riceboy72
Member
As some of you know, I recently got my P229 back from Tripp Research after having the slide hard chromed. The pistol itself is strikingly beautiful and I want this to be daily carry pistol. Because of an overly busy work week, I had to ward off some serious pangs to get the pistol out but I finally ran some ammunition through it to see how it performed.
Last weekend, I was able to run 50 rounds of Sellier & Belloit .40 through it but had heavy disappointment from the first round. I had a failure to feed immediately, and had to push the slide into battery the rest of the way to get it to function. Thinking nothing of it, I fired my first shot and it did it again ... and again ... and again. Chalking it up to a bad magazine, I tried a brand new one I had brought with me, but alas, the problem wouldn't go away.
I had the range manager (a Sig aficionado) come out and run a few rounds through it, and he, too, had the same issues. We couldn't immediately figure out if it was ammunition related, so he hand cycled a magazine of Federal HST through and it swallowed and spit each round out with no issue. It took quite a bit of time to get through everything and I had to push the slide into battery more often than not, but I hit what I was aiming at so that was a plus. However, I couldn't get over the malfunctions I had encountered, and knew I had to get the pistol to be 100% reliable before it saw any time on my hip. I know this pistol is reliable because I had shot it with zero malfunctions prior to sending it to Tripp, so doubting the hard chrome even entered my mind. I left the range disappointed but determined.
I took it home and gave it a very thorough cleaning, using Hoppe's #9 and then Tetra Gun Grease to lube the pistol. Two days later, I grabbed a 100 count box of Winchester White Box and headed back to the range, eager to not have another repeat of what I described.
This time, not a single malfunction. To put it simply, it was awesome and I was very pleased with the way it ran. I tried several times to make it malfunction, but it kept eating, firing, and spitting everything sans failure. It did exactly what it needed to do, and it was a huge relief. I did have to play around with the POI to get it to hit properly, but overall, I'm love my P229 and would like to put at least 200 more rounds through it before I carry it daily. I want it to run like my Glocks and H&K's before it gets the nod, but so far, so good.
So I've yet to figure out why it wouldn't function. Bad ammunition the first time around? Not sure; I didn't buy a second box to see if it was the issue. Bullet profile? I can't say that's the case because the WWB also had a truncated profile, and I know of no FMJ that's ogive for me to try. Plus, it fed reliably pre-hard chrome. The hard chrome refinish? Perhaps, but I don't know for sure. What's important is that it functioned on every shot.
For those in the know, does hard chrome (or any refinishing, for that matter) affect performance whatsoever? Does it affect tolerances and fit to the point of where some 'break in' time is needed again? I was thinking this may be one of the issues I ran into, but I can't find much on it after doing a lot of searching.
Also, two of the older German magazines won't eject properly when fully loaded. They tend to eject partially from the pistol and stick. I took them apart, cleaned them, and made sure the springs were put in the right way, but it still does it. These magazines are used and I noticed they appear to have Wolff springs in them, so I'm not sure if that's the problem. My other two magazines have shorter springs (they look like factory) and they eject smoothly. I left the problem ones fully loaded for a week thinking the springs may need to be broken it, but they still won't properly eject. Any ideas?
And yes, I know a thread's just not fun without pictures, so here ya go. Not too bad, I'd say. 7 yards using a modern isosceles stance. When it's all said and done, I'll carry this in a Kramer belt scabbard, loaded with Federal HST 180 grain ammunition.
Last weekend, I was able to run 50 rounds of Sellier & Belloit .40 through it but had heavy disappointment from the first round. I had a failure to feed immediately, and had to push the slide into battery the rest of the way to get it to function. Thinking nothing of it, I fired my first shot and it did it again ... and again ... and again. Chalking it up to a bad magazine, I tried a brand new one I had brought with me, but alas, the problem wouldn't go away.
I had the range manager (a Sig aficionado) come out and run a few rounds through it, and he, too, had the same issues. We couldn't immediately figure out if it was ammunition related, so he hand cycled a magazine of Federal HST through and it swallowed and spit each round out with no issue. It took quite a bit of time to get through everything and I had to push the slide into battery more often than not, but I hit what I was aiming at so that was a plus. However, I couldn't get over the malfunctions I had encountered, and knew I had to get the pistol to be 100% reliable before it saw any time on my hip. I know this pistol is reliable because I had shot it with zero malfunctions prior to sending it to Tripp, so doubting the hard chrome even entered my mind. I left the range disappointed but determined.
I took it home and gave it a very thorough cleaning, using Hoppe's #9 and then Tetra Gun Grease to lube the pistol. Two days later, I grabbed a 100 count box of Winchester White Box and headed back to the range, eager to not have another repeat of what I described.
This time, not a single malfunction. To put it simply, it was awesome and I was very pleased with the way it ran. I tried several times to make it malfunction, but it kept eating, firing, and spitting everything sans failure. It did exactly what it needed to do, and it was a huge relief. I did have to play around with the POI to get it to hit properly, but overall, I'm love my P229 and would like to put at least 200 more rounds through it before I carry it daily. I want it to run like my Glocks and H&K's before it gets the nod, but so far, so good.
So I've yet to figure out why it wouldn't function. Bad ammunition the first time around? Not sure; I didn't buy a second box to see if it was the issue. Bullet profile? I can't say that's the case because the WWB also had a truncated profile, and I know of no FMJ that's ogive for me to try. Plus, it fed reliably pre-hard chrome. The hard chrome refinish? Perhaps, but I don't know for sure. What's important is that it functioned on every shot.
For those in the know, does hard chrome (or any refinishing, for that matter) affect performance whatsoever? Does it affect tolerances and fit to the point of where some 'break in' time is needed again? I was thinking this may be one of the issues I ran into, but I can't find much on it after doing a lot of searching.
Also, two of the older German magazines won't eject properly when fully loaded. They tend to eject partially from the pistol and stick. I took them apart, cleaned them, and made sure the springs were put in the right way, but it still does it. These magazines are used and I noticed they appear to have Wolff springs in them, so I'm not sure if that's the problem. My other two magazines have shorter springs (they look like factory) and they eject smoothly. I left the problem ones fully loaded for a week thinking the springs may need to be broken it, but they still won't properly eject. Any ideas?
And yes, I know a thread's just not fun without pictures, so here ya go. Not too bad, I'd say. 7 yards using a modern isosceles stance. When it's all said and done, I'll carry this in a Kramer belt scabbard, loaded with Federal HST 180 grain ammunition.
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