*Why* Do Some Mfgers Make Their Chambers So Short?

[Edarnold]

Sure. You could do that if you want to load to the ragged edge. (With your IMproperly loaded ammo! Lol.)

Hey, while you're at it, have him ream it to 9x21, or 9x23!

The guns work the way they were intended to. If you want them to work differently from their intended spec, you'll have to change them.

Ah, I see what we have here is a Failure to Communicate.

Some European manufacturers ( CZ, Serbian XD, and Otisrush's Walther ), choose to optimize their barrels for something like NATO-spec RNFMJ. Perhaps there is a teensy improvement in accuracy when using that specific ammunition. So, any bullet that does not match the ' standard' contour must be loaded deeper into an already small powder space, because " The guns work the way they were intended to ", and that's that. However, Mr. Bds then chimes in with tales of third-party Lone Wolf and KKM barrels for his Glock, that have drastically different leades for the same purpose: shooting his hand loads. Seems to me I have seen postings about these barrel makers, stating that they will cut the leade to suit the purchasers load, rather than insisting that you have to adapt your ammunition to whatever they arbitrarily choose to ship. So, some people apparently don't accept that the manufacturer is always right, so "shut up and sit down if you don't like it."

While there may be some perverse pleasure in having to tailor a different bullet/COL/powder charge for different guns in the same caliber, I would find that a royal PITA. Unless someone can show me an actual real-world advantage to a too-short leade, I respectfully submit that such a barrel needs to be fixed, by lengthening the leade to accept the owner's choice of bullets, loaded to the CIP standard of 1.142".

Regarding my advocacy of " (I)mproperly loaded " "ragged-edge" handloads, part of the reason for +P+ loads for the 9x19 round is that there just isn't very much powder room in that short case. Compounding the problem is the need to make the commercial manufacturers loads work in pistols with short leades, which means that bullets such as the XTP have to be seated deep into the powder space. I have no use for overpressure +P+ loadings and will not use them in my pistols. Fortunately, since my guns have proper length leades, I don't need to resort to 'ragged-edge' loads to get the ballistics I desire. For an example, I refer you to the published Vitavouri load for the 115gr Hornaday XTP , over 6.1gr N340 powder, AT A COL OF 1.142". This is a normal pressure maximum load, out of a 4" barrel, equalling the velocity listed by several boutique ammo makers for their +P+ loadings.

Those who just punch paper with their guns will still look askance at such UN-natural, " durn fool is jest gonna blow hisself up! " ballistics. I consider my handguns to be first and foremost defense weapons, so any ballistic advantage I can safely provide by proper loading Is a plus.

 

[Sam1911]

I don't think there is any failure to communicate. All of that is ages-old, long understood common knowledge.

If you want to alter your gun barrels, do so. No harm, no foul. Not a question of "right" or "wrong." I've altered guns to fire wilder combinations than we're talking about here!

Of course, as my guns are primarily defensive tools, I don't put much value in ballistic advantages of a little more powder in the case. If it pleases you to shoot high vel 9mms at lower pressures, awesome! Enjoy.

 

[LiveLife]

Were it my gun, I would have a competent pistol smith ream that leade until it accepted properly loaded ammo.

Sure. You could do that if you want to load to the ragged edge. (With your IMproperly loaded ammo! Lol.)

Hey, while you're at it, have him ream it to 9x21, or 9x23!

I am with Sam1911 on this one. I don't think the OP or any other PPQ owners need to ream out their barrel. As already illustrated by the OP, I think proper component selection is the resolution.

Edarnold, similar frustration was expressed by XD45 owners when they found SWC bullets would not work reliably in their pistols (Due to shallow center slide rib that did not press on top of the round in magazine enough, extracting case rim would catch on the SWC shoulder). XD45, Glock 30 and many 1911 owners gave up trying to get SWC to work and simply changed bullet selection to RN profile bullets and MBC even sells bullets specific to XD45 owners called IDP #4-XD which "FEEDS LIKE BUTTER IN SPRINGFIELD XD" - http://www.missouribullet.com/results.php?pageNum_rsCWResults=3&category=5&secondary=13

Springfield subsequently addressed this issue by adding a deeper angled slide rib which pushes down on the top round in the magazine enough so extracting case rim will clear the SWC shoulder and called it "XDM" and XDM pistols will now work with SWC bullets.

When reloaders face these issues, they can certain modify their pistols but I think component change is a better solution especially when OP's pistol works with factory ammunition.

 

[LiveLife]

*Why* Do Some Mfgers Make Their Chambers So Short?

They have their reasons as G30 and many 1911s still won't reliably work with SWC bullets and XD/XDM owners need to load their rounds shorter than other pistols.

Sig 1911 barrel vs Lone Wolf barrel

My Sig 1911 barrel has very short leade/freebore (almost none) with very sharp start of rifling angle (see picture above with Sig 1911 barrel on the left compared to LW barrel on the right with longer leade and slower start of rifling angle - white arrow) but it will reliably feed various brand SWC bullets without issues.

As comparison picture below shows, factory PMC FMJ loaded to 1.255" and CCI FMJ at 1.270" will fully chamber in the Sig 1911 barrel but Berry's RN with rounder nose profile needs to be loaded shorter than 1.260" (more like 1.25" depending on resized case length variation).

With some bullets, shorter leade forces me to seat the bullet even shorter. When I was testing RMR's new HM bullets, I found the nose to be shorter/rounder which resulted in longer bullet base/bearing surface.

Berry's/X-Treme 230 gr RN compared to RMR HM 230 gr RN

While 1.230" fully chambered in barrels with longer leade like RIA 1911, I needed to seat the bullet deeper 1.200" to fully chamber in Sig 1911

Comparison picture showing RMR HM 230 gr RN seated to 1.200"/1.230" compared to factory PMC round