At what point do you give up on a CCW with feed problems?

My Dan Wesson ECO feed hollow points without ever having any issues.

But if you love the gun you have why not try changing ammo maybe something like the federal gaurd dog or other easy feeding hollow points.

The EMP 9 is such a nifty little gun. I can understand your attraction. I'd love to have one myself. You didn't say whether you had put much FMJ through the pistol. If you haven't, perhaps you should try a box or two. If the gun proves reliable with FMJ, one of the major ammo companies (don't recall which) offers a defense load with a plastic tip in the hollow point bullet to facilitate feeding in pistols such as yours.

You might also try polishing the ramp if you haven't already done so. Before you polish run your thumb nail over the ramp and see if you can feel any sort of ridge or unevenness. If your problem is that the bullet is catching under the ramp, that would suggest either a magazine problem, which you have ruled out, or a ramp that is out of spec., perhaps a smidgen too short. Assuming that the ramp is integral with the barrel, perhaps you could insist that Springfield try a new barrel in the pistol.

Try working the slide with your hand and feeding rounds from the magazine as you observe what the bullet is doing. Vary the speed at which you work the action.

If the EMP has a captured double recoil spring as small 1911 types often do, you might check the spring assembly carefully. It might even be worthwhile to try a new spring assembly.

At any rate, I think you should hold Springfield's feet to the fire and aggravate them until they make the gun right.

The EMP 9 is a fairly pricy little toy. It would be a delight to own, but if it is unreliable, it is little more than an expensive paperweight. I hope you get it right. If you do, give us a full range report.

I finally gave on a SIG P-6 long after I should have. 4 different barrels, magazines, ramp polishing, all the stuff the experts said to try and they were all wrong. Probably spent $1200 on that thing trying to get it to run Hollow points. Never did. Unfortunately you don't figure out that its a waste of time and money until you are knee deep in it.

Call up Springfield Armory. I'm willing to bet they'd take it back and try to fix it for you. I had a mil-spec 1911 from them with a couple of issues and they fixed it promptly.

At what point do you give up on a CCW with feed problems?

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I use a minimum 200 round without failure litmus test for CCW pistols. I anticipate a failure or two in the first 50-100 rounds, but after that, the MRBS needs to be pretty high. Bad magazines are just that, and I won't fault the gun for problems with crappy ammo (reloads, cheap steel or aluminum cased stuff), but if the gun doesn't run 99.9% or higher (1,000 MRBS) with anything WWB or better, I don't trust it for CCW. If it has MRBS of 200 or less with good magazines and ammo, the gun has a problem that the manufacturer needs to address. Between 200 and 1000 MRBS, it's one I'll use as a range toy and tinker with myself if the gun wasn't terribly expensive.

One does have to eliminate the human element too, of course. I carry a Diamondback DB9 most of the time these days, and that gun simply does not like the cheapest of range ammo, having quite a few failures with Tula steel case and enough with Federal aluminum cased stuff that I won't even bother with those. But it runs very reliably with decent brass cased 115 gr. range ammo, and has never hiccuped with the 115 gr. Remington JHP loads I carry. However, several people who have tried it out experienced quite a few failures with the same quality ammo, so that problem can be attributed to their handling of the tiny weapon, since I have no such issues when I shoot it.

TomJ said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried 4 different types of hollow points (HST, Gold Dots, Cor-Bon DPX and Underwood, although they also use Gold Dots). It doesn't feed any of them well. I'd prefer to stick with SD ammo I'm comfortable with.

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Hornady Critical Duty may work a little better. Just a thought.

It would be gone if it was mine....

TomJ said:

I've sent it to Springfield 3 times with no luck. They have polished the feed ramp each time, but I don't know that that's the problem as the bullet is jamming at the bottom of the ramp, before hitting the ramp itself. I may be wrong and I'll check when I get home tonight, but I believe the feed ramp is part of the barrel and assuming it is will request that they change the barrel as suggested.

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Most 1911s in 9mm have the feed ramp as part of the barrel, I had a Kimber 3" in 9mm that liked critical defense the best. Wide mouth JHPs were trouble. I had a 4" Kimber in 9mm that would feed everything, which sort of lead me to believe the longer slide action improved feeding, but not sure there is any proof of that.

I've fired a friends' Dan Wesson ECO, Guardian, and Springfield R.O. compact, and EMP - all in 9mm and they seem to feed everything as well.

Good luck with the EMP, it is a neat pistol, but you'll know when it is time to ditch it if it should come to that.

Na Na Na Na

Na Na Na Na

Hey Hey Hey

Goodbye. You have wasted way too much money and time on it. Take your LGS up on their offer.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Ya I think at this point I'd change ammo or change guns but it seems like you've messed around with it enough.

If you really want to keep the EMP, here's one more thought. I've had nose dive feed issues that were solved by stiffer magazine springs. On handguns with lighter slides, the stronger recoil springs speed up the slide cycling and - if the mag springs can't match that speed - rounds get picked up by the boltface early. You may have already checked this, but it solved FTF issues on a couple on my handguns. I haven't checked Wollfe springs, but I imagine they carry mag spring replacements - they do for practically everything else.

I have a 1977 Chevy Truck that I drove in HS. I can't get rid of it no matter what! 11 MPG HWY...no problem, I don't drive it far. No A/C...big deal, I don't use it in summer too much. Speedometer, odometer don't work...no problem.

Sound familiar?

"At what point do you give up on a CCW with feed problems?"

About the first problem, unless it can be and has been fixed and thoroughly tested. If I am carrying for a serious purpose (and if you are not serious, why carry at all?) one failure is one too many. Only in video games can death be undone by pressing restart.

Jim

Get rid of it. To many guns out there without issues to deal with one on your ccw pistol.

I'd send it in with a note stating EXACTLY what you want it to do. ie "I wish to carry this with Speer Gold Dot 9mm Luger +P 124 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point ammunition. Please either make it function correctly with said ammo and the included magazines, or state for the record why it cannot do so. The results of your work will be published."

Then follow up here with the results.

I'd trade that EMP for an STI Escort, these are very reliable 9mm carry 1911's; I have a full size STI Trojan 1911 9mm and the only factory ammo it ever had a problem with was that ZQI 123 gr. NATO ammo that Wally's used to sell. The one time I ever used that ammo it just tied the gun up in knots, I haven't seen this ammo in a while. It shot everything else beautifully, fantastic gun, accurate, reliable, great trigger, next to no recoil. And STI's Customer Service is "IMHO" the best in the firearms industry!

Try a EGW High Mag catch.

^^^Huh?

Very odd Springfield did not fix it on the first attempt, let alone after 3 tries! Its like they didn't even test fire it with hollow points...
Sounds like your going to come out with a new gun!!!

Never seen an auto that could not be "fixed" to fire HP, Springfield has some of the best CS, must be more to this story.