XD + Lead bullets - Loaded chamber indicator

[Iheartguns]

This question is for XD shooters who shoot lead bullets.

When shooting lead, the loaded chamber indicator gets stuck in the "up" or "loaded" position after a few hundred rounds. I'm assuming this is from the smoking lube that is characteristic of firing lead bullets.

It's really only a matter of a few extra minutes at cleaning time to tap out the roll pin and clean out the gunk and reinstall, but I was wondering if anyone had an effective means of avoiding it in the first place.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[actionflies]

Unavoidable. You can try taking that little spring under the loaded indicator out. I just not pay attention to it.

 

[CoRoMo]

Haven't actually seen that in my XD after however many hundreds of rounds have been through it. Mostly lead cast too. Now I know what to look for.

 

[rbernie]

I'm assuming this is from the smoking lube that is characteristic of firing lead bullets.

Yup. No getting around the fact that shooting cast bullets will cause this spooge to build up everywhere.

I was wondering if anyone had an effective means of avoiding it in the first place.

Shoot jacketed bullets, is about all you can do to avoid this.

I tend to have a dedicated range pistol just for my cast reload shooting. That way, I can let it get all gunky and not worry about goobering up my carry pieces.

 

[mpmarty]

All I shoot in my XD45 is cast. How are you lubing them? In several years and thousands of rounds I've never had to de-gunk the loaded chamber indicator, it is free to move as designed.

My loads are 200gr cast semi wad cutters, tumble lubed in Lee Liquid Alox and then lightly coated with Brownells Mica. These are then assembled over 4.8 grs of Red Dot.

Before I started casting these myself, I bought a box of some major brand of cast 451 200gr semi wad cutters and they caused some severe problems. The nose shape was such that on firing the extracted case would hang up on the shoulder of the top cartridge in the magazine and strip off the extractor causing a jam. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I loaded a magazine with staggered 230gr ball and these cast reloads. The cast reloads extracted and ejected fine as the next round up was a ball. The factory ball loads would strip off the extractor and jam the weapon. Changed to a slightly fatter nosed swc and no problems since.

 

[hlq]

A little off topic but I'm wondering which cast bullets work the best in the XD, either bulk purchased or roll you own molds. I have an XD 45 also and would like to use cast also.

 

[Cloudpeak]

For gunk in the extractor "groove" and/or the loaded chamber indicator: solvent, dental pick and compressed air will pretty much slick things up on the XD (or M&P & CZ75).

As has been stated, lead rounds, especially when using LLA, will be dirtier than jacketed loads.

Cloudpeak