So took a new P320-M18 (cleaned and checked out) to the range. Used the same Blazer Brass and Winchester White Box 115gr ammo I’ve used without any issue.

I think I was on the 3rd mag (so about 50 rounds had already been fired) I first had a stove piped round that didn’t properly eject. Then a couple of rounds later I had a one make a “psssst” sound with a very small puff of white smoke from the ejection port, but the round didn’t fire.

After waiting about 30 seconds with the pistol pointed down range, I ejected the mag and then racked the slide and ejected the round. I had no other issues with the M18 and went through another 21 round mag.

Is this likely just a one-off issue with the ammo, or is there likely a problem with the striker or spring assembly? Since I’ve not had that kind of failure before, and it’s a new gun, just not clear whether it’s a forget and move on or I should call Sig on Monday.

Suggestions?

50 rds fired no problems.
Then a couple totally dissimilar "malfunctions".
Then, no further problems.

Until proven otherwise, I say it's ammo, especially the WWB. You didn't mention which ammo gave you the two problems. Was it both WWB? Or both Blazer Brass? Or one each?

There are no reasons to call SIG, until you're certain it's not the ammo.

Not sure. I probably should have looked at the stamp on the casing and seen. I used the last of 1000 rounds of the Blazer ammo which gave me no other problems previously. Opened a box of WWB to top off one mag and load another.

I was a little unsure about handling the cartridge with a partially set off primer. In the future, is it generally not a problem to handle?

quote:

I was a little unsure about handling the cartridge with a partially set off primer. In the future, is it generally not a problem to handle?

You got lucky...could have blown your head clean off! . Seriously, you did everything right...wait with the gun pointed down range for a bit to make sure it doesn't hang-fire, then rack the slide and get rid of it. Even if the round were too cook off outside the chamber, it's not going to do much (although I probably wouldn't want it cooking off in my hand...I'd probably let it lie on the ground a bit before I picked it up to be extra certain).

What you describe definitely sounds like bad ammo to me. I definitely wouldn't call Sig yet. Shoot it some more and see what happens. If the rest of the WWB continues to give you problems, try something else. That stuff is cheap crap.

Another vote for WWB. The problem with cheap ammo is that it shades the line of functionality so closely that it crosses over into disfunctionality more often than other ammo. WWB = Tula on a bad day.

Every time I find a discarded round of new ammo on the floor in my local indoor range, it's WWB. No exceptions.

I've been known to salvage what I can from the rounds.

The round that puffed smoke out of the port sounds like you had the primer go off, but the round did not fire likely because the flash hole was not drilled. Pull the bullet dump the powder and I bet you will see no flash hole in the bottom of the case.

If you don’t have a bullet puller, get one ( the inexpensive inertia pullers that look like a plastic hammer)

I know most of you do far more shooting then me.
I have shot a fair amount of wwb over the years and have never had any fail to fire.
Same with Blazer brass ammo.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
You got lucky...could have blown your head clean off! . Seriously, you did everything right...wait with the gun pointed down range for a bit to make sure it doesn't hang-fire, then rack the slide and get rid of it. Even if the round were too cook off outside the chamber, it's not going to do much (although I probably wouldn't want it cooking off in my hand...I'd probably let it lie on the ground a bit before I picked it up to be extra certain).

What you describe definitely sounds like bad ammo to me. I definitely wouldn't call Sig yet. Shoot it some more and see what happens. If the rest of the WWB continues to give you problems, try something else. That stuff is cheap crap.

Thanks. I have some Sig 124gr +P and some 124gr NATO. I’ll run a couple of boxes of that stuff next, so if happens again, I can call Sig and tell them it happened with their ammo.

quote:

Then a couple of rounds later I had a one make a “psssst” sound with a very small puff of white smoke from the ejection port, but the round didn’t fire.

I'm calling bad ammo. I think I remember a similar sound from a round of long-defunct American Ammunition (not Federal American Eagle; it was headstamped "A-MERC") that had had the primer in upside down. It also had little silvery particles resembling glitter. This was at least 20 years ago so my recollection is a little hazy. Anyway, if the primer made any noise at all, the gun did its job.

My CZ75b will function with any ammo except WWB. I can't get through a full magazine with it. I just have to use other ammo and everything's fine.

quote:

Originally posted by neil0311:
So took a new P320-M18 (cleaned and checked out) to the range. Used the same Blazer Brass and Winchester White Box 115gr ammo I’ve used without any issue.

I think I was on the 3rd mag (so about 50 rounds had already been fired) I first had a stove piped round that didn’t properly eject. Then a couple of rounds later I had a one make a “psssst” sound with a very small puff of white smoke from the ejection port, but the round didn’t fire.

After waiting about 30 seconds with the pistol pointed down range, I ejected the mag and then racked the slide and ejected the round. I had no other issues with the M18 and went through another 21 round mag.

Is this likely just a one-off issue with the ammo, or is there likely a problem with the striker or spring assembly? Since I’ve not had that kind of failure before, and it’s a new gun, just not clear whether it’s a forget and move on or I should call Sig on Monday.

Suggestions?

I'm going to stir the pot. I'm sorry I just can't resist.

That's interesting that your 320 didn't go bang when you wanted it to. Usually the problem with 320s is the exact opposite.

All kidding aside. As those above indicated, it's probably the ammo.

quote:

Originally posted by roboster2013:

I'm going to stir the pot. I'm sorry I just can't resist.

That's interesting that your 320 didn't go bang when you wanted it to. Usually the problem with 320s is the exact opposite.

All kidding aside. As those above indicated, it's probably the ammo.

Dooooh. Was tempted to hit the beaver tail with a hammer but thought it might scratch the nice new finish on the slide.

Ok, I might be starting a new sigforum flame war but it has to be said. Lol

People who badmouth Tula but will still shoot WWB blow my damn mind. I literally have bought and shot well over 5-10 thousand rounds a year of Tula for at least the last 5-10 years. It was almost as cheap as when I reloaded. Almost-ish.

In that time I have never had a squib. Ever. Hard primers sure but they always go bang if you haven’t gone too light springing.

Tell me again how your precious wonder gun is too wonderful to shoot steel but you will shoot ammo that puts out a puff of smoke and nothing more.

Russian ammo is better than WWB.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Ok, I might be starting a new sigforum flame war but it has to be said. Lol

People who badmouth Tula but will still shoot WWB blow my damn mind. I literally have bought and shot well over 5-10 thousand rounds a year of Tula for at least the last 5-10 years. It was almost as cheap as when I reloaded. Almost-ish.

In that time I have never had a squib. Ever. Hard primers sure but they always go bang if you haven’t gone too light springing.

Tell me again how your precious wonder gun is too wonderful to shoot steel but you will shoot ammo that puts out a puff of smoke and nothing more.

Russian ammo is better than WWB.

I know you’re not directing those comments at me directly, so I’m not being defensive, but I’ve never ranted against steel case ammo. I don’t use it, but mainly because the range I use doesn’t allow it.

As for WWB, it was all I could get about a 8-12 mo ago. Academy Sports got it and were still charging previous prices. So getting “range packs” of 500 rounds at my local store for $0.18/round was a good deal.

And to be transparent, that’s the only bad round I had in about 2000 rounds of WWB I bought. Ran it through my P365XL, my Glock 17, even my Taurus G3C…and no problems.

So this was the first potentially bad round. And I don’t even know for sure that it was WWB. Could have been the last of the Blazer Brass which also was fine (bought 1,000 rounds and ran fine).

I’ll play. While I agree it’s an ammo issue and WWB certainly is bulk cheap ammo I’ve had far better results with it vs Tula across the board.

In the last, say 20 years the ONLY problem I have ever had with WWB across many platforms was with with an early HS2000 (Springfield XD before Springfield) where the extractor didn’t like WWB rims. An extractor replacement fixed the issue.

That said Tula has been hit and miss quite a bit for me over the years, again across many platforms. Hell I had a batch of Tula 9mm that would not run reliably in ANYTHING. I mean it had issues in a couple Glock 17s, a couple Beretta 92s an HK, among others...so basically the most reliable semi auto platforms on the planet.

Tula, at least for me, works far better in rifle calibers.

Well I can’t speak for Tula rifle ammo but my experience has been just the opposite. Tula has given me one issue and one only. It won’t feed in Glock magpul mags. It binds up in anything that isn’t steel or steel lined magazines. That’s it.

I’m finishing up my last two cases that I bought before the prices went crazy. You name the gun platform I’ve got it and shot it in. Zero issues.

OP, not directed at you. WWB is notoriously bad. In times like this I would buy it too though.

For the price I would only buy Tula. I was regularly paying $123 a case. I never worried about getting all my brass back and with time involved it was a better deal, for me, than reloading.

Bottom line, it ain’t your gun that is the problem.

Ammunition as stated.

When the Sig 938 was 1st sold, I purchased one. The only ammunition that gave it problems was WWB.

quote:

Originally posted by gjgalligan:
I know most of you do far more shooting then me.
I have shot a fair amount of wwb over the years and have never had any fail to fire.
Same with Blazer brass ammo.

Prior history doesn't really matter much. Millions of rounds are produced and there is no way to determine the reliability stats.

WWB, however, has a history of various problems over the years as identified inn various forums. Blazer is an inexpensive round also. Not unusual to have more QC issues than premium stuff.

Any ammo can have QC problems. Probably more prevalent now with the high volumes being produced on the lines.

Rem-UMC is a decent inexpensive round and I bought 5,000 9mm 115 gr rounds a number of years ago. No problems. However, in one of our LGC NRA courses, a coach called me over regarding a student's Rem-UMC 9mm ammo. Boxes were open and on the bench. Two rounds sat lower than the others. I took them home with me and contacted Remington. The bullets were seated one-tenth of an inch too deep. Sent them to Remington and never heard back.


My vote goes with ammo, like the other posters here.

We really don't have enough information or facts to make any positive answers. The OP did do one thing wrong. He didn't pick up the bad rounds. I don't care if he pays by the hour for range time and it took another hour for him to feel safe, he needed to collect the rounds that didn't work. Worse, he didn't say he field stripped the gun and looked down the barrel. We don't know if the rounds really went off and just became slow moving duds. He's lucky one didn't lodge in his barrel. He didn't even collect the empties to be sure which ammo caused or was involved in the problem. Next time, he does need to do that. Because its a new gun he's pretty sure it wasn't fouling.

Of course it could be manufacturing debris moving around inside and some finally got to a position where it could cause trouble.

So back to basics. After every range problem, we need to collect some hard data. We need the misfires collected. Most of us don't have the patience to give ammo a second chance. I'd have bagged the remains of the ammo and carried it along. Broken down the bad rounds to see if they had powder. Punched out the primers and looked at them. I have an anvil that works really well with my collection of sledge hammers. I have a 30# that will flatten a primer to the thickness of a razor (usually with one good hit). I'd have been very interested to see if any powder remained in the case, but I assume its what caused the smoke. As stated earlier, I'd be very interested in seeing the flash hole. If there wasn't one, the anvil and sledge would make the case into a "good one".

I reload, so I don't mess around with the very cheapest factory ammo known to man. Time is too short for that. None of us have complete confidence that every round will go off. Its why we practice rack and clear drills. I like the suggestion above about the lack of a flash hole. Never seen one, but have heard about it.

So what did the OP do wrong? He trusted cheap ammo. He didn't preserve the evidence so we won't ever know. Then he came here asking us for answers and we didn't hear/see the problem as it occurred. Without the evidence, we can't give answers, so we all guessed.