Ammo sticking in magazines...

I've found that Speer Gold Dot 124 grain 9mm is hanging up in some of my P series 9mm magazines. Nothing out of whack on the magazines I can see, do you think extra power springs might fix this? I'd cost me a fortune to switch ammo now, I went Speer all the way some time ago, have close to 20 fifty round boxes of the 124 grain plus P's. UPDATE: Just checked, seven of the ten magazines I have done this when unloading with my thumb and also did it with 124 grain Golden Saber. About half my magazines are new so at least some of the new ones are hanging too. The hanging up shouldn't due be worn out springs.

Is the problem with hand unloading only or during actual firing?

By hanging up do you mean getting stuck down in the body of the mag or just difficult to push out under the feed lips?

Stuck in the body of the magazines. Several rounds will fall out just by tilting the magazines after removing the top round

If three of the ten are good then I would look at the followers, especially if they are new. If they are spotlessly clean and dry and still hang up then I'd suspect the plastic followers may have defect such as a flash burr or projection that may be rubbing. Next, I'd make absolutely sure the spring is in correctly, even though they are new. I'd disassemble them and look in the body, at the spring and follower for any defect. It's possible there could be a weld flaw inside also. While disassembled I'd drop the follower in, it should fall freely to the top. If it doesn't I'd try to see where it hangs up.

I doubt you have an ammo problem as it works in the three magazines and I use the Golden Sabre and Hornady Critical Defense exclusively in every gun I own with out a hitch.

Works is a relative term in this case. The three that "worked" were iffy, not sure I'd trust them if push comes to shove. Tried some 115 Winchester Silvertips, they did fine in all ten magazines.

demented said:

Works is a relative term in this case. The three that "worked" were iffy, not sure I'd trust them if push comes to shove. Tried some 115 Winchester Silvertips, they did fine in all ten magazines.

Click to expand...

First off, I'd check everything which Welder has suggested.
FWIW, I've personally encountered new mags with the same sort of defects which he mentions, including some which had been assembled with their springs in backwards. Plus, Ruger had a problem with some of their Mini-14 mags not long ago, and I've personally observed recent manufacturing changes which have been made to others.......point being that anything is possible, and just because something is "new" does not automatically mean that it is "right".

Another thing which you might want to do is measure the AOL of both cartridges, and carefully study the nose-shape of their perspective bullets. Something there should provide you with some sort of clue as to why one style of cartridge works in your particular mags but the other doesn't.

DGW

Are the magazines factory, Mec-Gar or ProMag? If they are factory or Mec-Gar, perhaps a good cleaning is all they need. If they are Pro-Mags, you may need better magazines.

Magazines are factory stamped Ruger. Checked every way I can, its a combo of the cartridge OAL made worse by the Gold Dots aggressive hollow point edges. Not sure I know what to think about this, every other brand pistol I own eats Gold Dot with no problem. Not sure I'll keep any pistols that require specific ammo to work, not seen this before now.

Demented I sent you a PM....

Well to me it is obviously the ammo and not anything to do with the magazines... rounds on some are not seated in the case far enough. I don't know if it is the proper thing to do but it seems like they could be fixed... but I don't want the gun / ammo police to get me.

I have 17 boxes that I randomly measured for OAL, all are the same so its not a random ammo problem. This same ammo works in Glocks, Walthers, Beretta's, HiPowers, all manner of pistols I own or have owned. Guess I'll either try a internal magazine polish or sell the pistols, or buy ammo that works as much as I hate to do this.

Oil the inside of the magazine lightly. Don't need to take it apart initially. Just compress the spring with a screwdriver and use a pipe cleaner lined lightly with oil..... nothing really wet or dripping.

That's a good place to start.

just to confuse the issue a bit......in the last year or 2, I've had similar 'ammo sticking' issues in multiple guns/platforms/magazines/calibers.

Even those guns where in the past YEARS might go by with mags loaded but unused.

Lately, certainly a large percentage of them, have suffered 'sticking ammo syndrome' for unknown reasons.

I've undertaken a 'dismount/clean/recharge' program, and I have upped the 'to the range' duty cycle in all of them for a few months to see whether that helps.

The most recent (ie yesterday) episode included some mags from an RST4 loaded in a bag several weeks ago; a handful of mags loaded a couple months ago for High Standard; some factory 10-round 10/22 mags as well as BX25 loaded last fall.

Some 9mm ammo/mags have also been afflicted.

Just don't think some magazines are internally large enough to handle some ammo that is a combination of being a bit longer O.A.l and has sharp edges where the hollow point was made. My magazines work 100% when using 115 grain hollow points but not with two 124's I've tried. Golden Sabre and Gold Dot. My Beretta PX Storm magazines while not yet stuck, are close to being undersized for gold dot.

a lot of hollowpoints cause problems .....I try to shoot about 100 rounds of hollowpoints before i carry them to check for function. any hiccups and i change ammo......
this could be the problem does it happen with fmj target ammo also? if it does it must be the magazines need new springs, or a good cleaning

Any 115 grain works, fmj or hollow point, 124 gr fmj run 100% also. Its the hollow point bullet nose digging into the mag tube causing the problem, gonna try stoning the magazine latch notch to see if there is an indention from when it was punched in.