Failure to feed in 5 year old PM 9.

[DM123]

In recent years, my usual summertime carry gun is a pocket carry Kahr P380. For grins, I thought I'd practice with my PM 9 and carry it for a while.

The PM 9 has a Crimson Trace laser on it. I took the laser off as I'm not sure if the distraction is worth having. I seem to do just as well with just the stock iron sites.

Problem this year was about 1 out of 10 or so rounds would nose down, catching on the bottom of the feed ramp. I have my suspensions on what caused this. Ammo I was using when this problem happened was factory loaded Hornady 115 gr FTX (these are really short, 1.070 OAL). And my sub-sonic reloads I use in my 9 mm 8" barrel SBR, a Glock 19, Browning High Power, and others with 3.6 gr HP-38, 147 gr X-treme copper plated RN at 1.145 OAL

My wife also has a PM 9 that I can use to compare.

I'd like to get other opinions but here is what I think: I'm getting "long in the tooth" so to speak and my grip is not what it use to be. The last time I carried this gun I had a Hogue grip sleeve on it but had to cut out for the Crimson Trace laser button. The sleeve eventually split and fell off. I'm thinking I was inadvertently limp wristing when firing without the sleeve and laser.

This morning I put the laser back on and consciously held my grip tighter. I put 2-7 round mags and 2-6 round mags of factor loaded Speer RN jacketed without a hiccup. Recoil and muzzle flash were noticeably greater.

I went back to the notes in my reloading log and saw where my last loads were with Bullseye, a faster powder than HP-38. I just have all this HP 38 I bought with the shortage of supplies a few years ago and would like to use it up and not have gun specific ammo.

All this leads to a question. What reasons can cause the nose of a bullet to hang up on the bottom of the feed ramp?

[Ed M]

Might be weak mag springs too.

That's a really soft load, IMO. My reloads are 4.7 gr of HP38 with a OAL of 1.10". It's not too hot, but it's not wimpy either. I use Rainier JHP 124 gr hollowpoints in my 9mm reloads.

This load feeds and cycles well in all my 9mm weapons.

Maybe try shortening up the OAL a bit....

[Ikeo74]

Looking in Hodgdon's reloading data, I don't see h-38 listed for 9mm. Where did you get the load data from?

Edit: I did find HP-38 in 130 gr and lighter loads but not in 147 gr loads.

[DM123]

The primary purpose of this light load came from working up, or actually down a ladder for my AR 15 8" suppressed 9 mm short barrel rifle that I built last spring (yes I have the tax stamp from ATF). I used the following as a reference point that I copied in 2012 and put in my reloading data folder. http://www.reloadammo.com/9mloads.htm for HP 38. HP 38 is not really my preferred powder, I just have a lot of it and was hoping to get something sub-sonic in my SBR and still function in my other 9 mms as practice ammo. 3.6 grs HP 38 in my 9 mm SBR suppressed chronos at 950-1,000 fps with the above mentioned loads.

I dropped the slide down a long loaded round in my PM 9 before shooting it, as I do in all my guns, without powder and primer to see where the ogive hit the lands and made sure my loads were not against the lands.

Since I have 2 PM 9s, mine and my wife's, I have comparison data. I have not shot hers with these bullets. I'm pretty sure I was limp wristing a bit too.

I'll probably just load for the SBR, and mark them specifically for it, and load for the handguns with a bit more umphh.

I would still like to find a factory load instead of Hornady, to use for carry purposes. Anyone have a preferred ammo choice for their PM 9?

[Ed M]

I like this round for self defense. Shipping is like $11, but if you can get a friend to add in, it's still the same shipping price. This is for a box of 50, not those little 20 round boxes that sell for around the same price in gun shops...

https://www.targetsportsusa.com/federal-le-hst-9mm-ammo-124-grain-jhp-p9hst1-p-3546.aspx

[DM123]

Ed M: I'll buy a box and give them a try and use them for carry if reliable. Since you use them in a Kahr, seems worth the investment even if I have to pay shipping for a box. I saved the site you posted in my ammo folder. I want as close to 100% reliable in a carry gun as I can get.

Latest test (I have a chronograph set up in an equipment storage building beside our house): 3.7 gr Bullseye cycled every time in 2 magazines in PM 9 and run in SBR but at 1,051 to 1,080 fps in SBR suppressed. I tried 3.6 gr Bullseye and had 2 FTF with 7 round mag and 6/6 shot in 6 round mag in PM 9. 3.6 gr, even with Bullseye, is just not enough horsepower.

I'll probably give up on trying to find a practice load that works in all my 9s and my 9 mm SBR. 1,080 fps was still sub-sonic in my SBR but just so. A quick bit of math for speed of sound gave me 1,137 fps at 80 degrees and 1,087 fps at 32 degrees. I'd probably be OK in the summer but trans-sonic or super-sonic in winter in my SBR.

I scratched around on my bullet shelf and found about 150 Hornady 115 gr jacketed hollow point pulls I had hidden. These pull downs were the cause of a baffle strike in one of my cans. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be a cheap #@%.

I have loading data in my Lyman 50th Edition for 115 gr jacketed HP and Bullseye. I'll just load up a couple and try them, labeling them for guns not suppressed. I'll not go real heavy on the powder, at something like 4.5 grs Bullseye. The listed range is 3.5-4.8 gr. I'll try them and see. I'm not a big fan of Hornady pistol bullets and probably won't buy anymore.

[Ed M]

Sounds like a good plan.

I switched to HP-38 when the big ammo shortage happened a few years back. Bullseye was completely unavailable around here.

I started loading it at 4 gr, and tested a dozen rounds through my Beretta M9. This load was so underpowered that the ejected casings only flew a few feet up in the air, and hit my forehead on the way down.

Don't think those slow loads would have even cycled in a Kahr.

My buddies and I load plated bullets exclusively in 9mm. We've had good results with Berry's, Extreme, and Rainier. The Rainier hollowpoints have given me the best accuracy in my 9mm's, and they're pretty inexpensive compared to jacketed bullets. They go through my Hornady dies like poop through a goose too. Just gotta flare the case mouth a bit more so the plating doesn't get damaged.

[Ikeo74]

My bullet of choice for a self defense load is 124 grain Gold Dot. You can buy components or buy loaded ammo. In my estimation the best bullet available. Regular loads or short barrel ammo gives you 2 choices. Short barrel has a deeper hollow point for quicker expansion at lower velocities. Either one works for me.