Ruger P95 first day at the range :(

[Jesse]

Took my brand new Ruger p95 to the range for the first time this morning.

I took a box of the White Box Winchester 9mm 100 rounds, box of PDX1 Hollow Points and a Box of Federal 9mm 50 rounds.

Gun ran great through the Winchester had 1 jam out of 100, but once I got to the Federal It jammed on me almsot every time, failure to feed, failure to eject and sometimes they wouldnt even fire. Twice it jammed and I almost couldnt get the slide open to clear it. Thought i was gonna have to ask for help on the last one.

So i went to the PDX1 and they shot great with no problems. Ive had many pople suggest the Federal Ammo cause it does good. But either they arent good or my gun is faulty? I hope it's not my ruger cause it was brand new and never shot until today.

Any idea what could be the problem? This is my first gun so I dont have a lot of experince.

[gnmwilliams]

I would chalk it up to a bad batch since it seemed to like everything else. If a gun likes the hollowpoints and the WWB stuff it shouldn't have any problems with anything else. Maybe that batch of Federals got hit with bad primers and powder which might not had enough oomph to cycle the slide fully. I've fired literally thousands of Federal 9mm rounds and only run into a couple dud batches.

Edited October 12, 2012 by gnmwilliams

[Jesse]

Ok, I hope it was just a bad batch I shot about 40 rounds before I gave up. my slide also failed to lock back once the gun was empty, is that an ammo problem also? cause it locks back manualy with a empty magazine.

[babelt]

I've had good luck with the federal bulk stuff. I've shot close to 100 rounds of it and I have only had one problem. Just the other day I had one that didn't even have a primer. I still like the federal stuff, 1 out of a 1000 isn't bad. I would just chalk it up to a bad batch also. Maybe try contacting federal if you still have the box and letting them know your issues.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Everything you describe is indicative of low powered ammo.

I will say this. Use grease rather than oil for guns with rails. Grease stays put and dirt settles on top of the grease rather than getting sucked in. Walmart sells it in grease gun tubes for under $5. I use the gray colored molybendum disulfide but the red also works well.

Oil runs out and offers little lubrication.

Dolomite

[Guest kingarmory]

A lot of the P95's had improperly cut feed ramps also.

[Jesse]

thanks guys for the info, Im gonna try cleaning it and oiling it up, i didnt do anything to it before i shot it. I got it apart now the slides and everything looks dry and gritty from the shooting today.

it could have been bad ammo and not oiled good enough. i'll let ya know how it does next time.

[TrickyNicky]

I'm with Dolomite, sounds like bad batch of ammo. My buddy, his dad, and my brother all have p95s and that's the one gun I can't seem to get to jam up. I've tried limp writing almost to the point of having the gun leap out of my hand and it just won't fail to feed. Get some more ammo, as many different brands as you can and run it through its paces again.

I've never seen the Ruger that didn't need a good clean and lube right out of the box. So that may help though to be honest I'm still leaning on the ammo.

Good news is if (and I highly doubt it) your gun is at fault Ruger will make it right.

[Jesse]

Wow its been a year almost since I made this thread. Anyways I finally got back to the range couple weeks ago . I cleaned my p95 and used gun grease as mentioned and she ran perfect! Shot 200 rounds including the ammo that jammed on the last visit without any problems. Thanks guys for your tips. I love the gun now!

[Randall53]

I have one about 10 years old and really like to shoot it. I've never had any problems, but I do keep it clean and I've always lightly greased the slide area.

[A.J. Holst]

Don't forget a little lube on the extrator too.

[cgun86]

My P95 is one of the first guns I ever bought. Incredibly reliable. Always thoroughly clean and lubricate your firearms before or after each shooting session.

[Randall53]

i always clean and lube every new firearm i buy before i take it to the range, and repeat every tine i shoot.

[JAB]

I don't know if it is just a 'bad batch' of ammo.  After the last ammo shortage, I determined to build a little on hand supply of 9mm.  Because it was easy and inexpensive to get, I did so by buying a box or two at a time from Walmart which generally meant buying the Federal stuff (50 round boxes.)  I have two P95s and the only time either of them has ever jammed was when I was shooting some of that Federal ammo from one of them.  Now, granted the gun was a little dirty but I have ran them dirty, before without issue.  I cleaned and lubed it well and tried again with a few, different brands/types and still had a few jamming problems - but only with the Federal ammo, not with any other ammo.  I truly believe that the Federal ammo was underpowered.  Being that it is highly unlikely (probably nearly impossible) that the ammo you were shooting and the ammo I have were from the same batch, I'm thinking that maybe Federal ball (practice) ammo is just generally too weak to cycle the P95.

 

In fact, I am glad you posted this because I was having some lingering doubts that it might be a problem with the pistol.  Being that your results are similar to mine, I am now even more convinced that it was the ammo and that this, particular type of Federal ammo is not a good choice for the P95, in general. 

Edited September 3, 2013 by JAB

[Jesse]

Yea, if I can afford it im just going to use higher grain ammo. The p95 seems to like a strong round to help it cycle.

[jbum]

I have a P95 that I treat like crap I would say over 5000 rounds through it. Never a failure of any kind with any ammo. I don't remember the last time I broke it down for cleaning.








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[Guest The Itis]

The Ruger is supposed to be "boringly reliable" and able to eat any kind of ammo. Since you're talking about "affording" higher grain ammo, I'm leaning toward the gun just needing more rounds to break in a relatively new spring and such.

It's likely that many people get the impression new guns "like" a certain type of higher grain/pressure ammo, but over time the gun becomes more flexible in what it shoots just from wearing in.

[TrickyNicky]

Pretty much nailed it Itis. The P95 IS a boringly reliable gun and I've run a few of them on many various brands and types of ammo. My brothers required no real break in period to speak of, my buddy bought a used one so its hard to say with that example and his dad has had his forever so no way to know with that one either.

Jesse, PM me if you'd like to have someone else run a few rounds through yours, we'll meet up, I'll bring a few different varieties of ammo and we'll see if we can replicate the failure.

Or just watch the events forum and wait for a middle Tn meet and shoot and you can put it in the hands of a few of us and try even more varieties of ammo.

[Jesse]

It shot perfect on my last visit to the range. Ill keep it cleaned and lubed and see how it does. Ill prob only shoot it once or twice a year. Its my nightstand gun. I feel better knowing it fired great last time.

[Guest The Itis]

If you can't shoot it a lot and it's still on the newer side, you could always spend some time and rack it a bunch