Fiocchi 45acp JHP Ammo Fail-UPDATE

[C-Money]

Found some Fiocchi 45acp JHP ammo for $20, figured I would buy a box. I loaded up a clip, and upon raking a round into the chamber, I had issues. The bullet went up the ramp and fed from the clip fine, but only went a small way into the barrel causing the gun to not close. I cleared the pistol, and tried to rack the next bullet and got the same result. I do not see any burrs on the ammo, and my pistol has ran a variety of ammo and brands just fine. First time trying Fiocchi pistol ammo. I have had great results with Fiocchi shotgun ammo & reloading primers, so I was surprised this happened with the pistol ammo. Google turned up the same story on a Glock forum where a person had the same problem with a P90. Guess I'll contact Fiocchi and see what they have to say...

[C-Money]

Ammo fits into the barrel just fine when pistol is stripped. Not sure why the pistol wont close with this ammo. Fiocchi has been very good, and has sent a fedex label to send it back. I sent it off, interested to see what they find. Could be my pistol just doesn't like this ammo. I have always had great luck with Fiocchi products, I shoot Fiocchi primers exclusively in my trap shooting ammo with perfect results. This is not a Fiocchi bashing thread.

[Troy S]

I was going to ask what you heard back from the manufacturer. Thanks for posting an update. I need to go dig in the basement because I may have a box or 2 of that ammo and now I’m curious.

[C-Money]

Curious to know what you find Troy S...

[birdshooter1189]

If the ammo fits into the barrel fine when stripped, it sounds to me like the issue is between the back of the cartridge and the extractor or the bolt face that prevents the bolt from closing over the back of the cartridge.  I'm currious to know what Fiocchi finds.

[C-Money]

Fiocchi emailed and they received the ammo today, and its off for testing.

[C-Money]

Here is the reply from Fiocchi. My pistol may need broke in more, or it just might be a picky eater... Top notch customer service from Fiocchi.

"I had some spare time this morning so I finally took your ammo down to the range, and along with our centerfire ballistician, we chambered and fired that ammo through 5 of our test pistols. These were a Smith and Wesson M&P, Glock 21, Sig 220, Springfield XD45, and a very well-broken in Kimber 1911.

 

Our results were the same for every pistol. The first thing we did was load a single round into a magazine for each pistol to check chamber function. This was tested by pulling back the slide and letting it go into battery under the full strength of the recoil spring. All 5 pistols chambered fine. We then loaded and fired 5-8 rounds through each pistol, checking chambering on loading each time. All test pistols chambered and fired all rounds satisfactorily. I paid extra attention to our S&W and Kimber test pistols as they are particularly well-used. Both functioned as they should.

 

I thought you would want to know these results, they are not scientific in any way and are meant to simulate real-world loading and shooting done by an average user of our product. Now, we did not have an HK test pistol, so the results don’t really say much about your particular issue. Our test pistols also have many rounds through them so its also possible your gun is new enough that it just needs more time to break in. I have found that to be particularly true for .45 caliber automatic pistols.

 

Best regards to you, stay safe and well in this crazy world."

[Special T]

C-Money
Ive never owned an H&K but i have played with several semi autos. Almost universally i have found that some fine grit sandpaper and or polishing have improved the function of  everyone i have worked on.  Perhaps you are not comfortable doing this, but i have found that sand paper when used by hand has  only improved the function of my firearms. I believe this was once normal in the fit and finish process before CNC machine manufacturing became the norm.

It is peculiar that it only seems to happen with this brand.