Monarch Steel Russian 9MM - Primer Problems

[Abraham]

A couple of days ago I got in some shooting practice with some Monarch Steel Russian 9MM 115 grain and out of 60 rounds. I had 7 failures of the primer to fire.

After making sure there wasn't going to be a delayed cook off after each primer failure, I'd keep pointing the pistol (Glock 19) down range at the target for 45 seconds or so. Having to do this quickly got old.

I had to wonder if my pistol had a problem or did I had an ammo problem?

So, I grabbed a box Federal ammo. I shot 50 rounds without a single problem. The problem isn't the pistol...

Now, I've used brass case Monarch ammo made in Serbia with no problems, but I won't buy anymore of this Russian steel garbage ammo. I'm stuck with 5 boxes and 1 partial box of this rubbish.

I bought this junk at Academy.

Any of you experienced this type of hard primer aggravation using this ammo?

Thanks!

[Seburiel]

I've used Russian Monarch (in 7.62) for years without an issue, but, again, it was rifle ammo.

[SigM4]

Did you try running the rounds through a second time? If so did any of the fire the second time around?

[Abraham]

SigM4,

I did and yes, they then fired.

[Nano]

I had to go back and look at my records but I shot 1 box of Monach 115 gr steel through my Nano with no problems.

[Abraham]

Nano,

Was it Russian?

Some, as I mentioned earlier is made in Serbia.

I had no problems at all with it.

[LTUME1978]

Abraham,

Federal has the softest primer on the market (and is the reason they come in the really big boxes vs other primers). Has your pistol had a trigger job? Some gunsmiths will alter/replace the striker/main spring to get a lighter pull. That affects the ability to reliably set off some primers. The competition shooters with the light triggers try to use nothing but Federal primers for that reason. If you have had no modifications made to your pistol, it may be time for a new striker/main spring.

[Abraham]

LTUME1978,

Thank you for the good advice.

The trigger was swapped out many, many rounds ago for an original Glock 3.5 and has no been a problem.

Let me add, I've shot Winchester White Box and other ammo amounting to (rough guess) 3500 or more rounds without a single hiccup, until the Monarch Russian ammo.

I could still have the problem you suggested, perhaps it's simply a recent development, but I'll try some WWB too, and whatever else I have in my safe, before I bring it to the gun smith.

And thanks again.

[CoffeeNut]

I recently ran a box of 50 of this stuff (can't beat the price) and I had a few failures to fire but since I was using a hammer fired gun I just pulled the trigger again and they all went off. I think I had 4 failures and all of them went bang the second time.

My Monarch steel cased stuff was Russian and the brass cased stuff I have is Serb.

[Abraham]

CoffeeNut,

So, I'm not alone with this experience.

Shame on me for buying this Russian ammo as I was in a hurry when I bought it and didn't adequately examine the printing on the box.

I foolishly thought I WAS buying Serb made, just in steel. Since I'd had good luck with the brass cartridge Serbian ammo, I assumed I'd have good luck with the steel cartridges too.

I didn't realize Monarch had different country mfgs...

Of course, I could still have the problem LTUME1978 suggested it may be.

We'll see, but since you ran into the same problem, it's more likely the primers are fairly hard.

I plan to shoot some more of this Russian ammo in another Glock 19 and see if I have the same failures.

[cajunautoxer]

Over the past couple if years I've gone thru 5k rounds of Wolf 9mm ammo. I'd say maybe 20ish failure to fire. For the price I ain't complaining. I just don't use them for matches just practice

[CoffeeNut]

Abraham,

I'd venture to say that the Russian primers are pretty hard especially since both of us had to hit them again for them to fire. The brass Monarch stuff I have has functioned flawlessly and I just checked it and it is all Serb (country of origin is on the bottom of the box for anyone wondering).

[bnc]

I've shot a few thousand of the Mondarch 9mm without issue, and plenty of 9x18 and rifle rounds as well. I do remember hearing a while back that ammmo from eastern Europe tends to have hard primers, but I don't remember if that was specific to surplus, commercial, a specific brand, or a combination of the above.

I never really bothered to check where each box came from since it has performed so well for me. But, as was stated, the name brand eastern European ammo can be made by a variety of manufacturers in different countries.

[FuziDave]

i've had the same experience too.

spent years shooting the brass and never had an issue.

bought 4 boxes of steel at Academy (since they had no brass). 6 failed to fire on the first try. 2 failed after the second try too. also, it happened in all 3 guns i was shooting that day.

[The Annoyed Man]

I appreciate that Russian ammo is inexpensive, and possibly reliable if you've got an Allis Chalmers....... er...... I mean AK. AndyC and I were at the range together Tuesday last week, and we shot what looked to me like rooskie ammo through both his AK and his FAL. Neither gun was terribly accurate, but neither was it terribly inaccurate. Good for "minute of man". Other than possibly some decreased accuracy, I don't recall any malfunctions due to the Russian ammo. We also shot some soft or hollowpoint hunting ammo through both weapons, but I don't actually recall whether accuracy actually improved or not. I have seen other shooters struggling a bunch of times with steel-cased Russian ammo in AR15s, with cases stuck in chambers and refusing to be dislodged. All of this has made my chary of using Russian ammo in anything except my 91/30.

But again, we're talking rifles, not pistols. I have shot steel cased Russian ammo in pistols a couple of times without any malfunctions, but as a general thing, I just avoid it. Their idea of quality control doesn't seem to coincide with mine.

My guess is that your pistol ammo had hard primers.....hard enough that if the striker didn't hit the primer with 100% of its available force every single time, it would fail to fire the times it didn't hit hard enough. That would explain why recycling them would result in a fired cartridge. Much can be written about the pros and cons of hard primers versus softer primers. I suspect that the state of Russian manufacturing and QC, and their overall design philosophy in firearms, both conspire to produce ammo with hard primers.

But that's just speculation on my part. I have no proof of it.