My new Browning BDM 9mm, first trip to the range. Questions....

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WonderNine

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Well, I finally got a chance to take my new Browning BDM out to the range yesterday. It's a little over eleven years old, but has never been fired. I fired about 4 different types of 9mm loads, 400 or so total. Overall, I'm happy, but I had a couple of issues, I'm not sure whether it's related to "new gun" issues or not. I used a liberal amount of Break Free CLP on the recoil spring/slide/internals about a week before yesterday, so it was well lubricated.

The loads I fired were about 75 Federal American Eagle 115gr., 250 HirtinBirger NATO 9mm 124gr. (manufactored 1991), 50 Remington Golden Saber +P 115 or 124gr. (can't remember but I think 115gr.) and about 50 Winchester Ranger SXT +P+ 127gr. (LEO ammo)

Let me first say that the Hirtinberger ammo is VERY VERY HOT. Noticably quite a bit hotter than even the Winchester Ranger +P+. Heavy recoil and energy in the range of 500ft/pd's and then some.


The Problems:

I had one FTE with a Remington GS +P. The shell case was stuck between the slide and the barrel, it was easy to clear with a rack of the slide.

I had numerous FTF with the Hirtinberger NATO and one FTF with a Remington Golden Saber +P.

I am not happy with the positioning of the safety as the slide release is almost in the same spot. Many times while reloading and disengaging the slide catch I found that the gun was now on safe and would not fire.

A couple of times the slide did not move completely forward, I'm not sure if that had something to do with the safety accidently being being partially engaged during firing.

The Solution:

I noticed that towards the end all of the Hirtinberger rounds were going off everytime. In fact the last hundred went off on the first pull, and when I was conciously watching to make sure I wasn't engaging the safety all went well. Perhaps it was just an issue of the firing pin tube wearing smooth?

The Remington that failed to fire on the first shot was one of the last ones I fired though. :(

I'm looking into getting a heavier hammer spring if this is even possible. I understand that BDM's are out of production so I don't know where I'd get special order parts....

All the 15 round and ten round mags worked great.

Update: Two more things I wanted to mention.

The gun does shoot a little low, but I guess this is normal.

And I plan on finding a different safety. One that isn't always in the way. If this is not possible, then I may decide to cut the safety in half.

Also, I'm not completely sure of the Remington FTF, maybe I was just remembering the FTE.
 
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Yeah.

Your gun is new, and it needs to be shot, and cleaned, and shot some more so that it breaks in before you can accurately assess if you have reliability problems or not.

You'll need to put, at a minimum, several hundred rounds through it.

Take it shooting a couple more times, and if it's still doing it by the time you get to 500-600 rounds, then you'll need to start thinking about remedial solutions.
 
UPDATE:

I had noticed when first bought them that the primer on the Hirtinberger ammo is slightly recessed into the cartridge case for some reason. I was worried about reliability issues, but completely forgot about it until just yesterday.


I believe this is subgun ammo, but I am not sure. I also do not know if this is normal for subgun ammo.

I am now virtually certain that this is the reason as to why some bullets were not going off on the first or even second strike.

However I'm still curious as to why towards the end virtually all of the Hirtinberger ammo was going off on the first pull.

All of the other ammo (all with normal primers) always went off on the first pull.
 
I don't have a BDM, but I do have a couple of HP's.

As mentioned above, don't get upset or start planning on fixes until you have a good 500 rounds through the gun.

I use CLP on everything too, however, I have never liked it on slide rails where I was going to shoot more than 100 rounds at the range. I use a little (very little) teflon grease. Not going back into battery (closing the slide) may mean the slide is binding a bit due to newness. I have also seen new guns produce a surprising about of metal flakes in the first hundred rounds and these will impede smooth operation of the gun.

Before I fire a new gun I always take em apart and the firing pin is an area that always can use some clean up. If the thing is 11 years old and the firing pin has never been cleaned or lubed all kinds of stuff can be in there. I bought a 1989 MKIII HP and the firing pin had this strange sort of whiteish stuff on it.

You might also want to look for a Buffertech shok buffer for your BDM. I don't know if they are very close to the same as a HP but the shok buffer will help tame those hot rounds and reduce some of the wear on your gun.

Let us know how it breaks in and what you find as you shoot it more.
 
I did check into a buffer for the BDM and aparently they do not make one. They don't have one listed on their website, and I have emailed them three times inquiring about one and have yet to recieve a response, but I did order one for a Browning Hipower, I'm going to see if that will work.

I'll post another update next time I get to the range.
 
Good advice...The BDM will have very little to NO aftermarket support. Finding another safety could be a challenge....more than likely for a good gun smith. Anyway...Id do as recommended. Clean the snot out of your gun...take it to the range with some Speer Gold Dots and Blazer. Speer uses primers similar to the Berdans on NATO rnds and will test the FTF or lack of, ability of the gun adequately. Fun a couple of hundred more rnds thru it...clean it and then a little more.
After all is said and done....let us know how the little Browning fairs....Shoot well
 
Funny, I just saw a new BDM today in the store. 10 round mags though.

Mine was used when I bought it. The durn thing was so filthy it wouldn`t accept loaded mags. It didn`t look it but it was. The mags wouldn`t click in. I soaked it overnight and brushed it out. Shoots great with no problems.
 
Hirtenberger ammo

You might want to be careful. There is some ammo which is primarily for subguns, and the pressures are a LOT higher. IIRC, they use rifle primers as well, so harder to ignite?

Burt
 
I have a BDM. Like you, I find the safety very annoying. It was apparently designed to make range masters training recruits at LEO agencies happy. The designer envisioned locking slide back, loading weapon, and then pushing down on the safety to both release the slide and safe the gun. In other words, a gun for dummies.

I do not believe that you will find any alternative safeties. I shoot my BDM in the revolver mode so I never need to use the safety/hammer drop/slide release. It is a lot less annoying that way.

I have never had a failure to fire on my BDM. I suspect that the ammo is the problem.

The only after market items I have found for the BDM are springs at Wolff ( www.gunsprings.com).

Regards-conwic
 
I have had my BDM for nine years and I have run several hundred various factory loads plus over a thousand of my reloads through it without any problems EXCEPT while at a gun show, I picked up several k boxes of primers for each round I reload, In the stack of small pistol boxes a single k box of small pistol magnums found it's way in and I did not notice this until much later. I tried to trade this box of primers with my local gunsmith I frequent. He told me to use them, just drop 10% less powder with the magnum primers. He had never steered me wrong in the many years I have known him so I did load a hundred for effect. At the range, the BDM was spitting the cases almost straight up an I had a stovepipe stoppage within 10 rounds. That was the end of that. So my advise, don't try that.
 
I have had my BDM for nine years and I have run several hundred various factory loads plus over a thousand of my reloads through it without any problems EXCEPT while at a gun show, I picked up several k boxes of primers for each round I reload, In the stack of small pistol boxes a single k box of small pistol magnums found it's way in and I did not notice this until much later. I tried to trade this box of primers with my local gunsmith I frequent. He told me to use them, just drop 10% less powder with the magnum primers. He had never steered me wrong in the many years I have known him so I did load a hundred for effect. At the range, the BDM was spitting the cases almost straight up an I had a stovepipe stoppage within 10 rounds. That was the end of that. My advise, don't try that.
 
I have an older model BDM, I have met the Chec that designed it, I have put "THOUSANDS" of rounds through it in simulated "stress" simulation training and "no sight firing" exercises.
The only problem I've ever had is running crappy French low powder rounds, I also had to replace the recoil spring. (once, five years ago)
I bought one for my Nephew, his wife, and a friend of mine in law enforcement.
"Runs like a Singer sewing machine" says a friend of mine. (Yes he is FBI)
Good times, easy to conceal, 15 rounds of love, and metal.
D
 
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