj

[Guest Bronker]

Good grief! Is it just me...or could it be that Winchester Rangers are not the meal of choice for the XD?

Happened twice again today. Two in forty or fifty rounds. Nothing special, just popping off a few for practice sake. Same scenario...hung up on feed ramp.

I'm looking to polish this ramp. That is likely my problem here.

But even still...I sent every last Winny Ranger I had dirt-diving. I'm not going to carry them any more regardless. 3 times out of 50 or so rounds is too much.

Ran through 25 Remmy Golden Sabers 165g, rapid fire... and no problems.

I'll go with those for a while.

Who's a good smithy around here to polish a feed ramp?

[TripleDigitRide]

I've used many many types of ammo in my XD's, and have yet to have an issue. On the other hand, I can't say I've tried the Winchester Ranger. At least I don't think I have.

I always polish the feed ramp, on all my pistols. I honestly have no clue how much, if any, that it really helps, but it makes me feel better. I use the same green Jewelers Rouge that I polish everything else with. That, and a Dremel.

[Smith]

I've found that for every three mags i have for my XD9, one of them will have some issue. I usually mark the one and make sure it is not carried. I doubt it is ammo related, but I've been wrong before. Is it with the same mag or different ones?

[Guest db99wj]

I have shot 38 rounds of Winchester Ranger ammo, .40, no problems whatsoever other than the fact that I didn't mean to shoot it the last 13! Picked up the wrong mag at the range!

[TGO David]

Flitz metal polish and a felt wheel in a Dremel work very well for polishing feed ramps. I did that to all of my XDs and M&Ps in the past and will likely do it soon to our new M&P 9L. It won't remove metal (per se) but it does clean the ramps up nicely.