Thursday, March 26, 2009

Still feeding problems with the Para 9mm LTC

I took the LTC back out the range after its cleaning, feeling fairly good about the likelihood that it would feed the 124gr Speer hollowpoints.

No such luck.  In both the Para and Wilson brands, the first few rounds in the magazine are presented to the feed ramp almost horizontally and the hollow points run up against the base of the ramp and stick there.  The ball ammo, with its pointy ogive, toddles up the ramp and does fine.
As shots are fired and the ammo is expended, at a certain point the rounds are presented with a more nose-up attitude, which allows the hollow points to slide on up the feeding ramp.  The problem is the first three or four, which don't sit at the angle necessary for proper feeding.
I've tried loading one round less than capacity, but that doesn't fix it.  You have to be not less than three down in the mag before the nose tilts up enough to make a difference.  
I'm going to try some other hollow points, such as a box of Corbon 115gr solid copper DPX I found in the ammo locker, as well as some others with a more pointed nose if I can find them.
I'm not sure is this isn't a magazine problem as well, so might be consulting with Bill Wilson to get his input on it and any suggestions that he might have.  More to come.

2 comments:

mooray66 said...

My Para will not feed my federal premium personal defense loads. I contacted Para and their answer was send the gun back. This seems rather drastic to me. Did you find any home defense loads that fed OK?

Chaz said...

There are some loads that will feed in this gun, but the profile and ogive of the bullet has to be very close to ball for it to work. The Wilson magazines do better than the Para factory mags, too.