Kinda confused with these results

[dbp]

Just got a P380 last week and took it to the range straight from the box with no clean or lube. Shot great with one failure to feed in 50 rounds. Took it home and cleaned thoroughly. Went back to range today using same ammo and had failures to feed on every magazine. Out of 50 rounds probably had FTF 10 times. Maybe I shouldn't have cleaned it .

BTW - first mag I shot was my carry ammo -- Buffalo Bore 80gr +P JHP and it shot flawlessly. Then went to practice ammo and nothing but problems. I feel good that the Buff Bore shot well, but that is pretty expensive to put a few hundred rounds down range to test reliability.

My practice ammo is reload from Freedom Munitions. My question is why would first 50 rounds be relatively problem free and a week later with same ammo I get crap for results?

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Teachu2]

Did you lube it after you cleaned it?

 

[herrwalther]

*Deleted

 

[Warp]

I wouldn't consider 1 failure in 50 rounds to be relatively problem free. That's pretty bad. Just sayin'

Reloads are generally less reliable than factory new.

And Kahr's (is that what it is?) don't seem to have the best reliability reputation from what I have read.

 

[David E]

Buy some real factory ammo, lube the gun and try it again. I bet it'll work.

.

 

[rcmodel]

first mag I shot was my carry ammo -- Buffalo Bore 80gr +P JHP and it shot flawlessly. Then went to practice ammo and nothing but problems.

It's not the gun that didn't work.

It's the cheap practice ammo you bought that didn't work.

rc

 

[Warp]

It's not the gun that didn't work.

It's the cheap practice ammo you bought that didn't work.

rc

Very possibly.

But I wouldn't be confident about that considering the only other ammo he tried was one, single magazine. That's a very small sample size.

 

[David E]

Very possibly.

But I wouldn't be confident about that considering the only other ammo he tried was one, single magazine. That's a very small sample size.

Well, no kidding.

But he needs to remove the likely reasons, one by one, before he can correctly blame the gun. Using good, quality name brand ammo is a great place to start.

.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

What is the gun? The little Ruger LCP? They are supposed to take 300 rounds to break in. Thatks about what mine took to stop needing an occasional bump from the palm heel of my weak hand.

Lots of guns come with a special slightly abrasive break-in lube and you should not clean it until break-in is over.

Mike

 

[dbp]

Using good, quality name brand ammo is a great place to start.

I would if I could find some for less than $1.10 a round!

Did you lube it after you cleaned it?

Yes, I lubed it to Kahr specs.


[/QUOTE]

What is the gun? The little Ruger LCP?

The gun is a Kahr.

I understand that the ammo is less than ideal, but I looked high and low for .380 ammo before finding this. Yeah, I could buy $1.10 a round premium ammo for practice -- but I'm not going to. I will shoot the 40 rounds of Buffalo Bore that I have and if it functions acceptably with it I will feel that I can trust the gun. I will just put up with a FTF every now and then in practice with the cheap stuff.

 

[tarosean]

Keep in mind that the little picket guns (of all types) will never be reliable as a full sized gun..

 

[Jeff H]

Reloads are generally less reliable than factory new.

What? If the reliability of your reloads isn't right at 100%, you need to look at your process.

Since the OP purchased the reloads instead of making them himself, I wouldn't use them ever again if it was the reloads that weren't reliable.

Keep in mind that the little picket guns (of all types) will never be reliable as a full sized gun..

What?? My P3AT has been 100% reliable. I would never carry it if it wasn't.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

^"...if the reliability of your relaods..."

Problem is they were commercial reloads (or "remanufactured" practice ammo) and there's not much any of us can do to correct that, except use the ammo for malfunction drills. For that use, I would use them up (maybe NEVER buy them again). Practical practice should include malfunction drills.

I had some factory S&B .380 that probably had small rifle primers because fail-to-fire on first strike was common, but those occasional rounds would fire on second try. I preferred them for practice over the Winchester .380 that fired flawlessly ('twas a double action only auto).

 

[tarosean]

What?? My P3AT has been 100% reliable. I would never carry it if it wasn't.

How many thousands of rounds does it have through it?

 

[Warp]

What? If the reliability of your reloads isn't right at 100%, you need to look at your process.

*sigh*

What I said is 100% true. The reliability of reloads is generally less than factory new. That's a fact. That's why a lot of trainers won't even allow reloads at their classes...too many problems that hold everybody up.

And this has absolutely nothing to do with me, or with you, or with anybody else ITT reloading ammunition.

He bought reloads from a company that makes them.

Since the OP purchased the reloads instead of making them himself, I wouldn't use them ever again if it was the reloads that weren't reliable.

I agree. Actually, I personally won't buy any reloads at all to begin with, I don't feel the need to spend money to learn that reloads are less reliable.

What?? My P3AT has been 100% reliable. I would never carry it if it wasn't.

That's good.

But not the same results that a lot of other people get.

I sold my P3AT because it failed too often. It was also difficult to shoot, and shoots a pretty weak round.

 

[jrdolall]

I have some experience with reloads in two 380's, a KT P3AT and a Bodyguard and it was ammo I bought from a local LGS where the guy does a lot of loading. Back a few months ago when 380 was rare I bought 500 rounds of FMJ from him and finished them off this weekend. I had zero FtFs out of those rounds in those guns. 380 is still fairly rare in the stores around here so I have limited my shooting with my EDC which is not a good thing.
I have posted before about a Ruger P-85 that I have. It is the most finicky gun I have ever seen. Won't shoot this guys reloads without an FTF every other round. I bought some cheap ammo at Walmart last week, PPU maybe?, and the Ruger was great for a "tap rack" drill with FTF, FTE and every conceivable issue. I took that exact same ammo and ran it through two other 9mm pistols and a Hi Point Carbine with not a single problem. I then ran a full two boxes of Tula Brass Max through the Ruger without a single problem. Same two magazines in the Ruger.

The moral of the story is to run as many kinds of ammo as you can through a "problem" gun until you find what it likes. In today's world that is hard to do because of ammo availability and you wind up with more money in ammo than in the gun. I have some guns that will shoot anything you put in them and others like the Ruger that are a bit tougher. Just make sure the SD ammo you run is close to flawless.

 

[MistWolf]

Lots of guns come with a special slightly abrasive break-in lube and you should not clean it until break-in is over.

Mike

Can you cite the source of your information?

 

[CB900F]

Dbp;

I'd take a good hard look at the case mouths of the two different brands of ammo. I do believe that the .380 headspaces on the case mouth, and any reloader of it should be using a taper crimp. However, perhaps you'll notice that your carry ammo is crimped more than the practice ammo. Therefore the practice ammo would have more of an exposed lip to bugger up the feed process. Not sayin' that's the problem, but it could be.

900F

 

[dbp]

Dbp;

I'd take a good hard look at the case mouths of the two different brands of ammo. I do believe that the .380 headspaces on the case mouth, and any reloader of it should be using a taper crimp. However, perhaps you'll notice that your carry ammo is crimped more than the practice ammo. Therefore the practice ammo would have more of an exposed lip to bugger up the feed process. Not sayin' that's the problem, but it could be.

900F

I picked up some Magtech today and will test tomorrow. It would be great if it was just the ammo that was the problem.

 

[Zerodefect]

Try +p Corbon Powerball. Yeah, mine chokes on weaker plinking ammo.

 

[PabloJ]

Just got a P380 last week and took it to the range straight from the box with no clean or lube. Shot great with one failure to feed in 50 rounds. Took it home and cleaned thoroughly. Went back to range today using same ammo and had failures to feed on every magazine. Out of 50 rounds probably had FTF 10 times. Maybe I shouldn't have cleaned it .

BTW - first mag I shot was my carry ammo -- Buffalo Bore 80gr +P JHP and it shot flawlessly. Then went to practice ammo and nothing but problems. I feel good that the Buff Bore shot well, but that is pretty expensive to put a few hundred rounds down range to test reliability.

My practice ammo is reload from Freedom Munitions. My question is why would first 50 rounds be relatively problem free and a week later with same ammo I get crap for results?

Any ideas?

Thanks

You should have stopped after 50 rounds not clean the gun load defensive ammo and carry the gun. Why all this practice ammo are you going to miss center of chest at 10 paces or less?

 

[Warp]

You should have stopped after 50 rounds not clean the gun load defensive ammo and carry the gun. Why all this practice ammo are you going to miss center of chest at 10 paces or less?

This post ^ is some of the worst advice I have seen on THR

Why the heck would a person get a new gun, fire a mere 50 rounds, have a failure in those 50 rounds, load it with ammo that has only been run for a single magazine, and then carry it?

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Yeah I don't get that logic either.

OP, all banter aside, if it were me, I'd put a minimum of 400 more rounds through it before making a decision or carrying it. It isn't even close to broken in yet.

Use factory new ammo. If it's still malfunctioning, contact Kahr or ditch it. JMO.

 

[Tomac]

On my wife's P380 we did the suggested prep work prior to firing (clean, lube, manually cycle the action 200 times and/or leave the slide locked back overnight).
Couple of hundred rds later it's been 100%.
Tomac

 

[dbp]

Yeah I don't get that logic either.

OP, all banter aside, if it were me, I'd put a minimum of 400 more rounds through it before making a decision or carrying it. It isn't even close to broken in yet.

Use factory new ammo. If it's still malfunctioning, contact Kahr or ditch it. JMO.

Yeah, I intend to put several hundred more rounds through it and I think it will be fine. I am now able to find factory new ammo at fairly reasonable prices and will use that. If the gun does need tweaking, Kahr will take care of it. I'm not worried, I know I will have a fine little pocket pistol soon.

BTW, I am not using the P380 for EDC until proven-- that distinction belongs to my Glock 26.