HIkayer
Bearcat
This thread started after I found a good price on Hornady American Gunner defensive ammo and decided to test fire it in my LCP Max. I was seeing 4-5 failures to chamber from a 12 round mag. I put 50 rounds though it and it didn't get any better.
The cartridges were angling up from the mag and getting their noses stuck against the top wall of the chamber. At first I though this was problem with the ammo, as the bullet shape was different.
This was very surprising, since it had no problems at all feeding FMJ range ammo. I've put probably 500-700 of those through it with no hang ups.
Examining the chamber, I found this.
Note the rough band. It is actually deeper than the chamber. I believe the noses of the defensive ammo were hanging up on the inside rim of this band and failing to chamber.
This was probably caused by a chip clogged finish reamer when the chamber was cut.
I spoke with Ruger Customer Service and they authorized sending it back.
I got it back yesterday. They replaced the barrel and the slide. This is how it looks now.
It's not nearly that rough without the magnification and it looks a lot better.
I also think that the slide moves a lot smoother than before and it picked up my carry ammo from the magazine without a hitch. The turn around time was about 10 days from when I sent it out until I got it back.
Ruger said they test fired it with 30 rounds Black Hills FMJ without any problems.
From the looks of the new barrel chamber and the smoothness of the slide, I'm very optimistic that the defensive ammo will do just fine.
I'm also very pleased with how Ruger handled this. Both times I called in, once I got through the phone menu, a live person picked up on the second ring. And turn around was prompt--about 10 days. New barrel and new slide. I think they handled it as well as I could expect.
So I have two reasons for posting this.
I wanted to give the positive feedback of my experience with Ruger.
And I want to encourage everyone to test fire your defensive carry ammo. You just never know. Glad I found this out before I needed it in a situation.
The cartridges were angling up from the mag and getting their noses stuck against the top wall of the chamber. At first I though this was problem with the ammo, as the bullet shape was different.
This was very surprising, since it had no problems at all feeding FMJ range ammo. I've put probably 500-700 of those through it with no hang ups.
Examining the chamber, I found this.
Note the rough band. It is actually deeper than the chamber. I believe the noses of the defensive ammo were hanging up on the inside rim of this band and failing to chamber.
This was probably caused by a chip clogged finish reamer when the chamber was cut.
I spoke with Ruger Customer Service and they authorized sending it back.
I got it back yesterday. They replaced the barrel and the slide. This is how it looks now.
It's not nearly that rough without the magnification and it looks a lot better.
I also think that the slide moves a lot smoother than before and it picked up my carry ammo from the magazine without a hitch. The turn around time was about 10 days from when I sent it out until I got it back.
Ruger said they test fired it with 30 rounds Black Hills FMJ without any problems.
From the looks of the new barrel chamber and the smoothness of the slide, I'm very optimistic that the defensive ammo will do just fine.
I'm also very pleased with how Ruger handled this. Both times I called in, once I got through the phone menu, a live person picked up on the second ring. And turn around was prompt--about 10 days. New barrel and new slide. I think they handled it as well as I could expect.
So I have two reasons for posting this.
I wanted to give the positive feedback of my experience with Ruger.
And I want to encourage everyone to test fire your defensive carry ammo. You just never know. Glad I found this out before I needed it in a situation.
