Ruger SR9c light strikes

[stantheman1976]

I ordered my SR9c back in April. I've only been able to take it out a few times so I haven't been able to put it through the paces as much as I'd like.

The first range trip right after I got it I shot roughly 150 rounds of mixed WWB and Federal bulk. The very first round in the gun was a light strike. This was WWB in the 17 round mag. Fired the rest and put that one back in and it went off. Fired the 10 round mag fine. Put the 17 rounds back in and one more light strike halfway through. WWB again. Shot about 100 more that day WWB and Federal fine.

Obviously the gun was packed with grease when I got it. I had stripped it and cleaned everything except the striker pin channel thoroughly so I attributed these 2 light strikes to a new gun not being cleaned properly. I had also over lubed the other parts so I'm sure that affected it.

I cleaned it again removing the striker mechanism this time. The next range trip was about another 150 rounds with no issues. Think I tried Federal, WWB, and Tula this time. Cleaned again waited for the next trip.

Yesterday I put about another 150 rounds through it. Used Tula, WWB, and Remington JHP's. About 100 rounds in I get one more light strike with Tula in the 17 round magazine. I finished the mag and put the round back in. It didn't go off but I THINK I forgot to put the magazine back in. I honestly don't remember. If I didn't then there's an obvious reason it didn't go off, the disconnect safety at work. Put the round in my LC9 and it fired.

So my dilemma is do I go ahead and sent it back right now or make another range trip and wait? I called Ruger today and of course they were extremely helpful and will gladly fix it. I just don't know if these failures would be considered acceptable considering they were only with cheap ammo. I carry the Remington JHP's and they fired fine. So what would you guys do in this situation?

 

[needmorecowbell]

I'd keep shooting it for a while and try different ammo, maybe other inexpensive stuff like PMC, American Eagle or BlazerBrass. My bet would be on it being an ammo problem and not the gun. If you hit 1,000 rounds are are still getting light strikes with different ammo then maybe I'd send it in.

 

[CornCod]

Tula ammo is good for practice, but you get an overly hard primer now and again.

 

[F-111 John]

Ruger SR9cs are notorious for having excess grease in the striker channel from the factory. Detail strip the slide assembly and clean out the striker and striker channel, reassemble, and try it at the range again.

Here's a decent YouTube video (not mine) on detail stripping the SR9 slide (SR9c is the same): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXVaO-xdECs

 

[marb4]

Cleaning the striker channel is the way to go. Make sure when you put it back together that you don't use much lube at all. In fact, none is probably the best.

In the thousands and thousands of 9mm rounds I've fired over the years I've had only two light strikes to date, one with an SR9c and one with a Glock 19. Both were with the TulAmmo which fired on the second strike.

If your striker channel is clean and you start having problems with non-TulAmmo you might consider contacting Ruger. Otherwise I would say keep shooting and see how it goes.

 

[TarDevil]

I just posted a thread two days ago with similar issues. I've had almost 1,000 trouble free rounds through my SR9c with no failures until last weekend and experienced one or two failures to fire with each magazine...all with WWB ammo. 900 of the previous 1,000 rounds were all with Federal ammo, so I'm very suspect of that WWB stuff. Nonetheless, I took the gun down yesterday and thoroughly cleaned the striker channel.

No more WWB in my gun.

 

[checkmyswag]

Clean out that striker channel. Either factory grease or possibly brass can get all up in there.

 

[stantheman1976]

The only reason I've been using WWB and Tula for target practice is that Wal Mart never has the Federal 100 packs when I go. I usually can only spend about $50 or less a time on ammo so I just go to Wal Mart and get what's cheapest. I am thinking I'll stop using Tula because it seems dirtier also. I'm going to search around and find Federal bulk. Wal Mart sells 100 for $20 when it's in stock.

I do clean the striker as well as I can but since the assembly doesn't come apart there's only so much you can do.

 

[stantheman1976]

I went out yesterday and shot another 150 rounds, mixing WWB, Federal, and Remington JHP and FMJ. I didn't have any problems. I'm fairly sure the light strike last weekend was just cheap ammo. I'm going to avoid TulAmmo for the most part from now on.