What Jammed My 9mm?

[alienbogey]

I just got back from the range where I was shooting my way-cool HK P7. After running 4 mags through it with with no problems , I slide-locked empty, popped in a fresh magazine, squeezed the grip to shoot the slide forward, sighted on the target, gently pulled the trigger and....nothing. No trigger resistance at all, all the way back.

I couldn't figure it out at first, but upon examination I realized that the slide was about 1/8" from being all the way forward and into battery. Try as I might I could not rack the slide back - it was well and truly jammed. I had to bring it home with a live round stuck in it.

I put it into a bench vise (with wood jaws) and eventually got it racked back and the round ejected. The case had gouges in it, especially at one point from the extractor (I think), but I'm not sure that the case is a 9mm Luger. (I reload from picked up brass)

Rather than saying 9mm Luger this case's head stamp has: A tiny plus-inside-a-circle symbol, "W C C", and "02". That's it.

Dimensionally I can't see any difference by eye between it and a sample 9mm Luger reload. I measured with a micrometer and came up with the following:

Case OAL: Luger .749 WCC .741
Diameter at middle of case: Luger .385 WCC .385
Diameter of rim: Luger .388 WCC .387
Diameter just above groove: Luger .391 WCC .394

The profile of the groove and shoulders looks slightly different between the two.

Any idea what the "WCC" case is, if it's 9mm Luger why it's not headstamped as such, why it jammed my pistol?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Blackeagle]

WCC = Western Cartridge Company a division of Winchester. It's probably a standard 9mm that either didn't get sized properly during reloading, or got dented or dinged up enough afterward to not chamber.

[alienbogey]

Yes, it's one of my reloads, and must have gotten picked up as range brass.

Quite a coincidence that the ONE round that jammed had the unfamiliar (to me) head stamp - when I checked every other round in the 4 boxes of reloads I had brought to the range had '9mm Luger' headstamps.

All the more reason to practice only with reloads and use factory rounds for SD carry.

Thanks for the reply.

[QKShooter]

I'd call it an ammo issue with that one cartridge..for what my two bits are worth.

Your next time out shooting will tell for sure though.

[alfack]

If you have a case gauge, drop it in and see if it fits.

[M1911A1]

I believe that the "tiny + inside a circle" part of the case's headstamp means that it's a military-issue, NATO-specifications case.
Dunno why it jammed, though.

Could it've been a sub-gun case that you picked up, loaded originally to higher pressures than pistol rounds, and thus overstressed and maybe even oversized at its base from those higher pressures?