Today was a beautiful day, so I decided to grab my new Glock 17 4th generation pistol and go to the range. I went to an old, outdoor range, but one I had never been to before - Wyoming Antelope Club in Pinellas Park, FL. It's run by members of the range, so it's not a lavish place. Cost is $20 to shoot as long as you want.

I used the Glock speed loader to load most of my ammo today. It's actually much better than I've heard, plus it took quite a while to load the cartridges by hand. Must need to do a few thumb exercises. I took a box of 100 Winchester and a box of 50 Federal 9mm 115gr cartridges.

Started out on the short 21 foot range with the Winchester ammo. I shot pretty well, pretty tight groupings, but the distance was short. Most of the shots were in a tight grouping, although a lot of them were slightly low on the target. I tried to adjust my aim, but it didn't seem to help as much as I thought it might. Shot 30 rounds.

Changed to a new target and loaded the Federal ammunition. Still 21 foot targets. For some reason, my aim seemed to be affected by the Federal ammo. My shots were a little higher on the target while I seemed to be aiming in the same spot. Maybe something else was different that I wasn't aware of. It seemed like I was shooting the same to me. Shot 30 rounds of the Federal ammo.

Changed to another new target and moved down the the 36 foot range. I loaded in the Winchester ammo again and started shooting. My shots were not nearly as close together as on the 21 foot range, but they all seemed to hit somewhere inside the target rings.

While shooting the Winchester ammunition, the gun jammed. One shell failed to eject properly and sort of stuck in the ejection port. It was stuck vertically and kept the slide from loading a new cartridge. I took the magazine out and set the gun down for a minute. When I looked closer at it, there were actually two jammed cartridges in it. The shell casing was vertical and another cartridge looked like it was coming up to the chamber, but got stopped by the shell casing. I turned the gun upside down and pulled back on the slide and the vertical shell casing fell out. I racked the slide a few times and the other cartridge fell out.

I examined the jammed cartridge very carefully and there didn't seem to be any marks or dents on it. I put it back in the magazine and shot it. It shot fine, but I started thinking that that might have been foolish. Should I have just thrown the cartridge that jammed away?

I'm not sure why it jammed. I wasn't expecting it. I went to take a shot and the trigger seemed to be already pressed. I had never felt that before, so I checked the gun out and found the vertical shell casing clamped. After I cleared it, I shot another 70 rounds and it never jammed again. Maybe I didn't hold it tight enough on that shot, or maybe it does need the 02 recoil spring. I don't know...

Shot 150 cartridges in all and shot for a couple of hours. Time seemed to fly while I was shooting. I can tell that a lot of practice will help.

I'll post some pictures of the targets tomorrow.


-jb

So it only jammed the one time or did two jam? Failure to eject and FTF or just FTE?

The first time I shot my G23 I had a jam.. I put about 200 rnds in that day. I think around 160ish I fet my grip get weak, I just got lazy. It had been a while since I had shot. It was a FTE. I removed the casing and never had a problem since. I don't think it was the gun for me. I was shooting Winchester white box 100 rnd pack. 180 gr.

Since then I put several hundred rounds through it with no problems.

Awesome jb, glad to hear you got to go out and run some rounds through your 17. That vertical jam is commonly called a stove pipe and you might have just limp wristed it on that shot that jammed. Firing the fail to feed round is OK as long as it doesn't have any big dents in it and dont shoot it if the bullet is shitting crooked or jammed in the case in the case. Scratches wont hurt either. Also, just make sure its clean before you stick it back in. Sounds like you are doing good with it, grats on your new shooter.

Originally Posted by sfguard

So it only jammed the one time or did two jam? Failure to eject and FTF or just FTE?

The gun only jammed one time.

The first thing I noticed was that the trigger seemed to be already pulled when I went to take a shot. I looked at the gun and saw a spent shell casing sticking up vertically in the ejection port. I took out the magazine and turned the gun upside down. Pulling the slide back a bit let the empty shell casing fall right out. This would be a FTE - Failure To Eject?

When I turned the gun back over after clearing the shell casing, I noticed a second cartridge down in the chamber area. I racked the slide a few times and it flew out. This might be a FTF - FailureTo Feed? I think the spent shell casing stopped the next round from going into the chamber. It might not actually be a FTF because the shell casing was in the way.

This was all one event.

You are right in your assumption of the failures, and the trigger felt like it was already pulled because the slide hadnt moved fully into battery not letting the trigger fully reset yet.

Originally Posted by G23SNT

The first time I shot my G23 I had a jam.. I put about 200 rnds in that day. I think around 160ish I fet my grip get weak, I just got lazy. It had been a while since I had shot. It was a FTE. I removed the casing and never had a problem since. I don't think it was the gun for me. I was shooting Winchester white box 100 rnd pack. 180 gr.

Since then I put several hundred rounds through it with no problems.

Thanks for sharing that. That might be exactly what happened to me. I'm certainly not blaming the G17 for anything.

I shot 150 rounds yesterday and I have never shot that much before. The shell that jammed was right around the 80 mark. I did consciously make sure my grip was tighter after that. I shot another 70 rounds or so and it never jammed again.

I started shooting around 3pm and there was no one else shooting at the range. In hind sight, going shooting at an outdoor range at 3pm in the afternoon in Florida in July wasn't the smartest thing to do. I shot until around 5:30 and was completely soaked with sweat. The shooting area was covered, so I wasn't standing out in the open sun for all that time, but it was sweltering!

Originally Posted by Boomer

Awesome jb, glad to hear you got to go out and run some rounds through your 17. That vertical jam is commonly called a stove pipe and you might have just limp wristed it on that shot that jammed. Firing the fail to feed round is OK as long as it doesn't have any big dents in it and dont shoot it if the bullet is shitting crooked or jammed in the case in the case. Scratches wont hurt either. Also, just make sure its clean before you stick it back in. Sounds like you are doing good with it, grats on your new shooter.

I got to tell you, Boomer... I had a blast out there... I felt like Boomer, Jr...

I checked the cartridge out pretty closely before I put it back in and shot it. There were some marks/scratches on it, but there weren't any dents. It still looked perfectly round... so I shot it.

Originally Posted by Boomer

You are right in your assumption of the failures, and the trigger felt like it was already pulled because the slide hadnt moved fully into battery not letting the trigger fully reset yet.

Thanks for confirming that.

It just caught me by surprise... I never thought about it jammimg.

_jb, no problem man...

I was in Deston about a yr ago for some training and it can get pretty freakin hot especially with the humidty too. Did you your hands get sweaty?