Ammo That Doesn't Cycle Well In The LC9S

Know of any in either practice/range fmj's (round or flat nose) or Self-Defense you've had trouble with shooting in your LC9S?

Apparently, the LC9S will enjoy whatever factory loads you feed it.

Why do I ask?

I'm curious.

I know my Glock 19 absolutely hates Monarch steel cased.

Everything else I've ever fed it (I bought the Monarch during a period ammo was scarce) I've had no problems with, but I suspect these particular rounds have very hard primers.

Some would go bang, others only on the second try.

I'd like to be of help, but my guns haven't fired a factory load in a loooong time.

At this point, I have to believe LC9S's are impervious to low quality cartridges.

Great!

ps: I don't believe it...

Conservative said:

Know of any in either practice/range fmj's (round or flat nose) or Self-Defense you've had trouble with shooting in your LC9S?

Click to expand...

Conservative,
My wife carries an LC9s, loaded with Ruger ARX 9MM. At the range,
she shoots Winchester white box. Both work fine.
Blackie

I've run Critical Defense, cheap 9mm, Federal and a couple other brands of ammo through my Pro along with several different handloads and bullet types. I haven't had any problems with any of it. I'm just as happy to have replaced my LCP with the LCP2. Just as big of an improvement with those pistols too. I really Ruger hit this one over the wall.
The only caveat I'd have is that new shooters might be better off with the originals or at least the models with a safety. Used properly these are fine pistols and a real bargain for their quality and useability.

I wrote about this before. I tried the Hornady 9 mm Critical Duty with the FlexLock bullets and they tend to jam up. The nose of the bullets are smaller in diameter near the tip of the flexlock bullet so the bullets in the magazine tend to nose down into the magazine. This causes the bullet's nose to jam up at the bottom of the feed ramp on my Ruger LC9S Pro pistol.

You might check this out. I noticed it more when I'm manually ejecting the bullets out of the gun when it's fully loaded. These bullets are more expensive than the one's I practice with, Blazer Brass 9 mm 115 gr FMJ bullets. So I don't shoot the FlexLock Bullets much to save money. They may feed better when actually being shot out of the gun and the slide is forced back much faster than when I manually work the slide back by hand. I would shoot a bunch of these before I'd trust them in my gun for personal defense.

Now my Walther's PPQ M2 4" 9 mm handles the Hornady Critical Duty Flex Lock bullets fine both when I shoot them and manually work the slide to eject the bullets out of the magazine.

BTW I have two different types of magazines for the Ruger LC9S Pro. two are made in Italy and the other is made some where else. I can't remember where it's made. USA or German? Not sure. But I know for sure that one type of the magazines is definitely made in Italy.

I have had problems with PMC box ammo, but I've shot tula and wolf steel case (both out of a dirty gun +2-300 rounds before I shot these) out of it just fine. It seems picky where it wants to be. The PMC problem was light primer strikes had about 1 out of 4 go bang. Tossed those into my SR9C and they went off fine.

Thanks.

I will not be buying any PMC or Critical Duty.

So far, I've shot only Blazer 115 gr, round nose, fmj's to first zero the pistol and then practice. They work very well, but this is range ammo only, not self-defense.

In my g19 I carry Speer Gold Dot, 124 gr, JHP's, and that what I was going to carry in my LC9S, but I recently saw a test where these rounds were shot into ballistic gel. The first 3 were in the zone of 16" or so which is a FBI acceptable penetration distance, but the fourth went 32" (going all the way through the first block of gelatin and into the second) which is unacceptably penetrative. The Federal HST's worked far better for acceptable penetration. Of many shot, not one exceeded 17". I will be trying some and will report back, probably after Christmas. I won't have a penetration report, but just if they cycle well or not...

Conservative said:

Thanks.

I will not be buying any PMC or Critical Duty.

So far, I've shot only Blazer 115 gr, round nose, fmj's to first zero the pistol and then practice. They work very well, but this is range ammo only, not self-defense.

In my g19 I carry Speer Gold Dot, 124 gr, JHP's, and that what I was going to carry in my LC9S, but I recently saw a test where these rounds were shot into ballistic gel. The first 3 were in the zone of 16" or so which is a FBI acceptable penetration distance, but the fourth went 32" (going all the way through the first block of gelatin and into the second) which is unacceptably penetrative. The Federal HST's worked far better for acceptable penetration. Of many shot, not one exceeded 17". I will be trying some and will report back, probably after Christmas. I won't have a penetration report, but just if they cycle well or not...

Click to expand...

Fired about 50 or so HSTs through mine last July. Carry ammo changeover. All went bang all worked well. Why I still carry them.

I never had any problems with factory ammo, but I deliberately reloaded every combination in the Lyman Handgun Reloading guide. Only when I tried super-light bullets, over the minimum powder charge, did I get a failure to cycle. That makes sense, since the design of the LC requires a minimum amount of energy to operate. I'm talking 75 grain lead bullets over the absolute lightest charge of Bullseye, something one will NEVER find in factory ammo. As a result, I am a happy camper, since EVERY other handload works just fine.

fowler.j.12,

Thanks for the report.

I really appreciate it.