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I made it out to the range last weekend. I ran through the last of the federal loads I had for my llama and then loaded it with the monarch ammo that I just found. When I fired the first round it sounded more like a .22 and there really was no recoil to speak of. I saw the hole in the paper, so I knew the round cleared the barrel, and a bit concerned, squeezed the trigger again. *click*

I waited (in retrospect probably not long enough) then cleared the round from the chamber. There was no mark from the firing pin (?), so I stripped the pistol and looked for anything that might stand out as wrong. Nothing - reassembled, reloaded, fire again. Again sounds like a 22 and after a few rounds I get a failure to feed.

After a while, I was clearing another feed failure when I noticed granulated something inside the slide, but not the barrel. At this point I stopped firing the llama. I guess it was powder (?) but I wasn't sure. Kind of brownish-gold in color. I thought It might have been brass but I don't think so now; it was too large and rounded to be metal shavings.

Anyone had any experience with these loads? I haven't had any issues with 9mm FMJs from Monarch, so this was a bit of a let down.

Sorry you had those problems Drew. I shot a box of Monarch .380 FMJ's and half a box of JHP's, same caliber last month and didn't notice anything. The Govt. .380 digested them like the most expensive ammo out there.

Maybe a bad batch?

I've been shooting a lot of Monarch lately with no problems at all.

Could be a bad match then, I'll call Academy and see what they have to say.

I haven't shot any monarch .380 that I can remember, but I have shot a fair amount of it in .38 Special, 9mm, and .45 ACP. I've noticed that it leaves what I can only describe as some sort of granular ash behind, particularly on any surface that is below the muzzle or ejection port when it is being fired. For instance, if I have an open pistol case resting on the bench where I've been laying the gun down between shooting sessions, that granular stuff will be apparent all over the foam lining of the pistol case, and anything else nearby.

When I first bought my LCP, Monarch was all I could find and thus I shot a lot of it FMJ and some JHP. Once I shot some "real" .380 (especially quality JHP) through the gun, I could tell a difference in the recoil. The Monarch .380 I've shot all seems under powered compared to standard loads from Winchester, Remington, Federal and Hornady.

Not sure if this explains your problem. Could just be a bad batch. But might be something to consider. As I remember, those Llama .380s are on the large side of .380s with a heavy steel slide, so perhaps an underpowered round doesn't facilitate proper cycling??

austinrealtor wrote:When I first bought my LCP, Monarch was all I could find and thus I shot a lot of it FMJ and some JHP. Once I shot some "real" .380 (especially quality JHP) through the gun, I could tell a difference in the recoil. The Monarch .380 I've shot all seems under powered compared to standard loads from Winchester, Remington, Federal and Hornady.

Not sure if this explains your problem. Could just be a bad batch. But might be something to consider. As I remember, those Llama .380s are on the large side of .380s with a heavy steel slide, so perhaps an underpowered round doesn't facilitate proper cycling??

The spring is very stiff too and racking the slide can be difficult. Also, when the slide does not come back fully, I usually get a failure to feed when using JHPs- which is no doubt what was happening. I've heard monarchs were light loads, but every other brand I've fired in that pistol has been snappy, not laughable.

I'm still not sure how I ended up with the round with no firing pin imprint. My only guess is that after firing the first round another round was not chambered, and without thinking I racked the slide - then thought better of proceeding without checking everything out.