Wierd happenings at the range....

[xsigma40cal]

This happened about a month ago when I took advantage of the $150 giftcard I got for xmas to Cabelas and blew it all on ammo (surprise, surprise). Now, usually Im a magtech guy but they didnt have any .45, so I got PMC 265(sic) gr. instead.

Once I get to the range, I start shooting, nothing out of the ordinary until about 150 rounds in, my slide is automatically locking up with 3 rounds in the mag. I usually shoot a five round volley then assess my results. I swtich up my grip and shoot weak side, thinking that in the midst of the chaos, my thumbs are hitting the slide lock. Nope, still locking up. I stop shooting, break down the xd and give it a thorough inspection...no visible wear or defects...inspect the mag...no problem there,

I keep shooting, getting closer to the 200 round mark when I notice my trigger is getting very "muddy", not sure how else to describe it but it didnt feel right, then I start noticing the muzzle flash of supernova proportions coming from my barrel. This was awfully fishy to me, so I packed it up and left, not willing to risk a catastrophic failure.

This is the first time this has ever happened, normally I run magtech and it functions flawlessly. I hear PMC is hot round and that may have something to do with it.

Your thoughts?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Blue Thunder]

This sounds like some dirty powder fouling up the chamber and other parts of your gun. I would do a tear down and detail strip and clean the gun, then go back out to the range. While you have the gun torn down, chamber check every round of ammo you have in the barrel. I have had Failure to Chamber Winchester Factory 9MM rounds in the last year. I also shoot about 2000 Winchester White Box ammo at the various Gun Fighting Courses that I have taken in the last year. One of the things they all want is High Quality Ammo and that really means Factory. I also chamber check (using a guage for each caliber) my reloads and my Social Ammo. The last thing you want is for a round of Social Ammo to not chamber.
Good Luck with what you find.

[gasmitty]

PMC is no hotter than anything else out there, but it does have a rep for being "dirty" - but then, so does MagTech.

It's hard to envision that enough deposits of any sort would build up inside your chamber or barrel sufficiently to alter the muzzle flash. And nothing going on in the chamber or barrel should affect the trigger pull. This is a real long shot, but with a completely empty gun, see if the "hammer" will drop with the slide a little bit out of battery. If it will "fire" with the slide more than about 1/32" out of battery, there's a disconnector problem with your gun and it needs to be looked at.

Did your fired PMC cases look any different than usual? Different powders burn at different rates, and if PMC uses a slower-burning powder than your usual fodder (which would be unusual for .45 ACP) that could alter the timing of the firing cycle - when the barrel unlocks from the slide, how much combustion is still going on when the fired case starts to eject, etc. If this batch of ammo showed a lot of carbon around the case mouths and your regular ammo doesn't, that's a tipoff. Next range trip, go back to your usual ammo and see if things return to 'normal.'



And it really was 265 grain ammo???