Beretta 84 FS Cheetah Failure to Feed

[chemarl]

This monday I took with me my BERETTA 84 FS to the shooting range to test it, it is brand new, before going to the range I geave it a good deep cleaning to remove all factory grease.

I took with me only 3 ( 13 rounds ) magazines that were loaded as follows:

Magazine # 1 = 13 of winchester 95 gr. = not a single problem

Magazine # 2 = 13 of Aguila FMJ 95 gr. = not a single problem

Magazine # 3 = mixed , 4 rds. MAGTECH,4 rds. WINCHESTER, 5 rds. Aguila = on this magazine on the last round ( 39 round ) i had a failure to feed or a mis-introduction of a cartridge in to the chamber.

That was the only ammo that I took with me.

came back home from the range and gave the pistol an other deep cleaning, and bought an othe 50 rd box of Aguila 95 gr. FMJ to test it on saturday.

what coud be wrong with this pistol, is it related to a defective round or a defective pistol?? what could it be rlated to???

any advice on what to do and what not to do on my next trip to the range to test it again, should i mix rounfds again?????

 

[crushbup]

If I read correctly, you only had one failure, correct? If that's the case, I say don't worry about it unless it keeps cropping up. It might just be the gun breaking in.

 

[chemarl]

Thankouy Crushbup, yes it only happened once , and it was at the very last round that I shhot, since I only took with me 39 rounds to the range ( 13 per magazine ) and the failure was at round number 39.

thanks again, hope this nex trip I have non issues

 

[mbt2001]

Take liquid paper or something and mark MAG 3 with one dot. Keep shooting if you have another and it is mag 3 mark it again. On the third one, rebuild the mag or toss it and get another.

Bad magazines are 85% of FTF's.

Most of the time FTF's are caused by the below:

Ammo (switch to FMJ or roundnose)
Mags (rebuild and / or buy a new one)
Ejector (install a new one)

If not those take it to a gun smith, something is bad wrong.

 

[chemarl]

Thankyou Mbt2001

How hard is to replace the jector of the 84FS, can i do it my self ? there is no gunsmith in my town or closer to my town.

also if I test it with 70 more rounds and hace "0" failures wiil that be enough rounds to consider it flawless???

thanks again

 

[Auburn1992]

I would do atleast 200 more to actually consider it in good working order.

My Cheetah has only had problems with one type of ammo (Blazer Brass). When I hit the slide release the bullet would get stuck on the barrel. As well (with Blazer Brass), the slide would not lock back after the last round had fired.

 

[UKJ]

Have to agree with Auburn1992, my Browning High Power had quite tight tolerances and needed a couple of hundred rounds to 'break in'.

It now runs smooth as can be without any FTF / FTE problems. Fire your Beretta a little more before incurring costly gunsmith bills.

If you can't afford to or don't have the time to take it back to the range and blaze through some ammo, then sit at home working the slide back and forth. Don't dry fire unless you have some dummy rounds or 'snap caps' in the chamber.

 

[chemarl]

I will post on saturday on how things went with my nex test, here in my country is hard to find a gunsmith, and ammo we have only aguila most of the time, if your lucky you´ll get some winchester flat nose ( very hard to find ) also we pay around $27.00 usd per 50rd box.

any way hope that it was only part of the breaking period and hope not to have any more problems.

thankyou so much guys I will keep you posted on how things went.

thanks again

 

[mbt2001]

If you have the manual, then all you need to do is remove the extractor. It usually isn't difficult, get yourself a good punch though.

All auto's should have 500 rounds through them to break them in. Don't consider any FTF on a brand new gun a huge problem until you have run the 500 through them. I would keep track of magazine 3 though, they sometimes are bad from the factory.

If the problems persist replacing an extractor is the EASIEST thing you can do on a gun. So don't get worried about it. They are pretty simple devices. Make sure you use FMJ round nose for the brake in process. Winchester Whitebox gives some guns a hard time because of that flat nose. Remington or American Eagle until the gun gets worn in.

 

[NG VI]

If you only had one failure in your first 39 rounds from a new pistol, I would go with everyone else's advice to give it some more time and more importantly more rounds downrange.

 

[chemarl]

I was only able to gather 100 rounds of Aguila FMJ roundnose 95 gr., 13 rounds of magtech HP, 19 rounds of winchester white box flatnose.

as I explained befdore here in my country is very hard to find winchester ammo or other brands most of the ammo that i can get in my hunting surplus store is Aguila.

on a previous post I was told tha the reson of my FTF could be 3:

1.- magazine related
2.- ammo related
3.- ejector related.......then I was told that could be the extractor.... is the extractor or ejector the possible cause, which of this two????

hope that is non of them, and hope that this 131 round that I gather can bring me some peace of mind.

if it doesn´t fail within this 131 rounds can I feel more confident about the reliability of this pistol??????

thanks again for all your support

 

[AgentAdam]

I would say it just needs to be broken in some more. I always leave my new pistol magazines loaded for at least a week so the springs will settle. Cheetahs have very stiff springs to begin with. Mine has 450+ rounds without a problem.

 

[usp9]

I sugest you simply shoot some more. The suggestion to mark the mags is a good one. You say the gun is brand new so I would not expect a mag failure, nor an ejector failure, nor a extractor problem. I'm not sure how the last two cause FTF problems anyway.

The Beretta is a very reliable pistol. A failure to feed is harder to diagnose with mixed mags. I apply a daub of grease to the rails of my Beretta 84 and 85. This adds just a touch more protection to the alloy frame I think. Be sure to keep a tight firm grip. Make sure the recoil spring and guide rod are cleaned and lightly oiled.

Before you go tearing out parts or going to a gunsmith, try more ammo. A single failure in the first couple hundred rounds is nothing to be concerned with. If FTFs continue, or you notice a single mag causes feed problems, then you have a problem to solve.

 

[chemarl]

Second test at shooting range

I just came back from the shooting range, I shoot 131 rounds with my Beretta 84FS and had again one (1) failure to feed, again the last round of one of the magazines fail to be completly chambered or go full in batery same condition as my first report.

the order was as following:

Magazine # 1 = 5 rounds of Aguila FMJ, 4 rounds of Winchester Flatnose, 4 rounds of Magtech HP.....Result = No malfunctions

Magazine # 2 = 9 rounds of winchester Flatnose, 4 rounds of Magtech HP..... Result = No malfunctions

Magazine # 3 = 10 round of Magtech HP, 3 rounds of Aguila FMJ..... Result = No malfunctions

Magazine # 1 = 13 rounds of Aguila FMJ..... Result = No malfunctions

Magazine # 2 = 13 rounds of Aguila FMJ..... Result = No malfunctions

Magazine # 3 = 13 rounds of Aguila FMJ..... Result = No malfunctions

After this I lost track of which magazine number I was shooting with , so the results were as follows:

Magazine # X = 13 rounds of Aguila FMJ..... Result = 1 failure to feed at the very last round, ( round 13 fail to completly feed the chamber ).

Magazine # next X = 13 rounds of Aguila FMJ..... Result = no malfunction ( shoot at finger speed )

Mgazine # next X = 13 rounds of Aguila FMJ..... Result = no malfuntions ( shoot at finger speed )

Last Magazine = 13 rounds of Aguila FMJ..... Result = no malfuntions ( shoot at finger speed ).

What is going on?....why is allways the last round of magazine 3 or magazine "X" the one that is failing to feed in the chamber????

I mixed HP with FN of diferent brands and all shoot well, why is allways the last round of a magazine the one not feeding propperly.

Thanks in advance for your support and hope to see your replies very soon.

please help me.

 

[crushbup]

It's possible that the one magazine giving a bad feed on the last round has a bad follower or spring.

 

[chemarl]

lets say theat one magazine is the one that its giving me tha bad feeding on the very last round allways, the weird thing is that the first time I took the pistol to the range for teste, it failed to feed at 39 rounds ( on the last round of the magazine loaded with 13 rounds ) and this time it failed at 91 rounds again at the same last round, remember that by this magazine i lost track of which magazine I was using.

the weird thing is why first time at 39 rounds and today at 91 rounds, why? and why it only fails 1 time on the last round allways??

thanks again and have my best regards

 

[Steve C]

Symptom: Occasional miss feed of the last round in one or more magazines.

Likely cause: Magazine related or ammo related.

Method of testing: Place one round in a magazine and see if you can reproduce the FTF by hand cycling the round into the pistol. Try a sample of each type of ammo. Repeat several times with each magazine.
-------

If FTF is reproduced and one magazine if found to be the culprit examine the mag, the follower and see if the cause can be determined. if not simply mark that magazine for practice use and use the others for self defense.
------

Sometimes the follower in the magazine will not be pushing up the front of the round for proper presentation on the last round because its beeing hung up in the mag tube or the magazine spring is turned in the wrong direction when the magazine was assembled. Sometimes there's a round spot in the mag tube, feed lips or on the follower. Sometimes the mag lips have been sprung or damaged by being dropped. All these can cause FTF problems.

Slowing of the slide speed as the pistol gets dirty from shooting can also cause the round to not feed completely.

 

[chemarl]

While I was cleaning my pistol i noticed tha I was abel to move up and down the ejector with mi finger tip, this was when I was cleaning it and had the frame without the upper assembly.

is this normal? the jecto to be sloopy or loose ?????? I have an other brand new 84FS and I compared the ejector tension form the one that is giving me problems vs. the one that is not and the one tha is not giving me problems, i am not able to move up and down the ejector.

so is it normal to be loose, the ejector have a pin and a roll pin that attatch the ejector to the frame.

I think that I am fu....d

And the nearest gunsmith here in my country is about 800 Km from my home

 

[Steve C]

You are over analyzing, worrying about things that don't matter and wanting to fix things that aren't broke.

A gun that fires and ejects 100 rounds without problem and then has a miss feed on the last round isn't having ejector problems or extractor problems.

Magazine and ammo issues are something that comes with semi auto handguns. That's why they teach rap, tap and rack jam clearing drills with semi's. Generally the issue is simple and can be fixed by anyone with some basic mechanical aptitude and understanding of how the gun works. Sometimes these things are shooter induced and a change in method fixes them.

Hate to say this but if this kind of small issue bothers you that much you'd be better off selling the auto's and buying a revolver.

 

[AgentAdam]

These guns with a combination of light aluminum/polymer frames and both snappy recoil and very stiff recoil springs due to there pure blowback action with non locking chambers are susceptible to limp wristing. This is were you don't hold the gun firm enough or lock your wrist allowing the gun to rock back absorbing some of the energy needed to operate the slide fully. It could also be a specific type of ammo so i would try to test each one at a time.

 

[NG VI]

the weird thing is why first time at 39 rounds and today at 91 rounds, why? and why it only fails 1 time on the last round allways??

Or it could also just be that this one needs more of a breakin than the other 84, though if you have two new ones and one is flawless why not just take your time with the problematic one and give it more time to break in, and use the other as your carry gun in the meantime? I say it could still be breaking in because if it happened once at 39 rounds and once a different time at 91 rounds, the frequency is decreasing. It might not happen at all in the future.

 

[usp9]

These guns with a combination of light aluminum/polymer frames

I think you must have another pistol in mind... the Beretta 84 is not polymer.

 

[AgentAdam]

I meant and/or, sorry. My 84 Cheetah is VERY snappy. Combined with a VERY stiff recoil spring would seem to make it short recoil easily if you not controlling it.

 

[hemiram]

I never had any problems with gripping my 84, or my Browning BDA .380. The recoil was nothing compared to my Astra A-75 in .40, now that is snappy!