I bought a case of CCI Blazer aluminum cased 9mm 147gr FMJ. I took a 100 rounds to the range and was practicing some rapid fire two shots to the chest and one to head drills. I had a failure to eject around the 80th shot, functioned just fine for the last 20 rounds.

Has anybody else tried this ammunition in their 365, if so, have you experienced any similar malfunctions with it? This is my first malfunction with it out of 800 rounds fired, but it is the first time I shot aluminum cased ammunition in it.

I never pay much mind to an aluminum cased or steel cased failure(unless it’s a “commie” gun for steel).

That could be anything form quality control, powder charge, crappy case material etc.

I don’t have experience specifically with the 365 but do with lots of firearms and my guess is it’s ammo related.

Haven't used that ammo...but FWIW I've had no issues with 115gr Blazer Brass and 115gr WWB. July of '19 for my 365 build. No primer drag either, which is nice (and surprising).

I'd chalk this one up to the ammo, and a fluke at that. I had a CZ that "stovepiped" (failed to eject Blazer) aluminum four times in one box, but was 100% with brass.

I haven't used any aluminum yet in my 365, but I just got it back from SIG after sending it in for multiple Failures to Eject.

It started having the failures with some LE & Military FMJ training ammo from Remington.

Before, I called I tested several brands of FMJ and self-defense ammo and thought the problem had corrected itself.

Then the next trip - using a few other brands of FMJ, every magazine was having failures to eject. Shot one handed and even had my son shoot it as well. All with similar results - at least one FTE across multiple magazines.

I called up and sent it out on a Friday and got it back the next Friday saying they replaced the slide.

Went out to the range earlier this week and shot about 100 rounds of various brand FMJ and Self Defense ammo and it worked flawlessly, seemed a bit more accurate as well!

I shot what is considered lesser quality (dirty) ammunition through my early version P365 when I first got it. None of it caused a malfunction but it was all brass or nickle cased. I shot 250+ rds in the first session.

Thinking back I cannot recall any ammunition issues with the pistol but I tend to keep mine clean and well lubed. The slide sure gets hot on the little pistol. I wonder if that might contribute to the issue?

There seems to be a fair number of 365’s that are fine at the Get go and then start experiencing failures? Is there a specific cause? Does the extractor/extractor channel pick up gunk quicker then other guns? Do the mag springs wear quickly? Recoil spring in such a tiny gun wearing fast?

It just seems if something was out of spec or designed poorly it would exhibit from the get go. I wonder if it is individual maintenance habits or even products used.

Okay, I’m going to assume it’s the aluminum case ammunition till proven otherwise.

I've posted about this stoppage in the past but I'll mention it again. I was shooting a P226 .40 S&W and using Blazer aluminum 180 gr. In the middle of one mag I pulled the trigger and was surprised by the dead trigger caused by an OOB slide. A glance showed that a FTFeed occurred with the round wedged and angled with the rim below the breech face and the extractor, with the bullet nose partially wedged into the chamber "ceiling".

I cleared the stoppage and finished shooting the remaining rounds in the mag. I examined the rnd. and noticed some dings to the bullet and a tiny portion of the case mouth peeled back and the bullet appeared to show a tiny amount of set-back, confirmed by comparing the failed rnd. to the remaining rnds. in the box. The set-back didn't look extreme and so I decided to try it again and loaded it by itself into the mag. The same stoppage occurred again, with the bullet and case showing more damage and more set-back.

I continued my range session and when I finished up I collected the successfully fired cases, the failed round, and the remaining unfired rnds. and, once home, I spent the next couple hours T/Sing the issue.

I lined out the remaining unfired rnds. on a flat level surface and compared them to the failed rnd. and noticed a slight amount of variation in the bullet seating depths and thought perhaps that I had missed the set-back on the failed rnd. when I first loaded it in the mag, although I wasn't quite sure how that would induce the stoppage.

I broke out the digital calipers and started taking various measurements on each rnd. OAL, case length, and various case rim measurements.

Eventually I found the problem. The failed round had an OOS case rim thickness...it was thicker than either the fired cases rims or the unfired rnds. case rims, which prevented the round from sliding up behind the extractor and against the breech face. One single rnd. out of the factory box was OOS.

I documented the issue and included pics of my findings, and emailed Blazer. A CSR quickly replied, was apologetic and interested and asked me for the box Lot #, and after I provided it she confirmed that the box was several years old and it was a known issue that they had corrected years earlier. She thanked me again for my efforts and sent me a box of ammo.

One single OOS rnd. out of a box of 50.

I understand why you would want to ID the cause of the stoppage, but realistically, unless you are going to put the work into collecting all the needed info and post it here, I don't think you are going to determine the cause...and for a single stoppage it may not be worth the effort (I'm glad I did though). Now, if you start seeing consistent repeatable stoppages, you would definitely want to put more effort into that.

I have read too many issues with blazer ammo to worry about it. Id almost consider it a perfect range ammo as it guarantees a malfunction drill in every case ;p

Friends don't let friends shoot known substandard ammunition.

You almost have to expect these tiny locked-breach pistols to be finicky. If you can find a few loads that it really likes, just be happy with that. My Kahr PM9 won't reliably feed any of Federal's flagship Premium stuff, so I just stay away from it. It seems to like everything else I've tried.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Friends don't let friends shoot known substandard ammunition.

I shoot Blazer aluminum as training ammunition whenever I can lay hands on it. Over the years I have had various failures with it, and the most interesting was a 40 S&W case with no extractor groove (second from left below), but I occasionally encounter a dud round or other problem like the deformed bullet. I would never fret about a malfunction with the stuff.

On the other hand, premium quality ammunition is also subject to problems. The two 357 SIG rounds with deformed case shoulders were from an expensive box of Winchester Ranger SXT, so if you want to be absolutely, positively certain you will never have an ammunition-related malfunction, don’t shoot.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I shoot Blazer aluminum as training ammunition whenever I can lay hands on it. Over the years I have had various failures with it, and the most interesting was a 40 S&W case with no extractor groove (second from left below), but I occasionally encounter a dud round or other problem like the deformed bullet. I would never fret about a malfunction with the stuff.

On the other hand, premium quality ammunition is also subject to problems. The two 357 SIG rounds with deformed case shoulders were from an expensive box of Winchester Ranger SXT, so if you want to be absolutely, positively certain you will never have an ammunition-related malfunction, don’t shoot.

Completely agree. I wouldn't hesitate to use Blazer aluminum for training purposes.

When it comes to human efforts and manufacturing there is no such thing as perfection or 0% failure rates. It doesn't surprise me in the least that higher quality defensive ammunition may still have an occasional bad round that got through the QC process...but it's good to have confirmation of this.

Sigfreund, thanks for taking the time to post your experience on this subject and for the picture...all the more reason for shooters to inspect their ammo...and case gage defensive ammo before relying on it.

Blazer aluminum is cheap (but not necessarily cheaper) "blastin'" ammo and doesn't pretend to be anything else. And, really, that CZ was the first one that it gave any trouble. I've shot quite a bit of it in some other guns without problem. I did notice that the ejection even in those seemed a little weaker or less "vigorous." The weight of the case may have something to do with it. The trouble with ammo-related (and magazine-related) stoppages is that they decrease your confidence in the gun itself.