Howdy and welcome from E Texas. Poke around and you'll find some info on the itsy bitsy 1911's. I have an RIA BBR 3.10 which is fun, but kinda persnickety when it comes to mags and ammo. ymmv
Ronin EMP 3" Feed Issues
I picked up a new Ronin EMP 3" last night as a retirement gift to myself. I already have an Emissary .45 ACP 4.25" and a Ronin 10mm.
Went to the range today and fired off 100 rounds of MagTech FMJ, worked perfectly. Tried a box of Hornady Critical Defense next and the problems started.
9 rounds in the mag, released the slide and it did not fully seat the round. After that, the rounds started diving almost every round. Finished the box of 25 and called it a day.
I know 125 rounds is not a break-in and could be part of the problem with the Critical Defense, but with the high price of ammo, both range and defense ammo, I'm not going to keep shooting if there are issues with this and SA CS needs to get involved.
Anyone have any comments or suggestions? Thanks!
![Photograph Air gun Trigger Wood Gun barrel]()
Went to the range today and fired off 100 rounds of MagTech FMJ, worked perfectly. Tried a box of Hornady Critical Defense next and the problems started.
9 rounds in the mag, released the slide and it did not fully seat the round. After that, the rounds started diving almost every round. Finished the box of 25 and called it a day.
I know 125 rounds is not a break-in and could be part of the problem with the Critical Defense, but with the high price of ammo, both range and defense ammo, I'm not going to keep shooting if there are issues with this and SA CS needs to get involved.
Anyone have any comments or suggestions? Thanks!
1 - 20 of 25 Posts
I don’t want to sound biased or snobby but the only 3“ 1911 I would buy and possibly carry if it was the only gun I could own would be the Colt 3” Defender. It is just really hard to get the 1911 in that size to run properly. Having said that I would not buy a 3” 1911. But hey, if it is just for fun and you like it and don’t plan on it as your primary SD gun…. why not? The other option would be to get a really good gunsmith to try to make it reliable enough to trust your life on.
Wish I had known what I kinda know now.I don’t want to sound biased or snobby but the only 3“ 1911 I would buy and possibly carry if it was the only gun I could own would be the Colt 3” Defender. It is just really hard to get the 1911 in that size to run properly. Having said that I would not buy a 3” 1911. But hey, if it is just for fun and you like it and don’t plan on it as your primary SD gun…. why not? The other option would be to get a really good gunsmith to try to make it reliable enough to trust your life on.
Consider that the polymer tip is causing the feed issue. May be a break in issue.I picked up a new Ronin EMP 3" last night as a retirement gift to myself. I already have an Emissary .45 ACP 4.25" and a Ronin 10mm.
Went to the range today and fired off 100 rounds of MagTech FMJ, worked perfectly. Tried a box of Hornady Critical Defense next and the problems started.
9 rounds in the mag, released the slide and it did not fully seat the round. After that, the rounds started diving almost every round. Finished the box of 25 and called it a day.
I know 125 rounds is not a break-in and could be part of the problem with the Critical Defense, but with the high price of ammo, both range and defense ammo, I'm not going to keep shooting if there are issues with this and SA CS needs to get involved.
Anyone have any comments or suggestions? Thanks!
View attachment 631717
Try trimming some round such that the polymer is flush with the bullet.
Also. Disassemble and clean the new magazines. Could be storage oil or not assembled correctly. Inspect for burrs or any other issue.
Take a look around, there are a lot of posts on the EMPs having feed issues, some resolved by SA some not.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
I have a few short 1911's. The one I found reliable which i bought last year a S&W 1911 3" Pro Series. I also bought a Colt 1911 3" defender. The defender I had
trouble with the safety was very to put on and off also when shooting it the cases would eject all over the place and hitting me in the face several times. Traded it
back to the LGS that I bought it from.
trouble with the safety was very to put on and off also when shooting it the cases would eject all over the place and hitting me in the face several times. Traded it
back to the LGS that I bought it from.
I know it's not ideal, but I would try another brand of self defense ammo and let the magazines sit for a week fully loaded.
I fired another 150 rounds of FMJ today (total 250 FMJ to date) and then tried another 25 rounds of the Critical Defense. As before, all the FMJ was fine. There was an improvement with the Critical Defense. The first round from a full 9 round mag nose dived every time, but after that, the next round feed ok about half the time and the rest of the clip feed the last 6-7 rounds fine most of the time. I disassembled and cleaned the mag (only one came with it).Consider that the polymer tip is causing the feed issue. May be a break in issue.
Try trimming some round such that the polymer is flush with the bullet.
Also. Disassemble and clean the new magazines. Could be storage oil or not assembled correctly. Inspect for burrs or any other issue.
I will get another type of defensive ammo that doesn't have a polymer tip. I might try to dig out the polymer from one round and load it on the top to see if that makes a difference just so I know if the polymer is actually the problem.
Thanks for all the replies & comments.
I fired another 150 rounds of FMJ today (total 250 FMJ to date) and then tried another 25 rounds of the Critical Defense. As before, all the FMJ was fine. There was an improvement with the Critical Defense. The first round from a full 9 round mag nose dived every time, but after that, the next round feed ok about half the time and the rest of the clip feed the last 6-7 rounds fine most of the time. I disassembled and cleaned the mag (only one came with it).
It was suggested to try to trim the polymer. Since it is feeding the Critical Defense better than yesterday, I would have to do that to all the Critical Defense ammo. I think I will do it to one round and load it on the top to see if that makes a difference, but I think the best track to take would be another type of defensive ammo.
If any one has any recommendations for a 9mm defensive round that works well for them, I would appreciate the info so I can give it a try and see how it works in my EMP.
Thanks!
I fired another 150 rounds of FMJ today (total 250 FMJ to date) and then tried another 25 rounds of the Critical Defense. As before, all the FMJ was fine. There was an improvement with the Critical Defense. The first round from a full 9 round mag nose dived every time, but after that, the next round feed ok about half the time and the rest of the clip feed the last 6-7 rounds fine most of the time. I disassembled and cleaned the mag (only one came with it).
It was suggested to try to trim the polymer. Since it is feeding the Critical Defense better than yesterday, I would have to do that to all the Critical Defense ammo. I think I will do it to one round and load it on the top to see if that makes a difference, but I think the best track to take would be another type of defensive ammo.
If any one has any recommendations for a 9mm defensive round that works well for them, I would appreciate the info so I can give it a try and see how it works in my EMP.
Thanks!
I feel your pain, happened to me with my EMP Ronin 3. I sent it to Springfield. Here is what they did “The technician recut and polished the barrel ramp, reamed the chamber, tuned the extractor, tuned the slide stop for easier installation”. It worked flawlessly from a shooting standpoint but now…. It wouldn’t accept a fully loaded mag (9rds) if the slide was closed. If I forced it, it would lock the slide up. It should be at Springfield tomorrow for its second visit. Not happy but the CS Supervisor and I had a good discussion and I have options. My problem is, I love shooting the thing, it just works for me. So we will see?
I've had my 3" EMP since they first came out. The first thing I did when I got it was lightly polish the feed ramp and change the safety to a single side Novak. It has run perfectly with both 115 gr. ball, and 124 gr. HST, (my current carry load) along with everything else I have run thru it. I have found that Springfield was a little short in trying to get an extra round in the mag. It works much better loaded one round less, but my mags have gone to Log Man for his mod which makes everything work great.
If I were you I would try some HST, or another hollow point before sending yours back to the mother ship. They are great little carry pieces, and well worth getting them to run at 100%
If I were you I would try some HST, or another hollow point before sending yours back to the mother ship. They are great little carry pieces, and well worth getting them to run at 100%
If you're curious to know if the extractor is contributing to the problem, lock the slide open, remove the extractor, insert a fully loaded magazine, push down the slide stop to release the slide. If the first round chambers with no hesitation then the extractor needs some attention. It may have too much tension on it, deflection may be excessive, the hook-to-breechface distance may be too short, or the hook may be digging into the case.After that, the rounds started diving almost every round.
A simple diagnostic is to disassemble the magazine and use just the tube for the test. Remove the recoil spring assembly, barrel, and bushing from the slide. Remove the disconnector, and the mainspring housing assembly from the frame. Allow the hammer to flop down out of the way.It wouldn’t accept a fully loaded mag (9rds) if the slide was closed. If I forced it, it would lock the slide up.
Pull the slide fully to the rear. Seat the magazine tube in the pistol. Slowly move the slide forward to see if it hangs up anywhere in its travel forward. There may be a tidbit or two in this post that will be useful: Why is it so hard to seat the magazine and how do I fix it?
Hey, you live and learn. Right? If you don’t trust it just don’t use it as a primary carry. No reason you can’t shoot it with FMJ and enjoy it as a range gun. Or if you do decide to carry it on occasion remember to keep it loaded with the ammo it runs well with.Wish I had known what I kinda know now.
You will here a lot of opinions on carrying FMJ as a defensive ammo and there are legitimate reasons for it. But that is all that people carried for a lot of years (many still do) before modern day SD ammo came along some years ago.
Just buy really good quality FMJ ammo for carry not range stuff to trust your life on. Buy some good FMJ ammo and run 300-500 rds or more of the same you will carry and if it runs reliably you will have more confidence in the gun. Don’t feel bad. Most of us own guns we would double think.
You always have the option of selling it too if you are really disappointed in it. In todays market I think you may be able to get back what you paid for it.
I use Speer Gold Dot in my Walther PPS classic. When new the PPS hung up on the critical defense polymer tip. That was when I experimented by trimming the polymer flush with a razor.Thanks for all the replies & comments.
I fired another 150 rounds of FMJ today (total 250 FMJ to date) and then tried another 25 rounds of the Critical Defense. As before, all the FMJ was fine. There was an improvement with the Critical Defense. The first round from a full 9 round mag nose dived every time, but after that, the next round feed ok about half the time and the rest of the clip feed the last 6-7 rounds fine most of the time. I disassembled and cleaned the mag (only one came with it).
It was suggested to try to trim the polymer. Since it is feeding the Critical Defense better than yesterday, I would have to do that to all the Critical Defense ammo. I think I will do it to one round and load it on the top to see if that makes a difference, but I think the best track to take would be another type of defensive ammo.
If any one has any recommendations for a 9mm defensive round that works well for them, I would appreciate the info so I can give it a try and see how it works in my EMP.
Thanks!
Once the PPS had about 100 rounds through it it would feed critical defense.
However I prefer the Speer Gold Dot 124 gr 9mm.
Noodle around on the WilsonCombat.com website. It seems to me I remember a statement there that Wilson does not recommend polymer tipped bullets in their pieces. It may not be just Wilson products. Try the “tried and true” HSTs. Bad guys are not going to see either one coming to determine what hit them! Twistedtippet may be on to something! I use HSTs in my Colt Lt Wt Officer’s model with good success (3.5” bbl). Your Ronin EMP will work. SA does not put out junk.
You guys may be way overthinking this….except for the polymer tip thing. Even some full size 1911’s will have occasional issues with certain types of ammo. Some guns just don’t like some ammo. So far, only FMJ and Critical Defense have been run, hardly a good reliability test. I know, crappy time to be buying premium stuff, but if you don’t load, that’s what ya gotta do. HST, Gold Dot, PDX1, Sabers, V-Crown etc… Find what works and stick with it. Wilson mags are always a good go to as well. I wouldn’t have sent it back until it was a last resort. I bet HST’s would have run perfectly….
In regards to ammo, take a look at the Lucky Gunner 9mm self-defense ammo testing. It may help you decide to try a different brand/model of SD ammo. Pay particular attention to the photos of the ammo that was dug out of the ballistics gel.
Handgun Self-Defense Ammunition - Ballistic Testing Data
Lucky Gunner tests more than 110 different 9mm, 45 ACP, 40 S&W and 380 ACP handgun self-defense ammunition loads in ballistic gel with analysis and video.
www.luckygunner.com
Yeah, but even the best gel test result won’t amount to a hill of beans if it won’t cycle in HIS gun! 🙂
On all of my 9mm Springfields the extractors were not setup correctly & the distance between the extractor hook face was too short & not allowing the case rim to slide up the breech face.
A new quality extractor fixed all of them along with following Steve-in-Allentown’s extractor setup-step by step. Both my EMP4 & my 9mm Range Officer suffered badly from this. Add-in a feed ramp that looked carved out with a picket knife on my EMP4 and it was constant feed & extraction issues.
One other thing I found was that the magazine & the top round made hard contact with the ejector, which is why I believe the glued in ejector came loose in my EMP4. Clearancing the ejector so there’s no contact & the reglued EMP ejector has been fine since, for many thousands of rounds.
I also clearanced things on my Range Officer with the same issue and now more than 10k rounds later no issues. All of this contributed to the ftf’s & fTE’s that were really bad on my EMP4 but much worse on the Range Officer rendering it nearly useless even after multiple trips back to mother Springfield including a $430 trip to SACS to improve the horrible accuracy.
Anyway take a look at the extractor first try slowly closing the slide on a round (snap cap) to see if feeds the case rim smoothly between the extractor claw and up the breech face, if it don’t, then that’s where you start. Read Steve’s procedure here and follow it closely !
A new quality extractor fixed all of them along with following Steve-in-Allentown’s extractor setup-step by step. Both my EMP4 & my 9mm Range Officer suffered badly from this. Add-in a feed ramp that looked carved out with a picket knife on my EMP4 and it was constant feed & extraction issues.
One other thing I found was that the magazine & the top round made hard contact with the ejector, which is why I believe the glued in ejector came loose in my EMP4. Clearancing the ejector so there’s no contact & the reglued EMP ejector has been fine since, for many thousands of rounds.
I also clearanced things on my Range Officer with the same issue and now more than 10k rounds later no issues. All of this contributed to the ftf’s & fTE’s that were really bad on my EMP4 but much worse on the Range Officer rendering it nearly useless even after multiple trips back to mother Springfield including a $430 trip to SACS to improve the horrible accuracy.
Anyway take a look at the extractor first try slowly closing the slide on a round (snap cap) to see if feeds the case rim smoothly between the extractor claw and up the breech face, if it don’t, then that’s where you start. Read Steve’s procedure here and follow it closely !
1 - 20 of 25 Posts
- This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
1911Forum
A forum community dedicated to all 1911 firearm owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about optics, gunsmithing, styles, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Recommended Communities
