[slong115]

Got the range last weekend. First time in far too long. Was firing my PT111-G2 and it was performing great. Got a few rounds into the 5th mag and suddenly.......CLICK...no BANG! Waiting a good 30 seconds before ejecting the round and lo and behold, a BIG dent in the primer. This is the 3rd time this has happened since owning the PT111. First time (several years ago) I instinctively pulled the trigger a 2nd time and the round fire and then I thought "I should've checked the primer for dents". 2nd time, and this time I did check and both times there was a decent dent in the primer. All three misfires were from a batch of WWB 100-round boxes (I think) that I bought during the ammo shortage so I am 99% convinced that the ammo is the problem, not the PT111. The 2nd time this happened, I put the round back in the mag and cycled it and it fired fine. This time...click, click, click. Ended up turning the round over to the range to let them dispose of it.

Despite being almost positive that I had defective rounds all 3 times this has happened, I decided to finally clean out the firing-pin/striker channel. It was pretty easy to do, even though this was my first time. Got a lot of black grease out of there but it wasn't gritty feeling at all. I'll have to get it back to the range soon to make sure it fires correctly and if I get any more 'clicks' with this same batch of ammo, I will absolutely know it is defective rounds.

The only thing that keeps me from being 100% sure it is ammo causing the problem is that I fire that same ammo out of my SCCY CPX2 and it has never had this same issue. But, it is a rare enough occurrence that maybe I just never had one of those bad rounds in the SCCY mags when I am shooting it.

 

[sanford1212]

I had a 709 that did the same thing with WWB. Shot everything else but that Winchester white box. This was 6 or 7 years ago. I really doubt it's the gun.

 

[slong115]

Only reason I still have this particular batch of ammo was that I bought about 6 boxes of the 100-rnd stuff when I checked Walmart during the great shortage and they were just stocking a new delivery. When I moved to S. Carolina, it got packed away in one of (too) many shipping boxes and I forgot I even had it until I had bought lots of Federal ammo after the shortage. I probably still have more than 100 rnds of the WWB but I will fire that all next time I go to the range just to be rid of it finally.

I don't think my PT111 has had any issues with the Federal ammo....but then, at my age I can't remember what I had for breakfast some days so I cannot be certain about ammo issues from several years ago. I will keep a closer tab on which ammo, if any, I have issues with from now on, though.

 

[cactus31]

I'd say if you can run 100-200 rounds of another brand through it w/o issue, you've probably tracked down the issue to the WWB ammo. I must have good luck w/ WWB...I've been through tens of thousands of rounds of it in FMJ and HP w/ very few issues.

 

[MARINEDIVISIONTWO]

I firmly believe cleaning a firearm thouroughly barrel,firing pin and chnnel and using Hoppes # 9 to disolve any factory grease,followed by a can of computer air blaster blowing out the debris then followed by a liberal amount of lube ( frog lube my favorite ) on the internals. This makes for almost an issue free day at the range the first time !

 

[darbo]

After reading your description I'm inclined to say it's the WWB ammo too. Before I started loading my own I never shot any WWB in my 709, it was always S&B or PMC. In all of those rounds I had 2 S&B not go bang on the first trigger pull.

Keep us posted on how the rest of the WWB performs.

 

[Czechbikr]

The smallest impediment to the FP can cause light strikes...my PT 145 was prone to that, although your description of a deep primer dent does counter the light strike idea.. The FP and channel should be run dry as carbon will build up and impede the action. I just had some failure to fire with my PT 111 G2 but that was the result of the old Wolf primers that are still hanging out from the great primer drought. Just 300 or so to go...I had better stock up on SPP now before I am forced to buy more like that..

 

[KeepTinkering]

If there is a deep dent in the primer on a round that didn't fire, that means the gun did it's job but the round didn't.

 

[hworth18]

Winchester White box is well known for having hard primers and this is one reason I don't shoot it. Buy some better ammo and you shouldn't have any more problems.