[38spec]

As others have reported here and other forums my new G3C will not feed some factory ammo. It will also not feed some of my normal IDPA reloads. All of the ammo that does not work in the Taurus will chamber and work in my other guns. The problem is very evident when you disassemble the gun and place a round in the barrel. If the cartridge drops in and out easily it will probably function fine in the gun. If the cartridge sticks and will not chamber completely then that ammo will never run in your gun. In fact it will keep the slide from completely closing (about 1/8 inch) as reported by others on the forum.

The cause of the problem is the shape of the bullet (land and ogive) as well as the overall cartridge length. My competition reloads that work great in my Glock and PPQ are too long to chamber in the Taurus. I adjusted the overall length of the reloads until they chambered easily in the G3C and the gun ran them just fine. Basically I had to shorten the overall length so that the land of the bullet was inside the case. If you have ammo that will not chamber look to see if the land of the bullet extends out of the case mouth. The factory cartridges that work in my gun are all loaded so that only the ogive is outside the case mouth. Any cartridges that show a larger portion of the land outside the case mouth will not chamber properly.

The fix. If you reload simply adjust the overall length until the round drops into and out your chamber easily. If you are shooting factory ammo then it will be trial and error to find rounds that chamber completely.

I did call Taurus to find out if they had an explanation for why their guns have this problem when all of my other 9's do not. The customer service person I spoke to was very careful to not admit that this is a general problem with the G2 and G3 guns. The answer was to send it in (4 week turnaround). They also could not tell me exactly what they would do to fix the gun. Their only suggestion was to not shoot factory ammo that would not chamber.

Now having said all of the above, I will probably keep my G3C as I can reload rounds that work and I have 4 or 5 factory defense loads that do function fine.
The gun is also accurate and once you find ammo that works it appears to be reliable.

The last thing I have say is shame on Taurus for putting out guns that have had this feed problem for years and apparently done nothing to address the issue.

 

[Czechbikr]

Welcome to the forum from northern Georgia . My G3C now seems to run well past 300 rounds. Earlier FTF and light strikes probably due to stiff mag springs, gunky FP channel and/or feed ramp finish . I cleaned the FP area, polished the ramp and cleaned, lubed and worked the action . I load plated bullets almost exclusively and set them fairly short as I also shoot a CZ 75 Compact and Sar B6C which are famous for short chambers . The PRN don't have a crimp ring like FMJ so I set the dies to seating depth and rock on. I also might add that when I got my first PT 111 G2 I was having issues with rounds hanging up in some magazines when loading them. The 4th or 5th or later round would hang up and stop the spring , allowing subsequent bullets to be loose in the mag body. I thought there were burrs in the mag or on the follower, or that it was mis-assembled. After pulling them down, ultrasound cleaning , smoothing the followers I finally figured out that my COAL on the finished rounds was too long.

 

[olfarhors]

YEP!
IF you reload you find out that recommended OAL isn't the only thing to think about!
I shoot variety of different projectile profiles and even in the same profile but different manufactures you will find slight differences in the taper of even the same weight projectile.
I keep a dummy round of every projectile /Weight /Caliber that i shoot and adjust my dies by them.
as mentioned above by the New Southern Gentleman, I shoot a lot of CZ and Tanfoglio and they seem to be pretty tight to Saami measurements.
factory ammo is of course produced by Saami/cip dimensions and should fit in every weapon of the correct caliber---but sometimes they don't.

 

[Letsgobucks]

Don’t know how many rounds you’ve got on the gun but you might want to put a few hundred rounds through it. The g2c I used to own seemed to loosen up after close to 1000 rounds.

 

[mikld]

The problem is very evident when you disassemble the gun and place a round in the barrel. If the cartridge drops in and out easily it will probably function fine in the gun. If the cartridge sticks and will not chamber completely then that ammo will never run in your gun. In fact it will keep the slide from completely closing (about 1/8 inch) as reported by others on the forum.

This is the reason for "plunk testing" ammo before selecting an ammo. I have 9 semi-auto pistols, 5, 9mm and only one has any problem with factory ammo; my Masada 9mm (a slightly "tighter chamber). Winchester Defender 147 gr ammo does not plunk by about ..010"-.012" but fits all my other 9mm pistols fine. This isn't really a gun problem but more of an ammo compatibly problem. All my handloads are plunk tested before determining an OAL for the particular load....

 

[Letsgobucks]

If it is having trouble after a few hundred fmj, you might look at something like hornady critical duty or critical defense where they have the silicone insert in the hollow point end. Sometimes hollow points don’t always feed properly.

 

[Czechbikr]

If it is having trouble after a few hundred fmj, you might look at something like hornady critical duty or critical defense where they have the silicone insert in the hollow point end. Sometimes hollow points don’t always feed properly.

The particular bullet ogive and or the OAL can be the issue. Also check the magazine lips to see if there's a rough edge there from the stamping process . A quick rub with emery cloth can fix that, clean any filing residue. Mikid above brings a thought to mind also. With the high cost of factory SD ammo, why not bring your pistol barrel into the LGS when you're looking for new rounds. Let the counter folks know what you want and you can probably plunk test the new round right there before buying . jAT

 

[MadKaw]

If you look at the SAAMI specification for any cartridge you will see that every one of them is listed with a tolerance. There is not necessarily anything wrong with either gun or ammo. If the chamber is cut on the small side of the tolerance and the ammo is loaded on the large side, there can be issues of fit.
Answer: Use different ammo.

 

[Letsgobucks]

Good points. I just know for example my g3c will run fmj no issues, but on Speer gold dot seems to not always want to cycle. It seems to like hornady better. But I’ve only got 100 or so rounds through it so it probably needs to break in a little yet. The g2c I used to own after it broke in loosened up so hopefully the g3c does also. On the other hand my Springfield hellcat you can pretty much ride the slide as you chamber a round and it usually doesn’t have issues.

 

[jschmidt]

So what's the length?

 

[Letsgobucks]

I’m not 100% sure off the top of my head. It seemed to happen with hornady critical duty rounds I’ve got also. If memory serves it’s just the first round. I’ve got some shorter hp rounds that seem fine. Was trying to look up measurements and for this ammo, I think they say it was 1.75. On my phone at the moment. I still need to shoot it more. Been carrying my hellcat primarily for size and I use a 13 round mag in it and keep a 15 round mag spare with me. Though I’ve got an extra 15 rounder so considering to start carrying with that instead.

 

[jschmidt]

I’m not 100% sure off the top of my head. It seemed to happen with hornady critical duty rounds I’ve got also. If memory serves it’s just the first round. I’ve got some shorter hp rounds that seem fine. Was trying to look up measurements and for this ammo, I think they say it was 1.75. On my phone at the moment. I still need to shoot it more. Been carrying my hellcat primarily for size and I use a 13 round mag in it and keep a 15 round mag spare with me. Though I’ve got an extra 15 rounder so considering to start carrying with that instead.

Thanks. If you figure it out, post up

 

[Letsgobucks]

Admittedly I’ve not been shooting in a while. I’m hoping that by the time I get a few hundred to 1000 fmj through it that it will loosen up more.

 

[jschmidt]

A gunsmith can also check and ream it very easily. Or you could just swap the barrel for not much.

 

[justMatt]

So what's the length?

1.090 is the longest that will work with my G3c.. but i will go down to 1.080 for Hollow Point.. i use RMR 124gr JHP.

 

[243winxb]

old post warning.

My G3C cast bullet diameter has too be under .3568" to chamber correctly @ COL 1.045"

Photos and info Taurus G3C. 9mm Luger | The High Road

 

[Letsgobucks]

Older thread I know but I was messing with it the other day, and it seems on my g3c, I have better luck getting the first round to chamber with hollow points if I lock the slide back, pop the mag in and release the slide. Then drop the mag and load a replacement round.

 

[66valmobile]

It never hurts to shine the feed ramp.

 

[Letsgobucks]

I do have some mothers mag wheel polish I could try.

 

[TWS]

My g3c did the same with Federal, Remington and other rounds. Even after 300 rounds the slide would most times lack about 1/8" returning to full battery. I polished the chamber and ramp with flitz and the problem immediately went away. After about another 200 rounds I did it again. Now after another 600 rounds works perfect with no flitz.