My new Taurus Millennium Pro 145ssp, Jams

[Chazman1946]

Bought this gun brand new, wanting to upgrade from my previous PT111 9mm. The grip of the .45 fits my hand much better the the 111.

Never had a jam with the 9mm (500 rounds), but the new .45 had twelve jams on my first trip to the range.

First two magazines I was using Hornady TAP 230 grain hollowpoints (my intended carrying load) and the last round of the first magazine jammed, round hung up on the feed ramp.

My second magazine had every other round hang up similarily.

I then loaded Federal hard ball, and was also having the same feed problems, at least one or two jams a clip.

All the rounds had the nose hung up on the feed ramp, which made it almost impossible to do a "rack and jack", I had to drop the magazine to clear the weapon.

My last magazine of the day I loaded back the hollowpoints, and it shot flawlessly.

My question is this, is there some kind of break in period with this particular gun, before it starts feeding reliably, or is this gun just a lemon?

I'm hesitant to carry it now, with these feed problems.

Geez, I wish Ruger would make a compact .45, I have put 3,000 rounds through my P89M and never had a hiccup.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Chazman1946]

The hollow points were Hornady .45 TAP, not GAP.

[SIXTO]

What!? You were shooting GAP outta a ACP? Well Sir, that there would be the problem!

I would raise 9 kinds of hell with the store.

[cockedlocked01]

OK, I'm confused. Did you mistakenly shoot it with .45 GAP ammo?

If not, it might need a fluff & bub job & check the mags.

Mine had some problems with bad ammo. It's been flawless & accurate since. Good luck.

[Chazman1946]

You guys must have read the post before I edited it, the ammo is .45 Horandy TAP, not GAP.

[SIXTO]

You guys must have read the post before I edited it, the ammo is .45 Horandy TAP, not GAP.

Oh! Whew.

[ccw9mm]

My question is this, is there some kind of break in period with this particular gun, before it starts feeding reliably, or is this gun just a lemon?

All guns have a break-in period. Every specific example of every kind of gun is slightly unique, in that it will have its own manufacturing flaws, tolerances, etc. My 145 might be stellar, but yours might need a bit of smoothing out before becoming reliable. You never know.

Test regimen, for me, more or less, regardless of the gun I'm trying out:
[list][*]Trigger/action job: While many don't do so, I always do a full action/trigger job on a carry gun. That's the quickest way I know of to help it down the path to reliability. Of course, a $175 action job won't pay itself back if the gun must be sold, but it can make all the difference in a gun I keep.[*]Ammo: While I may certainly intend to use a given round, the gun might have different ideas. And, it wins, since I won't carry what doesn't work.[*]Variety: One given bullet, one given magazine ... anything could be the cause of a jam or string of jams. Have several quality magazines and several varieties of ammo on hand, and try to narrow down what the real causal factors are. If a bad magazine, isolate it. If "bad" ammo, try something else. [*]Minimum number of rounds: Generally, I require 1000 rds of flawless execution in a carry gun with a given bullet before I'm certain the gun itself has solid ability. Then, and only then, will I carry it to protect my life.[/quote]

I'm hesitant to carry it now, with these feed problems.

As you should be, until it's reliable. Your life literally depends upon it working correctly.

Now, that said, any gun can, from time to time, have issues. With some guns, the springs are undersized and go out early. With others, the feed ramps don't come polished from the factory and have minor blems that hang up on the lips of JHP bullets. Others have poor quality control on the magazines, where the lips can be malformed or not be designed well with respect to the angles/speed required to feed in a given gun (ie, as might happen with purchasing some after-market magazines with a factory gun).

Geez, I wish Ruger would make a compact .45, I have put 3,000 rounds through my P89M and never had a hiccup.

That doesn't mean a second example of any Ruger would necessarily be perfect out of the box.

Some mfrs have a reputation for being far more reliable. Glock and SIG come to mind. But, there are still instances of specific guns having issues that need to be addressed. Guns are mechanical and "tolerance stack" is a problem that all mechanical devices experience. IMO, that's why competent fitting is such a useful gunsmith skill. It's why I choose to do a quality action/trigger job every time. It does make a difference.

As for types of ammo, consider either the DoubleTap JHP bullets or the Federal Hydrashok Tactical JHP bullets. I've found that either is highly reliable in a few different guns, including two 9mm's: CZ P01 and Browning BDM. The longer, smoother, more-consistent forming of the DT JHP's results in a very smooth cycling. In both the P01 and BDM, at least, this is heads and shoulders above the reliability of any other round I've tested. Yet in a previous BDM I had, the best was the Remington Golden Saber JHP. Whatever the differences were, they were there. Go figure.

[gunmetal]

I had some issues with my PT-145 (DAO model) as well. Maybe the same problem you're having.

http://www.tacapp.com/?p=53

That is a link to a PT-24/7 thread, but in it I made some comments about those problems appearing to be the same as the problems I was having with my PT-145.

Mine was sent back to Taurus and returned to me; I can't recall if I've shot it since... but I now carry a Glock and the PT-145 is now, and shall remain, a "safe queen." Even if it proves to be reliable over the next few hundred rounds (once I get around to shooting it) I won't bother carrying it again since I'm quite happier with the Glock for a bunch of reasons.

(Nor am I likely to ever buy another Taurus.)

[azchevy]

I own a pt-145. Great weapon 2FTF's in the first 50 rounds then never again. I have 2K through it. Sorry abut your problems.

[Ryan H]

I had horrible jamming and light strike issues with my PT-145 Pro, 3rd generation w/ light rail. It wasn't very accurate either. After mentioning every problem, and sending it back to Taurus three times, I gave up and sold it and put the money towards a known high quality pistol.

I don't know if I could ever trust a Taurus product again, but I do wish the gun would have worked good because it fit my hands great.

BTW, the video of the 24/7 on the Taurus website says that it can fire .45 GAP as well as .45 ACP. There is an article on www.gunblast.com and the reviewer ran a box of .45 GAP through a PT-145 without issue.

[Chazman1946]

The trigger action and the accuracy are fine, the gun shoots surprisingly well for a compact .45

I will put a hundred or more rounds through it to see if that lossens it up so it won't jam, if not the next thing will be to have the feed ramp polished, if that doesn't work, it goes to Taurus and see if they can fix it.

[tex45acp]

I have had no malfunctions with my PT-145 MP, from the day I took it out of the box and now with over 3000 rounds through it. Before you condem the gun, try different ammo in it. I know you "want" to carry the Hornady, but you might have to carry some other round. From what you describe, it sounds like you are experiencing magazine problems and not necessarily problems with the gun mechanics. Let me recommend what I did with a buddies gun that was experiencing these kinds of problems. I saturated the inside of his magazines with RemOil, shook them up to disperse the lube inside all the internals then hung them feed lips facing the floor, to drain all the excess, for 24 hours. This will leave a thin coat of the teflon inside and can aide in feeding of the rounds and movement internal magazine parts. It solved his problems and I never had to do it again.

[Chazman1946]

I have had no malfunctions with my PT-145 MP, from the day I took it out of the box and now with over 3000 rounds through it. Before you condem the gun, try different ammo in it. I know you "want" to carry the Hornady, but you might have to carry some other round. From what you describe, it sounds like you are experiencing magazine problems and not necessarily problems with the gun mechanics. Let me recommend what I did with a buddies gun that was experiencing these kinds of problems. I saturated the inside of his magazines with RemOil, shook them up to disperse the lube inside all the internals then hung them feed lips facing the floor, to drain all the excess, for 24 hours. This will leave a thin coat of the teflon inside and can aide in feeding of the rounds and movement internal magazine parts. It solved his problems and I never had to do it again.

I know that hollowpoint ammo can sometimes cause feed problems, but I was having problems with Federal hardball too??

The rounds are hanging up on the feed ramp, nose down.

I don't know if the magazines have anything to do with this, but I will try out your advice.

Thanks.

[Ryan H]

Before saturating your mags in oil (unsafe IMO), just take them apart and clean them. The PT-145 magazines come apart very easily. Oil can get into bullet cases, causing a no-fire or partial fire condition. In this situation, a bullet can become lodged in the bore, and if this isn't caught, the next round can cause the weapon to explode, resulting in serious injuries!

Just take the mags apart and clean them, and inspect the pieces for damage.

[QKShooter]

As with all semi-autos that exhibit function related problems you should suspect the magazines first.
You might want to smooth the underside of the feed lips a bit.

Then you need to be very methodical in order to determine exactly how your pistol is jamming.

First mark your magazines...to see if one or both are problematic.

Then carefully study exactly how the rounds are jamming.
Are the bullet noses partially entering into the barrel chamber and then hanging up?

Are they jamming on the ramp and not making it to the chamber?

You might need to break the hard edge of the lower chamber mouth.

Also...you need to see if it's the rear of the cartridge that is hanging up in the extractor as VS the bullet nose on the ramp or chamber.

Remember that friction eats up slide energy. Slide energy is needed to move the cartridge forward and up out of the mags...so if the slide is overly tight on the frame then that could be the problem.

Check to see if the breech face is smooth...if not then lightly and carefully stone it smooth.

With the pistol pointed in a safe direction try easing the slide forward to chamber a round - in order to determine what is hanging up where.

Keep us updated.