Regular readers will recall that I’ve been having feed problems with our testing and evaluation Ruger SR9c. After gunnuts.net fingered ammo issues—using the same ammo in the same gun with the same results—I contacted Remington. They reckoned our FTF might have something to do with bullet length. Pending further investigation of TTAG’s ammo by Remington’s boffins, I went back to American Firearms School to put the Ruger SR9c through its paces . . .
I brought the remaining 150 or so bullets in my second box of Remington 115-grain UMC cartridges, purchased at the same time I bought the bullets that resulted in the previous double-feed.
Everything was going fine. I mean really fine. The SR9c is an amazingly accurate weapon for its size. The trigger is as crisp and clean as a Fuji apple washed in a mountain stream. It’s a teensy bit snappy, as you’d expect. But a genuine joy. Review to follow.
And then I had trouble hitting the bullseye. Not the gun. Me. So I slipped some snap caps into the magazine’s mega-mix. At the appropriate moment, the SR9c went click instead of bang. Tap, rack . . . nothing. The damn thing didn’t extract.
I cleared the gun in the approved manner: remove the magazine, shake the round loose, re-insert magazine, rack the slide and wonder why you lost the gunfight. Next snap cap, same thing. In both cases, the real round behind the snap cap slammed into the feed ramp and compressed [above].
A quick trip to the counter and my main man Christian and I repeated the experiment. The snap cap resolutely refused to leave the chamber. [see: above video] With two snap caps in situ, you can see how the SR9c compressed the second round [below].
I don’t think we can rule out ammo issues on this one. Again, the SR9c fired other bullet brands without a hiccup. And snap caps aren’t exactly SAMMI spec. By the same token, I don’t think we can rule out gun issues. The 115-grain Remington UMC ammo fires fine in every other gun we’ve used—and we’ve used a LOT. I’ve never had a problem ejecting snap caps, either.
Perhaps its an ammo – gun problem. Anyway, Ruger reckons “this is Remington’s issue.” That said, I hope to speak with their Arizona gun builder later today. Watch this space.
The plot thickens. Keep us posted.
Ever wonder why we always see "Ruger" and "Remington" in the same sentence as "issues"? When was the last time you heard someone at the range or local pub say "…man, if my Springfield were more reliable with Federal ammo, I would carry it more!"? Both Ruger and Remington have huge QC and reliability issues for the past decade. I just saw that Ruger released a new SR-556/6.8SPC. Great – another Ruger rifle to fail prematurely and to suffer from insane carrier-tilt issues. I have had issues with Remington UMC ammo (in a SIG of all guns!), Remington rifles, and brand new Remington shotguns. Ruger isn't much higher on my list of "guys to buy" either. A shooting buddy of mine purchased the original SR556 not too long after it came to market. It was making metal shavings in the buffer tube after only 150 rounds. My LWRC has 3000+ rounds through her and I can barely notice any signs of wear. A quick look online and you can see that lots of Ruger SR556 rifles suffer from this problem, with some examples being more extreme than others. They had better get their act together…
So, I should at this juncture point out that I’ve fired almost 1000 rounds of non-Remington UMC Ammo through my SR9c and had NO issues with that ammo. Mostly 147 grain ammo of various types, including CCI Blazer.
What have you learned?
I found this site by googling 'sr9c extractor problems'. I did this search because my gun is doing the exact same thing as yours. It will fire fine for 20-25 rounds then suddenly jam and will not fire two in a row for several shots. It aggravates me because this gun it so fun to shoot that I just want to unload with it time and time again but it keeps jamming. Thanks.
I have fired 1000’s of rounds…MOSTLY UMC, but also Federals, Winchester +P and Cor-bons and my SR9c has been both flawless in function and highly accurate with all loads. In my mix of handguns, I have 3 Rugers: an old MKII, a .45 Blackhawk that I force massive loads down it’s throat, and the SR9C. I have never had an issue with any of them. I have had feed issues with a Colt 1911, though…
bought my sr9c a month ago new. Fired close to 500 rounds and its been flawless ! I have used winchester, blazer and federals. love the gun. No regrets
Been shooting Remington hollows green n white box and jamed every round in sr9c I think it hates 115 gr think needs heavier round……I hope
It is not the bullet weight. I have put over 2k rounds down range, and over half of those were 115 grain. I have an SR9 and an SR9c. My SR9c has been flawless. My SR9 has been sent back to Ruger once, because it was failing about 1 in 20 to extract with 2 different types of ammo(Winchester white box and Tulammo brassmax). When it came back, it was better, but I still get about 1 failure to extract per 50 rounds of Winchester, other brands shoot fine. I don’t buy the Winchester white box any more, but I have a lot of Winchester brass in my reload bin, and when I get a failure to extract with my SR9, it is always a Winchester stamp on the brass. I lock the slide, drop the magazine, cycle the action by hand, and the casing comes right out. Also, when I pull the brass out, I can see scratches on the rim of the brass where the extractor lost its grip.
I have owned the sr9c for almost two months, roughly 500 rounds through it. I had two initial hang ups using the Winchester rounds . I think it was a initial break in issues , like spring tension in the clip and slide. I shot those 100 rounds and minus the two hang ups in the first twenty rounds I have had no issues with any round since , regardless of manufacture . Accurate gun , low recoil, conceals well. If you have issues with the safety , carry a Glock.
Ejector problems with almost every magazine I fired through it. The distributer sent a placement and today had the same problems. Tried many brands of ammo and all had the same problems, although any off the shelf ammo should work fine. My wife fired all the same ammo through her LR 9 and had not one hiccup, but the SR9C has me scathing my head….2 new weapons with the same problems make me wonder.
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