SR9 problem

[jhstancil]

I have kind of an odd thing happening with my SR9. Best way to describe it is that when I pull back the slide it feels like there is something that has a "tight fit" feel when you first start the slide movement. After a few hundred rounds it doesn't seem to be getting any better. I don't see any peening on the barrel that would lead me to think it had something to do with a peening barrel.
It got my attention the other day at the range when I ran some lite reloads through it and I experenced my first feed problems. I ran the same reloads through a 92FS and Glock 17 with no problems. The SR9 would fail to eject on every round. I then switched back to Winchester WB rounds and it ran them out just fine. I guess the bottom line is...Has anybody else noticed this tightness in the slide right at the initial release point?

 

[mike7mm08]

Mine does the same thing. When you begin the slide stroke the barrel has to drop down. In order for the barrel to lock up to slide when the slide is closed the slide and barrel need to be fairly square to each other. There is a little bit of taper machined into the slide but not much. So when you first get the slide moving you have the square edge of the slide hitting a square edge of the barrel. Not surprising there will be a bit of binding. I would not be concerned. This is my second SR9 and both did this. I don't have a glock to compare things too. But when comparing the SR9 to my XD9 the SR9 barrel seems to drop down slower than the XD9. I am sure this accounts for the little bit of extra binding than the XD9.As far the feeding issue it is a ammo issue not a pistol issue. When your shooting known lite reloads you will find some pistols that will shoot them and some that won't even among identical brand and model pistols.

 

[jhstancil]

Thanks, I was just wondering if this was normal. I worked up several different reloads to test....it seemed odd the SR9 would choke on them and other guns ran them fine. Thats when I started looking for a possible cause. The tightness in the initial break from battery was the only thing I could come up with. Other than that, it has a very smooth lite feel to it.

 

[mike7mm08]

How many rounds do you have through the other pistols? I figure a minimum of 500 to a 1000 rounds before I consider a pistol broken in. The ruger being a bit rough I would think 1000 to 1500 rounds before break in.

 

[jhstancil]

Yea...I'm going to keep shooting the SR9 and see if it smooths out. It may be a little finicky on some of my favorite reloads...but I do like the style and feel more than any other 9mm I have. I also love the way the SR9 just kinda dribbles out the spent casings. I have seen some people on the board complaining about this ...be when you reload, it makes it nice....you don't have to chase them down two shooting stalls over.

 

[mike7mm08]

If your looking for a cheap load and mild recoil wise I have had great luck with the lite loads listed for titegroup.

 

[ArmedinAZ]

. Best way to describe it is that when I pull back the slide it feels like there is something that has a "tight fit" feel when you first start the slide movement. ...Has anybody else noticed this tightness in the slide right at the initial release point?

I noticed this same thing when trying to figure out why my SR9 was having FTE problems early on. I was able to lessen the tight spot greatly by polishing the barrel hood and front edge of the ejection window where they meet. If you think about what happens when the shell fires, the slide is driven back and pushes the barrel back and the barrel has to move down when the ramps on the barrel and block engage, there is a lot of force driving the slide and barrel together at that interface and the sliding motion of the barrel dropping down is resisted. I polished the mating surfaces with 1000 then 2000 grit paper then rubbed some graphite into the metal and it greatly lessened that tight feeling you describe.

Here is a link to a thread I posted about the polishing:

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtop ... highlight=

Hope that helps.

Jeff

 

[jhstancil]

I ran across some Barry's plated 124 grain RN for $19/250. I loaded 200 at a starting load for lead using Accurate #7 since they were plated (worried about leading). I later found out from Berry's website it is best to load the same as a staring to mid range for jacketed. I knew they would probably be lite so I carried a box of WWB to compare the two. I just bought some titegroup the other day to give it a try. I use more Bullseye, W231, HP38 and Unique than anything else.
When I saw the SR9 was having problems with the reloads I switched over to the WWB and found they fed fine. Thats when I started trying to figure out why the SR9 was the only gun in the range bag that balked on the reloads. That little tight hitch when it broke battery is the only thing I could come up with.

 

[jhstancil]

eff, I give some polishing in that area a try. I was also thinking of polishing the locking block area to see if that would help. The eject failures were mostly stove pipes and the slide not even cycling back enough the extract the casing. There has to be an answer to get that slide working smoothly throughout it's range.....I'll keep shooting it and working on it....Johnny

 

[ArmedinAZ]

eff, I give some polishing in that area a try. I was also thinking of polishing the locking block area to see if that would help. The eject failures were mostly stove pipes and the slide not even cycling back enough the extract the casing. There has to be an answer to get that slide working smoothly throughout it's range.....I'll keep shooting it and working on it....Johnny

I was having stovepiping also. I think that too much energy is used getting through that tight spot and the slide then can't fully cycle or it doesn't hit the ejector hard enough and you get the stovepipe. Have had 0 failures since the polishing. I did smooth up the locking block some and gave it some graphite also.

Figure I'd rather do a little smoothing myself rather than be frustrated while the gun smooths itself out. Why waste ammo?

 

[jhstancil]

ArmedinAZ, I think your right. My SR9 has no problem with factory loads what so ever. But, testing some home reloads has brought the issue to my attention. I carried some more reloads with me to the range today and had no problems feeding them. They were however slightly hotter than the others. As long as the SR9 will feed 99% of everything I feed through it ...I'll be happy

 

[MikeJinVT]

I have had the same problem with my SR9 not ejecting with mid-range handloads. It functions fine with factory. I am now using Ranier plated 115gr bullets with a max load of Win. 231 and it functions fine. It just spits the empties a few inches. I have at least 500 rounds through mine and it hasn't gotten much better. I will try a little polishing.

Mike

 

[jhstancil]

I believe I have discovered the initial stiffness when racking the slide. I disassembled the SR9 tonight and with a stripped down slide on the frame discovered the connector ear (rounded protrusion) that is pressed over when the slide is racked is the cause of the initial stiff break from battery. The connector ear has a rather deep detent to jump out of on the initial break.

If you pull the firing pin and cover....then place the slide on the frame and move it through it's range you will see what I'm talking about. I don't know what can be done for it other than a little polishing and some more shooting. Maybe when the new Ghost trigger is released a lighter connector will help.

(photo is of a Ghost 3.5 Glock connector)