Blazer .45acp and Brand new Kimber issues

[BT8850]

Had an interesting experience with a brand new Kimber today. Factory mag, First time shooting it, first round jammed up like this, the rest shot fine. Second mag, also Kimber factory, first round did the same, rest shot fine. The third is a round that's been chambered and unloaded several times and the bullet pushed back in just like the others. Thoughts? I think maybe the lot of bullets are loaded loose.

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[BT8850]

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[BT8850]

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[The_Shadow]

Yes that is definitely a bullet set back...are you capable of pulling them and reseating these?  Someone who handloads can rework them.  If you have others not chambered you could take measurement of their original lengths to match back to that spec.
If it were me I would pull them down and study them for powder charge weights and try and identify the type powder being used. 

Good luck getting things to run right!

[BT8850]

Alright, So I was taking a look at them this evening with my caliper (a cheap one, take it for what you will), and this is what I found. Measured 15 of the remaining Blazer rounds and found all but one to be 1.264-1.268 Over all length. The one that wasn't measured 1.257. So I took this round and chambered it in the Kimber by pulling back the slide and letting it slam the round in, to see what it would do. When I kicked it back out and measured it it had fallen to nearly 1.230. I repeated the process and it was down below 1.190, making it look like the three rounds I pictured above.

So I took a round that measured in the 1.264-1.268 range and it sank to the 1.190 range with 4 cycles through the gun. Now, I took another box of shells, Winchester white box walmart special 230g fmj's, and tried the same process and the bullet barely moved, and that "movement" may just be the caliper being cheap and giving an inconsistent reading but idk.

In looking at the Winchester rounds vs. Blazer, the Winchester looks to have a tighter crimp and when measured the case mouth Is between .465-.468 on the Winchester where as the Blazer I haven't found one with a case mouth less than .470.

I don't know much about loading and case measurements and my equipment is not high dollar but it seems as though the Blazer may not be tight enough on the bullet for the gun. Sadly I do not have another .45 to try them in to see what happens. Although, In typing this it makes me think if the bullets were too loose, the rounds would give trouble through the entire magazine and not just the first round?

[The_Shadow]

Your are probably right the rounds were not tight enough to begin with, could be smaller diameter bullets or more likely brass was not sized small enough to hold the bullets firmly.  Max COL is 1.2700" for the 45ACP but can be loaded shorter.

Side Note; I hope you didn't do this...Do Not place a round in the chamber and let the slide close to battery on it, that can damage you extractor.  It is safer to feed all rounds from the magazine so the brass, ejection rim slides up the breech face as it goes into battery.  If you bent the extractor or changed its geometry by letting it jump over the ejection rim, you may need to see a gunsmith to adjust the extractor to the right tolerance.

If you can't return the Blazer ammo do you have anyone you know who handloads that may be able to remake those rounds for you?  If you were close by I would help you fix them.

[BT8850]

Hopefully so and it's nothing with the gun. We're going to try and shoot some of the Winchester this week and see what it does. I have an uncle that hand loads, I may see what he can do about pulling them and putting them back together properly. Thanks for the offer though, definitely would be a long trip down to LA!

Also, I should have been more clear, when I was chambering and cycling the rounds earlier I was putting on in the magazine, inserting the mag with slide closed and then racking the slide back and letting it go forward picking up and chambering the round. I apologize for the murky explanation. Also, safety first, I was outside, pointed at the ground, etc etc.

I'll let ya know what comes of the situation!

[The_Shadow]

That's cool, some guns the extractor can jump over the case rim without issue, but it is best to cycle from the magazine.
It was probably an assumption on my part about the chambering, glad you cleared that up.
Good luck!

[BT8850]

Took the Kimber out tonight and did little shooting. First up was the Winchester whitebox 230g FMJ from walmart. Shot 4, 3shot strings and everything went without a hitch and I did some of the best first-time-shooting-the-gun shooting (gun belongs to my brother, he's the one that experienced the bullet set back issues) ever. Fired standing at 10yards. Not too bad.

Then I shot just a 3 round and 4 round string of BVAC 230g copper plated hollow points. First shot 3 rounds no prob. 1st round of second string the slide did not close all the way and kind of locked up, took a LOT of force to get it open and kick out the live shell. Once out I had a look at it and the bullet was seated right where it should be, just a nice ding in the bullet itself. Put it back in the mag, racked the slide and shot all 4 with no problem except either lesser shooting on my part or lesser quality ammo. I have seen a few videos on YouTube where there have been a few unhappy customers with the BVAC .45acp ammo in Prograde brass.

I don't know what to think. Perhaps the gun just needs broken in or the ramp polished up a little bit for smoother feeding.

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[BT8850]

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[BT8850]

I really wish I could have done more shooting but the range is "closed" at dusk, which comes way too early on the east coast. Orange dot is 1.5inches diameter for reference.