Major FTE with new HK45 today. Ideas?

[changj]

I just picked up my HK45 a few days ago. I cleaned it up and took it to the range today. Damn, the pistol is accurate! I can't decide whether I prefer the USP or HK45 though. I guess I'll stick to both :)

Anyway, I was shooting Winchester White Box value packs from Walmart. After about 75 shots, one round felt different recoil-wise, so I removed the magazine and attempted to rack the slide back. However, it was firmly stuck. Looking closer, the slide was stuck back about 1/4".

After several more tugs (and dismissing the thought to look down the barrel - where the hell did that come from?), I got a bit more aggressive and after a huge yank, the slide gave and extracted the chambered (or possibly semi-chambered) round.

Examining the round, it looked perfectly normal. The only thing out of the ordinary was an ingrained black smudge on the face of the rim where the extractor might have contacted it.

I locked the slide back and dropped the round manually in the chamber. When I tilted the pistol back, the round fell out. So it looked like the round was in spec. Even though everything looked fine, I tossed it, and continued firing another 75 rounds with no further issues.

Does anybody have any ideas on what caused this FTE? I'm hoping to use this as a carry gun, so I plan on running several hundred more rounds through it before I do so. That, and I have to wait for Comp-Tac to make a holster for it :)

Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Captain America]

Was the stuck round fired or unfired? Your post is not clear on what came
out when you finally got the slide to retract?

[changj]

Sorry, the stuck round was unfired (the previous round fired, cycled the slide, and extracted the spent shell casing). I never bothered pulling the trigger on the stuck round when I felt that something was wrong so the primer was intact.

[Captain America]

So the last round fired was the problem round.

Sounds like you fired a weak round. Realized it and acted properly by
clearing the gun before firing again.

The stuck loaded round was probably not chambered fully because of
the previous weak round.

I don't see a real problem. Could've happened anytime with any ammo.
Everything worked as it should, including you.

I've fired thousands of WWB and never had a problem.

[F22_RaptoR]

+1, it could have been a "short stroke" where the last fired round didn't have enough powder, and the next round got off kilter going in.


Solution:

Dont fire cheap ammo like WWB :p (jk, but i've had my fair share of FUBAR rounds from WWB, uncluding a deformed round)

Good job for being attentive to the feel of your gun! :D

[Greg Bell]

Yep, gotta be careful. I recently blew my Springfield loaded to hell with a light round.
http://web.mac.com/timetravelfoundation/The_LAMP/PROJECT%3A_BREAK_MY_HK45/Entries/2007/12/2_Blew_up_my_1911%21_350_1345_files/shapeimage_2.jpg

[changj]

Yikes! I don't even want to think about a squib load while test-firing my new HK! But that makes sense - an underpowered round. I usually shoot American Eagle, but I've heard good things about WWB. It's easier for me to pick up WWB at Walmart now, so I'll stick to it as I'm sure things like this happen on a rare basis...I hope. Thanks guys!

[Cadillac Johnson]

Wally World usually has Blazer Brass along side the WWB.

I like it better, and it should be the same price, if not cheaper.

Just an idea.

[sfguard]

Wally World usually has Blazer Brass along side the WWB.

I like it better, and it should be the same price, if not cheaper.

Just an idea.

It is usually a couple $s cheaper here.:61:

[JumpmanUSC]

Much, much cheaper here. $9.47 for 50 versus $23/100 or so for WWB.

[Liberator]

From what I've read on here Blazer Brass is pretty decent... surprises me Wally World would carry something of quality.

[arlessinfl]

From the OP's description, it sounds like that the unfired round (the round that was partially chambered) was out of spec and the action of the round being chambered may have sized it sufficiently that it is now within spec...though unlikely, since he said that the slide was about 1/4 inch from full battery.

Maybe there was something in the chamber that fell out with the unfired round?

[littlebuf]

So the last round fired was the problem round.

Sounds like you fired a weak round. Realized it and acted properly by
clearing the gun before firing again.

The stuck loaded round was probably not chambered fully because of
the previous weak round.

I don't see a real problem. Could've happened anytime with any ammo.
Everything worked as it should, including you.

I've fired thousands of WWB and never had a problem.

why is when a hk jams its the ammo but if any other gun jams ie, 1911 ita a jambomatic piece of crap...hmmm

[T-TAC]

I don't know how true this is, But the gun store I work for the owner says that the ammo that places like Wallyworld sell comes marked with a bright blaze orange sticker that says something like "Out of spec or irregular ammo" on the case box.
I worked for the Sports Authority for a few years and never saw anything like that.
What I have experinced is with the Wally white box is that the "White glue" that they close the box flaps with will get on the cartriges and can cause problems.
Check each cartridge as you load up and any glue can scape off with your finger nail.

[MaD HuNGaRIaN]

I don't know how true this is, But the gun store I work for the owner says that the ammo that places like Wallyworld sell comes marked with a bright blaze orange sticker that says something like "Out of spec or irregular ammo" on the case box.


Not true.

Just last week I was at a Wally World buying something completely unrelated from the video game section, and out of the back came this little dude, about a buck 65 soaking wet, doing his damnedest to pull a palate jack with a palate of cases of Blazer, CCI, and Winchester of all 9mm, .357, .38, .40, and .45.

He could barely get the thing rolling--the spectacle of that is what drew my attention to it. I joked with him and told him he could roll right out to my truck.

Anyway, all the cases were plain old boxes with packing labels on them TO: WALLYWORLD, FROM: such and such. No reject stamps, no orange stickers, nothing like that.

[Captain America]

why is when a hk jams its the ammo but if any other gun jams ie, 1911 ita a jambomatic piece of crap...hmmm

Hmmm? Let me think about it?

[T-TAC]

Well acording to my guy. The Chains get the ammo but they are excempt from the sticker. But if a small store buys it the sticker is on the case.
I think he's full of B.S.

[dtheman]

why is when a hk jams its the ammo but if any other gun jams ie, 1911 ita a jambomatic piece of crap...hmmm

Because in this case that is what it seems to be. While 1911s are great guns at the 2000 dollar line, they don't seem to be nearly as good at the cost of an HK. Plus its almost a 100 year old design.

[bigghk702]

if an hk nas a problem it's the ammo, but if a 1911 has a problem it's the mag
1911 fails to load..........mag
hk fails to load............crappy ammo that was picked up at a gun show
1911 wont impact the primer when the trigger is pulled.........clearly a bad mag
hk same issue..............must be some stupid hand load made by uncle bubba ;)

[H&K 4 LIFE]

Sounds like it's the ammo and not the pistols fault. If it kept shooting another 75 rounds with no other failures then it was probably a freak occurance with a weak or out of spec. round.

I had a 9mm WWB round FTF in my Glock 19. Upon closer inspection the mouth of the case was curled back beyond beleif in one area. I am glad the G19 refused it, that could have been bad. The pistol fired another 100 rounds easily without any malfunction, so this was most definatly a bad bullet. In contrast, during another range trip the full-auto UZI ate about 500 rounds of WWB without a single malfunction. Defective rounds are rare, but it does happen.

Also, I wanted to save the bad round to inspect it more after I left the range, but the friend I was with promptly threw it in some arbitrary direction, very helpful. :D

[bnsutton]

I don't know how true this is, But the gun store I work for the owner says that the ammo that places like Wallyworld sell comes marked with a bright blaze orange sticker that says something like "Out of spec or irregular ammo" on the case box.
I worked for the Sports Authority for a few years and never saw anything like that.
What I have experinced is with the Wally white box is that the "White glue" that they close the box flaps with will get on the cartriges and can cause problems.
Check each cartridge as you load up and any glue can scape off with your finger nail.

I can understand your disclaimer. No company of any size or type would sell ammo marked "out of spec" or "irregular ammo". The liability would be unreal.
I would hope that no ammunition manufactor would ever let something like that off the dock. Lawyers would have a field day with this.

[LEO]

Agreed!

No company would sell a dangerous product that did not pass inspection.

The couple of backs profit would NEVER be worth the civil claim.

[paratroop23]

Much, much cheaper here. $9.47 for 50 versus $23/100 or so for WWB.

Same here!

[Kenji]

I had about 20 boxes of Independence ammo in .38 and .45 (why Independence is a long story). I was at the range, and started loading the .38 first – the seventh round would not slip in – WTH?? First I looked at the cylinder, that was ok. Then I looked at the cartridge – it was BENT. It actually had a crease in it and it would not fit into the cylinder.

So I started checking all of the cartridges in the open box. There were more cartridges in the box that had the same problem, they were bent and creased.

I checked all of the other boxes of .38s and .45s. There was an average of 5 bad cartridges per box in every box. The funny thing was that the damaged cartridges were not in the same area of the box. If someone had crushed the box , the cartridges would all be damaged in the same area of the box.

[Cadillac Johnson]

I don't know how true this is, But the gun store I work for the owner says that the ammo that places like Wallyworld sell comes marked with a bright blaze orange sticker that says something like "Out of spec or irregular ammo" on the case box.
I worked for the Sports Authority for a few years and never saw anything like that.
What I have experinced is with the Wally white box is that the "White glue" that they close the box flaps with will get on the cartriges and can cause problems.
Check each cartridge as you load up and any glue can scape off with your finger nail.

I just grabbed a box of 180gr .40sw Blazer Brass. Let me check it for stickers..

There's a sticker on it, it says: "This ammo was manufacturered from puppies and kittens specifically for WalMart. It is sold at everyday low prices due to the fact that we just eyeball the specs. There's a good chance it wont work in any gun, and should never be fired, especially in a Glock. Congratulations, you are a sucker."

Then there's the yellow smiley face pointing and laughing.

Cant believe I never noticed it before.

[N6ATF]

I just grabbed a box of 180gr .40sw Blazer Brass. Let me check it for stickers..

There's a sticker on it, it says: "This ammo was manufacturered from puppies and kittens specifically for WalMart. It is sold at everyday low prices due to the fact that we just eyeball the specs. There's a good chance it wont work in any gun, and should never be fired, except in a Glock. Congratulations, you are a sucker."

Then there's the yellow smiley face pointing and laughing.

Cant believe I never noticed it before.

Fixed...

[changj]

As a follow-up, I just got back from the range, where my HK45 went through 150 rounds of WWB with no hiccups. I'm liking this pistol more and more! It appears that the original malfunction was caused by the ammo.

[Kost]

Wally World usually has Blazer Brass along side the WWB.

I like it better, and it should be the same price, if not cheaper.

Just an idea.Same at my local Walmart - CCI Blazer Brass - $2 cheaper and on the same shelf - its a lot cleaner

[Captain America]

As a follow-up, I just got back from the range, where my HK45 went through 150 rounds of WWB with no hiccups. I'm liking this pistol more and more! It appears that the original malfunction was caused by the ammo.


Glad it worked out for you. I've used WWB exculsively for years in 9mm
and 45acp and I have never encountered a problem. There's a Wal-Mart
right across the street from where I live and they always have the 100rd
value packs. It's the cheapest high quality ammo that I've found.