yhtomit
Member
Today I finally fired two different pistols for the first time, though they were purchased some months apart: 1) A Ruger P345 that I bought more than a year ago (I know it sounds strange, but having moved a few times, started grad school, shuffled belongings around different cities in different states, this was the first time I fired it -- and I bought it last April 15 in El Paso). 2) The Springfield XD-45 I bought last week. I bought 100 rounds of Winchester white box .45 from Walmart (the clerk was *incensed* that as of Monday, that Walmart will join the gun-free ones), and fired 50 rounds through each. I know to some on this forum, 100 rounds is what you do before breakfast, but my callouses are just getting started, so bear with me.
Now, as to what went "wrong" (in the subject line), I want to be clear: both guns fed flawlessly, and I had no failures to fire. However, I wanted to fire with the magazine removed on the XD (the Ruger has a magazine disconnect), so see how the recoil differed with the resulting different weight distribution.
Upshot: it *felt* fine, but the brass failed to eject, leaving a smoking shell stovepiped in the ejection port. After the first one, I thought perhaps I had limpwristed, and after clearing it by racking the slide, I again loaded a single cartridge and released the magazine. I was careful to hold the gun firm, but the same thing happened. I experienced no other failures to eject from either gun, which was making me pretty happy, and I guess that's what I get for feeling smug.
Fluke? Something I should do differently when firing it with the magazine removed? Guesses? I appreciate anything you can suggest, particularly if you use language that a perpetual newbie can understand.
Cheers,
timothy
p.s. Was firing at one of the no-fee, tax-funded Pennsylvania State Game Lands ranges; a pleasant enough place, but there was not a single intact target frame -- looks like someone had played shotgun there and turned them all to (mostly) tinder; a couple that was there before I did had brought their own frame, and I guess that's what I'll do when next I visit. Tragedy of the commons
Now, as to what went "wrong" (in the subject line), I want to be clear: both guns fed flawlessly, and I had no failures to fire. However, I wanted to fire with the magazine removed on the XD (the Ruger has a magazine disconnect), so see how the recoil differed with the resulting different weight distribution.
Upshot: it *felt* fine, but the brass failed to eject, leaving a smoking shell stovepiped in the ejection port. After the first one, I thought perhaps I had limpwristed, and after clearing it by racking the slide, I again loaded a single cartridge and released the magazine. I was careful to hold the gun firm, but the same thing happened. I experienced no other failures to eject from either gun, which was making me pretty happy, and I guess that's what I get for feeling smug.
Fluke? Something I should do differently when firing it with the magazine removed? Guesses? I appreciate anything you can suggest, particularly if you use language that a perpetual newbie can understand.
Cheers,
timothy
p.s. Was firing at one of the no-fee, tax-funded Pennsylvania State Game Lands ranges; a pleasant enough place, but there was not a single intact target frame -- looks like someone had played shotgun there and turned them all to (mostly) tinder; a couple that was there before I did had brought their own frame, and I guess that's what I'll do when next I visit. Tragedy of the commons
