Strange Failure to Fire

[Blindref757]

Took my new XDs9 to the range yesterday for it's breaking in. I fired approximately 30 rounds with it and it performed flawlessly. Then, I put in a magazine (7 shots), closed the slide lock and fired 2 shots. When I pulled the trigger the 3rd time, the gun didn't go Bang. I thought maybe I was short on the reset, so I completely released the trigger, and tried again to fire the gun...Nothing. I released my finger again...completely off the trigger, regripped, and pulled the trigger fully a 3rd time with and the gun didn't fire. I dropped the magazine and pulled the trigger and on the 4th pull, it fired. I then put the mag back in and the gun fired the remaining 4 shots with no problem. I ran about 100 more rounds through it and the issue never repeated itself. All of this was done with some cheap Monarch brass and WWB NATO ammo.

Any ideas what might cause this one time incident?

[rotor]

Hard primers? What do the casings look like after they have fired? Is there a good dent into the primer? I would bet this is an ammo problem and not a gun problem. Academy is selling Monarch now, made in Serbia. Cheap brass based 357 is what I bought. Goes bang and was available.

[03Lightningrocks]

Took my new XDs9 to the range yesterday for it's breaking in. I fired approximately 30 rounds with it and it performed flawlessly. Then, I put in a magazine (7 shots), closed the slide lock and fired 2 shots. When I pulled the trigger the 3rd time, the gun didn't go Bang. I thought maybe I was short on the reset, so I completely released the trigger, and tried again to fire the gun...Nothing. I released my finger again...completely off the trigger, regripped, and pulled the trigger fully a 3rd time with and the gun didn't fire. I dropped the magazine and pulled the trigger and on the 4th pull, it fired. I then put the mag back in and the gun fired the remaining 4 shots with no problem. I ran about 100 more rounds through it and the issue never repeated itself. All of this was done with some cheap Monarch brass and WWB NATO ammo.

Any ideas what might cause this one time incident?

It sounds like an ammo malfunction. Especially if all the FTF were with the same round in the weapon. I have had it happen a couple times over the years. Most modern factory ammo has a pretty low instance of primers not igniting, but it happens.

If it happens again, I would check to make sure the action had completely closed. My P380 did this with some Herters ammo a couple years back. The trigger would pull and it would say "click". But it wouldn't fire. There was a thread a few weeks ago discussing the issue with the Kahr CW 9 ... Same thing.

[AggieLCP]

I had this happen with my new xds9 a week ago. One time out of 120 rounds. There are some threads about light primer strikes over on the xdtalk forum.

Check your striker and channel to see if it is full of oil. Mine had some in it (the gun in general seemed over-lubed from the factory). I cleaned my striker and channel and am just waiting to give it another try.

You mentioned pulling the trigger on it a few times... did you re-cock the slide every time? Being a striker fired gun there isn't a second strike ability, so you have to re-cock the slide. Maybe I'm mis-understanding what you wrote, if I am I apologize.

[AggieLCP]

here is the link. http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/xd-s-discu ... rikes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm hoping my new gun doesn't have a problem too. Seems like some of the reports about the light strikes are caused by the gun not fully going into battery.

The primer mark on my round that failed to fire was in the center and seemed as deep as the rest. It fired the second time I loaded it up. I thought it must have just been a bad primer, but then I started reading about this issue that others were having too so now I don't know. I was shooting WWB btw.

[The Annoyed Man]

here is the link. http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/xd-s-discu ... rikes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm hoping my new gun doesn't have a problem too. Seems like some of the reports about the light strikes are caused by the gun not fully going into battery.

The primer mark on my round that failed to fire was in the center and seemed as deep as the rest. It fired the second time I loaded it up. I thought it must have just been a bad primer, but then I started reading about this issue that others were having too so now I don't know. I was shooting WWB btw.

If the dent from the primer strike on the failed round looked just like the other primer strikes, it likely wasn't the gun......it was probably the ammunition. When I broke in my XDS-45, I ran 125-130 rounds through it (I ran about 20-25 rounds through my XDM-45 the same day), and I did have a couple of failures to go into battery all the way, but no light primer strikes. I'm sure the failure to go into battery was due to the fact that I ran the XDS as is right out of the box, without any additional lube. It had a light coat of lube on it in the box, but when I finally stripped it for cleaning after firing it, it was a bit dry in there. I treated it to a FrogLube fluff and buff. I'm not worried.

[Blindref757]

I had this happen with my new xds9 a week ago. One time out of 120 rounds. There are some threads about light primer strikes over on the xdtalk forum.

Check your striker and channel to see if it is full of oil. Mine had some in it (the gun in general seemed over-lubed from the factory). I cleaned my striker and channel and am just waiting to give it another try.

You mentioned pulling the trigger on it a few times... did you re-cock the slide every time? Being a striker fired gun there isn't a second strike ability, so you have to re-cock the slide. Maybe I'm mis-understanding what you wrote, if I am I apologize.

The more I sit here and think about it, I think maybe that when I dropped the mag out, I may have pulled the slide back slightly to check and see if the round was there. Most likely, the gun went back into battery when I released the slide and the striker reset. I didn't get a look at the cartridge...there was a lot of brass on the floor.

I suspect that round #2 was a little light, and the gun didn't fully cycle. It had enough momentum to get the slide back and round #3 in the chamber, but possibly not enough to get the slide fully closed and locked.

I'll pay more attention if it ever happens again.

[The Annoyed Man]

The more I sit here and think about it, I think maybe that when I dropped the mag out, I may have pulled the slide back slightly to check and see if the round was there.

Why would you do that? If the breech is closed and there is a round in the chamber, the Loaded Chamber Indicator would be prominently and obviously raised just aft of the ejection port on the top of the slide. No need to do a "press check" to visually verify.

[Blindref757]

The more I sit here and think about it, I think maybe that when I dropped the mag out, I may have pulled the slide back slightly to check and see if the round was there.

Why would you do that? If the breech is closed and there is a round in the chamber, the Loaded Chamber Indicator would be prominently and obviously raised just aft of the ejection port on the top of the slide. No need to do a "press check" to visually verify.

Maybe because I'm pretty new to shooting (relatively speaking) and don't have a lot of experience with guns!

[AggieLCP]

Give us a range report next time you shoot the XDS and I will do the same. Hopefully after some more break-in and fresh ammo they will be 100%.

[MoJo]

The gun may have been slightly out of battery, releasing the magazine may have let the slide close completely. When you have a failure to fire do a "tap, rack" then try to fire the fresh round.

TAM loaded chamber indicators can lie. A visual press check is always proper. As is a visual empty chamber check when showing clear.

[The Annoyed Man]

The more I sit here and think about it, I think maybe that when I dropped the mag out, I may have pulled the slide back slightly to check and see if the round was there.

Why would you do that? If the breech is closed and there is a round in the chamber, the Loaded Chamber Indicator would be prominently and obviously raised just aft of the ejection port on the top of the slide. No need to do a "press check" to visually verify.

Maybe because I'm pretty new to shooting (relatively speaking) and don't have a lot of experience with guns!

I'm sorry.... I didn't mean that as a poke at you. It's just that the Loaded Chamber Indicator is one of the prominent safety features that makes the XD/XDM/XDS guns so attractive. Between that, the Striker Status Indicator (XD/XDM only), the grip safety, and the trigger safety, I am very impressed with the attention to safety detail in these guns. I just assumed that you were aware of the feature too, if you have one of these guns.

Here's a picture of it. As you can see, you wouldn't need to do a press check to confirm a loaded chamber. It's actually designed for tactile confirmation. I suppose it is possible that it could get stuck in the up position on any empty chamber, but there is no way it can get stuck in the down position on a loaded chamber, so it is a reliable safety indicator.

[Blindref757]

I wasn't offended and I always know that you have the best of intentions. I just am not a range rat and haven't been shooting my whole life. A failure of any kind would be new to me and I appreciate your feedback. I'm learning that gun failures require a little bit of problem solving, and when this event happened, I was hasty in my examination of the problem. Once it went back to working, I really didn't think much about it again until I got home. I do know about the chamber indicator...I have owned an XD sub now for about 2 years. The XDs is my 2nd xd. I wonder...if the slide were not completely forward and in battery, would the indicator be raised some or not at all? Might have to check that the next time I'm at the range. As always, I thank you for your input TAM!

[AggieLCP]

Ran 100 rounds through the XDS9 today, two different brands of ammo, zero issues.

[Abraham]

Just as a reminder: If you pull the trigger and the round doesn't go off - keep your pistol pointing downrange for at least 30 seconds because it might still off.

Plus: Glocks have LCI's too.