XD9 Tactical Reliability Problems - Help

[Gryff]

I recently received a Canyon Creek-customized XD9 Tactical to take over as my primary competition gun from my original Canyon Creek-customized XD9 Tactical. When I took the new one to the range the other day, I found that the gun would have a failure to fire on every 3rd or 4th round. I originally thought it was the match barrel in the new gun, but now circumstances have arisen that make me wonder if that is really the cause.

So, the details:

XD1 - An XD9 Tactical purchased in 2005 from Canyon Creek as one of their "Production Ready" pre-customized models. To date, the gun has about 13,000 rounds through it with a single failure-to-extract.
- Stock except for adjustable sights, trigger job, feed ramp polish, stainless steel guide rod.
- 16# Wolff 1911 recoil spring
- Mag springs were replaced last year with Wolff +5% 10-round mag springs

XD2 - An XD9 Tactical received this year and sent unfired to Canyon Creek for "Product Ready" customization.
- Stock except for adjustable sights, trigger job, feed ramp polish, stainless steel guide rod.
- KG Gun Kote Flat Gray coating on slide
- Pistol Gear Match Barrel fitted by Canyon Creek
- 16# Wilson 1911 recoil spring

Glock - A stock Glock 34 customized by me.
- Heinie rear sight/Dawson FO front sight
- Ghost 3.5# Rocket trigger kit

Ammo
- Commercially reloaded 9mm 124gr. FMJ. Mixed brass, good quality although close inspection of some of the rounds show that they have been reloaded (not absolutely perfectly straight case walls, but nothing excessive). I have fired 10,000 of these through XD1 with one single FTE.

Here is the sequence of events:

• August 2nd - Fired XD2 (including PG Match barrel) for first time. Every third or fourth round, the gun would not go fully into battery (slide sticking back about 1cm). Once in this position, the slide was nearly locked in place. I had to grab the top of the slide with my left hand, then slam my right hand into the back of the pistol grip to get the slide to cycle and eject the round in the chamber. After ejection, the round showed no visible damage or defects.

• Rounds that failed to load repeated the failure when I tried loading them again.
  
• Initially, I suspected the rounds, but these are the same that have worked flawlessly in XD1.
  
• While at the range, I removed the PG Match Barrel and tried chamber-checking the rounds by dropping into the barrel's chamber. All seemed to drop in smoothly and fully (including the ones that failed to load properly in the complete gun)

• August 3rd - Replaced the PG Match Barrel with the factory barrel in XD2 and used the gun at an IDPA match(using same ammo). Only 70 rounds fired that day, but no malfunctions.

• A fellow shooter at the match said that he had the same problem with a PG Match Barrel, and had to have them minutely bore out the chamber to get it to work reliably.

• August 8th - Went to range with my wife to practice competition shooting. I brought both XD1 and XD2. She brought the Glock. We both use the same ammo.

• She had about 6 FTFs due to light strikes over the course of 125 rounds. This same Glock has shot this ammo perfectly over the last year.
  
• XD2 (still with factory barrel) had five FTFs identical to August 2nd (out of 100 rounds fired that day).
  
• XD1 fired without problem all five rounds that were involved in the XD2's FTFs.

So here are my quandaries:

• Is it a problem with the ammo? It has worked perfectly in XD1, imperfectly in XD2 with match barrel, and mixed results in XD2 with factory barrel (flawless one day, problems the next). The ammo has worked without problems in the Glock until August 8th. Possibly this particular batch is bad?
  
• Is it a problem with XD2's Pistol Gear Match Barrel? Initially, I thought the chamber was too tight, but the problems surfaced again with the factory barrel on August 8th. PG has offered to bore out the barrel chamber free of charge, but I don't want to modify what is possibly a perfectly good match barrel if that is not the problem.
  
• Is it a problem with something in XD2? Could the KG Gun Kote cause tolerance problems? Could a problem recoil spring cause the described FTFs? I briefly noticed a slight hiccup in the smoothness of the slide racking process (which is not apparent in XD1), but I haven't tracked down the source of the issue yet.
  
• The only consistent thing here is that XD1 has worked perfectly throughout this issue.

If anyone has any suggestions for the source of the problem or how to further trouble-shoot the issue, please let me know.

Thanks,

Gryff

[X-NewYawker]

Sounds like the barrel, perhaps the angle of the feed ramp combining with some slightly out of true cases. Especially when the other person said they had similar problems with their PG barrel. I had factory barrel replaced with Bart-Sto match barrel and my XD-9 is the "try-out" gun for anyone that wants to shoot a gun when I'm at the range. Two weeks ago in one session 400 rounds from kids to women to adults til the gun was literally TOO HOT to hold onto, and no FTF or FTE.

[Gryff]

Sounds like the barrel, perhaps the angle of the feed ramp combining with some slightly out of true cases. Especially when the other person said they had similar problems with their PG barrel.

I, also, suspected the barrel. But Friday (August 8th) I started having similar problems with the XD2 while using it's SA factory barrel.

[walter]

you don't need to be a gune guy to figure it out... everything points to ammo

[Voo]

"commercially reloaded ammo"

ehh.. i would start there and try using something a little more reliable...factory winchester/blazer/remington..

also, if ur having failure to fire.. then im assuming it's going click and there's an indent on the primer face? dont discard those rounds.. try them in a gun that isn't modified..

springs wear out and/or get tweaked with and sometimes need to be replaced.. on your XD and glock, these are very easy to swap out... you can try looking at these things as well..

[X-NewYawker]

My first thought for the culprit was the "reloads" when he said SOME of them weren't straight walled -- dropping them into the chamber isn't the same angle as being stripped out of the mag and shoved up into the chamber.

Tight match chamber and crappy ammo = FTF

I agree -- try some legit factory ammo.

[Gryff]

also, if ur having failure to fire.. then im assuming it's going click and there's an indent on the primer face? dont discard those rounds.. try them in a gun that isn't modified.

No, no strikes on the primers. XD2 was slightly out of battery after chambering a "problem" round and therefore the striker would not release. I did try the problem rounds in XD1, and they fired fine.

On the Glock, several of the rounds had light strikes, but my wife has not had a problem with this ammo before.

springs wear out and/or get tweaked with and sometimes need to be replaced.. on your XD and glock, these are very easy to swap out... you can try looking at these things as well.

Regarding XD2, which is the problem gun, the weapon is brand new. I am going to try a different 16# recoil spring, though.

My first thought for the culprit was the "reloads" when he said SOME of them weren't straight walled -- dropping them into the chamber isn't the same angle as being stripped out of the mag and shoved up into the chamber.

Tight match chamber and crappy ammo = FTF

I agree -- try some legit factory ammo.

The reloads definitely aren't crappy. Remember, I have 10,000+ rounds from this vendor through XD1 with a single FTE. I'll try some factory ammo, but that won't solve the problem as a whole. I shoot 7000 to 9000 rounds a year, and I'm not rich, so factory ammo is out as a permanent solution (I pay $150/1000 for my ammo currently). I will be moving away from these commercial reloads once I get my reloading setup in place, but XD2 HAS to be made to work with reloads.

you don't need to be a gune guy to figure it out... everything points to ammo

Except the 9,999 error-free rounds of this ammo through XD1.

So the question in my mind is whether I just have a bad batch of reloads, or if there is a problem with both the match barrel as well as XD2's factory barrel. The frustrating thing is that the ammo works perfectly in XD1, so it makes it hard to just decide that the ammo is at fault.

[railroader]

Does your glock have a reduced power striker spring? I had one in my glock 17.. It worked fine for awhile then I started getting light primer strikes. I put the stock striker spring back in and everything is fine again.

[Gryff]

Does your glock have a reduced power striker spring? I had one in my glock 17.. It worked fine for awhile then I started getting light primer strikes. I put the stock striker spring back in and everything is fine again.

No. We had concerns about my wife's inconsistency of grip causing light strikes, so we kept the stock full-power striker spring in the gun.

[Voo]

dood..you said the gun is relatively new..? ehh.. try shooting more rounds through it.. As for reloads.. RELOADS are just that, reloads. Doesnt matter if you've fired one or 10000, reloads are still at least once fired ammo that may or may not have a high level of quality inspection associated with it.

Try shooting some regular, factory new ammo through your XD2. As you said, it's a new gun. These things happen and although Im not a big believer in breaking in a modern pistol, you at least need a better sample size to determine whats consistency going wrong.

Also, failure to fire isnt' the same as failure to go into battery. They mean different things. With your XD2, the failure to go into battery can be indicative of your recoil spring being to light. But if it's factory new, unmodded, then it should provide enough oomph to cycle your ammo fine. Out of battery can also mean funky extractor, magazine, or ammo. Again, the easiest culprit to eliminate would seem to be your source of ammo. (i just reread that you have an aftermarket barrel.. ehh another possible source of malfunction-out of spec chamber dimensions)

As for your glock, your wife's grip has NOTHING to do with light strikes. Your wife's grip doesnt effect the impact of the striker, the act of hitting the bullet acts independently of how your wife grips it. There's no way to 'soften' the blow of the striker onto the primer face. If you had stove pipes or failure to extract/eject, then yes, your wife's grip might have something to do with it, but light strikes are due to hard primers, weak springs or out of battery conditions. The last condition is fairly dangerous.

You have a couple of variables here that make it more difficult to diagnose. Your use of an aftermarket barrel combined with reloaded ammo opens the possibilities of almost anything being wrong with the gun. You need to take some of these variables out in order to better determine what's really the cause. Otherwise, you're likely to just spin wheels trying all sorts of things when one or both these items are giving you problems.

good luck.

[3GunFunShooter]

Gryff,
I read some where, on Brian's Forum?, that Rich said to keep the factory recoil spring, and not use a lower weight one.
I'm still running mine with the factory one, after 4 years.

[AR-shogun]

Buy a M&P and sell the XD's

Well maybe at least have me take a look at the Glock for you.

[Gryff]

Okay...the ammo is definitely the source of the problem.

XD2 works fine with Winchester White Box (regardless of whether I have the factory barrel or the match barrel in it).

XD2 works fine with the reloaded ammo IF I use the factory barrel from XD1.

XD1 works fine with the reloaded ammo when using its original factory barrel, but exhibits the same occasional failure to go into battery when using the factory or match barrel from XD2.

So as far as I can tell, XD2's factory barrel has a tighter chamber than XD1's factory barrel. Not sure whether this is due to production variance's or that XD2 was produced two years after XD1. The match barrel in XD2 must have an even tighter chamber, since it jams more frequently.

The solution options (as I see it):

1. Use better ammo. Pros: it's work in the match barrel. Cons: the price increase may be so great that I can't afford it (currently paying $150/1000 rounds).

2. Have the match barrel reamed out to match the chamber size of XD1 factory barrel. Pros: Can stay with current ammo. Cons: lose some of the accuracy that is provided by the tighter tolerances.

3. Start reloading myself. Pros: ammo is less expensive, and I can control the quality of the ammo. Cons: expensive to startup plus there's a learning curve.

I would like to find a way to measure the three barrel chambers. Any suggestion on how to do this?

Thanks,

Jim