reloading: range day and firing first handloads
The goals of the outing was
- run samples of all the 9mm factory ammo I had on hand to see what the Hi-Point carbine would eat
- run half (3) of my first 9mm handloads through the carbine to see if they would work
- burn off the factory .380 ACP self-defense ammo (Cor-Bon 70gr PowRBall +P) that has been sitting in the Luger LCP for years (replace with Speer Gold Dot?). It was so old that when I bought the ammo it was still made by Glaser.
- burn off the factory 9mm self-defense ammo (Cor-Bon125gr +P JHP) that has been sitting in the Kel-Tec P11 for years (replace with Speer Gold Dot?)
- run the other half of the 9mm handloads through the pistol to see if it liked it.
running the carbine
The Hi-Point was a total win. Ate everything, well-behaved, easy to shoot even in near-freezing temps. I haven’t had so much fun with a long arm since my last Ruger 10/22.
The rounds offered up to the gunpowder gods included:
- Winchester white box 115gr
- Cor-Bon PowRBall +P 100gr
- Remington Golden Saber +P 124gr
- Winchester Silvertip 115gr
- Cor-Bon 125gr +P
- the 9mm handloads (starting loads)
The +P stuff was identifiably stouter than the normal stuff and I could hear the ridiculous/needless sprung buttplate working with those. Three of the Cor-Bon rounds showed signs of overpressure; primer pocket carbon leakage (left) and flattened primer (right). A function of age, storage in uncontrolled temps, or just running on the edge of maximal pressure by design? Dunno. But I don’t remember ever seeing that with factory ammo before. I struggled to get good pics but couldn’t, sorry.
running the .380 pistol
The LCP gobbled up all the old Corbon that was in it and was pleasant enough to shoot. I was surprised given the +P rating of the rounds, the thin backstrap and incredibly low weight (9.x ounces!) of the sidearm.
I also ran three rounds of Golden Saber through it.
running the 9mm pistol
The 9mm was less fun. My hands were cold and I dropped it in the dirt while getting the mini-table set up. I’d been carrying the Taurus PT-111 the last few years so the Keltec was unloved, uncleaned, gathering (literal) dust in a shoulder holster. I almost held it back so I could knock the dust bunnies out of it, then remembered I wanted to burn off the old ammo.
The +P rounds caused me a bit of hand pain. Partly from the cold, partly because my hands are older.
More problematic, out of the 17 rounds I put through it 3 failed to fire on the first strike. Two of them fired on the second strike. One didn’t even fire after three attempts so I put it into the carbine to see if she’d go…. yep.
My first instinct was that the striker spring was tired. I did some reading once I got back to the camper and saw many folks mentioning that crud in the striker channel can cause enough friction to cause light strikes. I’ll give it some love on this cleaning, taking special care with the striker. I’ll run more factory through it next week and see if it’s reliable again. If not, I’ll replace the spring and see what happens.
update
Last night I tore down the Kel-Tec and removed the dog hair, desert dust/dirt, etc. Cleaned, lubed, reassembled. Took it out today and shot two mags out of it with 100% function. This was operator error on my part, and more evidence it’s been been way too long since I’d practiced with that sidearm.
conclusion on the first handloads
They worked great and shot comfortably, even in the Keltec. I couple out of the six had slight carbon marks on the outside rim of the mouth, suggesting the minimal load was too low for complete obturation.
Next batch will be with 4.2gr of Win231. I expect that will help seal the case while still being comfortable.