Federal bulk 9mm and G19

[Mr Bernoulli]

Hey guys have a glock 19 gen 4 im recently having issues with. I just got it back in January. I have put ~1k rounds through it all of the federal bulk. This last box though I have had several FTE and the next round partially feeds. Anyone else having this problem or something wrong with my extractor/ejector? I dont know if its that or not since it has been just this last box, just weird as I have never had a problem with any federal ammo before.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Did the recoil feel lighter than usual? Perhaps a particular batch or lot was underloaded. Is the gun clean, especially under the extractor hook? Can you see any damage to the ejector? (The bend is supposed to be there.) Normally there isn't much to go wrong here. Is the extractor damaged?

 

[GLOOB]

Federal Champion ammo from Walmart is well known to be loaded extremely light. My friend's Gen4 G19 works fine with it, when I'm shooting. But when she's shooting it, the brass barely clears and jams sometimes happen.

This isn't any issue, since she only shoots my reloads and Speer Gold Dots. But she asked for the "upgraded" spring, anyway, since it's a spare recoil spring for free. (And the gen4 recoil springs cost 3 times as much as the gen3 ones, so I'm not sure that getting double the life from them is a good deal!) If there's any real difference between the 03 and 04 spring, that difference is very subtle. They appear to be basically the same weight. The Fed stuff shoots basically the same as before.

There are also some reports that Glock has changed the ejector. If your ejector is thicker top to bottom than the older Glocks, it already has the newest ejector.

If you already have the 04 spring, I suggest you buy some NATO spec ammo. You can find it online for similar prices to Walmart FC. If that fixes the problem, then fine. If not, you can look into the ejector issue.

 

[Mr Bernoulli]

Nope everything lookes fine when I look at it... I am not feeling lighter recoil than normal. Got ya about the ammo good to know! Just weird I am just starting to have those problems... Oh and I do have the newer springs so that is not the problem. I have just been using it for the brass so hopefully don't have to worry anymore with the reloads. Thanks guys.

 

[GLOOB]

If you reload, no worries. My Glock 45 and 9mm's like 'em hot. But FTR, FC 9mm brass is among the worst I've seen in terms of variation in case capacity, brass thickness, neck tension, and deep primer pockets.

 

[WinThePennant]

Stay away from Federal Champion. It's too light.

 

[Ben86]

It probably is the ammo, that's super light bunny fart powered stuff. I haven't had a problem with it in my S&W M&P9 though.

 

[Sapper771]

Try some different ammo. I would recommend some Win 9mm NATO. Its around +P, but the last box I got was more like +P+ (1200-1280 FPS from G17). Several have reported issues with Gen4's and the lighter loaded ammo.

I got one of the first Gen4 G17's. After I heard about the issues with them, I intentionally "down" loaded some 9mm with 115gr bullets. They were running right at 980-1000 FPS. My G17 didn't have any issues with them, but I didn't do any long term testing.

I have been shooting a lot of factory 9mm here lately due to lack of time to reload. The last 300 rounds of it has been Federal red box 115gr. No issues to report with it. It is a bit light, but not as light as the last box of Independence ammo I got. I prefer to reload my own 9mm. You can really bring the accuracy out of your pistol. I dont expect much from bulk factory ammo.

 

[bubbacrabb]

I always seam to have good luck with fc brass. I've loaded thousands of em. Just keep an eye on em like any other brass, I would also not buy to much factory 9 just to load you can easily get 1000 pieces of 9 mm for 30 bucks in the classifieds on here. Cheap ammo is just that cheap. I wouldn't worry much. My 17 likes a Montana gold 115 fmj over 5 grains unique shoots great.

 

[Zerodefect]

Deosn't hurt to detail strip the slide and clean and check the extractor.

 

[Averageman]

I have a G17 and had the same issue.
Finally I bought about 5 different kinds of practise ammo and took it out to the range. Fired everything and looked for consistancy, accuracy, dependability.
In the end the best "Bang" for my buck in 9mm ended up being Tullammo 9mm.
The guy at WalMart swears it will ruin your pistol, it is innacurate and dirty.
I dunno after all my 3 k rounds I dont have an issue with it at all.

 

[Ben86]

The guy at WalMart swears it will ruin your pistol, it is innacurate and dirty.

They tell me the same thing everywhere. But, I have had a good experience with the ammo in 9mm, .223 and 7.62x39. That stuff is actually pretty clean from my experience and the steel cases they use are made of a really soft steel.

 

[MAKster]

The Federal Champion is really light. I was recently shooting the Federal and some Blazer aluminum ammo out of my Glock. The Blazer was significantly hotter.

 

[Girodin]

The guy at WalMart swears it will ruin your pistol

Hmmm, how should I put this, the guy at walmart is working at walmart for a reason. I don't buy steel case because I hand load and want the brass. Its not going to ruin your pistol. What exactly is his theory of how it will do that?

 

[Browns Fan]

I have a gen 3 glock 19 that I shoot IDPA with and occasionally shoot federal champion with out ill effects.

 

[mes228]

Federal

I shoot tons of Federal Champion from Walmart. I think it excellent ammo and extremely accurate. I shoot 9mm, .40, and .45 and I've never had a jam with any of my three Glocks, Les Baers, FN Tactical, H&K Tactical (just sold it off and could cry!). I love the Federal Champion stuff and it's a "best buy" for the cost. I'd look elsewhere for the cause of the jams until many people confirmed bad ammo from Federal.

 

[918v]

You gotta lock those wrists when shooting certain high performance pistols.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

It's probably the ammo. Get some European mfg. ammo and try it.