I’ve just returned from the American Firearms School, where I fed our test and evaluation Ruger SR9c something other than 115-grain Remington UMC bullets. In specific, I shot ten rounds-plus from each of the five boxes above: Vollmantel, Independence (a soft-shooting budget brand that produces some big-ass muzzle flash), TulAmmo, American Eagle and Winchester White Box. Hakuna mutata. Means no worries, for the rest of my life. I hope. Meanwhile . . .
No further word from Ruger on possible extractor or feed ramp issues. (Previously, on Who Wants to Admit We Have A Problem, Ruger said “It’s a Remington issue.”) Remington will be testing the Value Pack ammo that may or may not have caused this double feed kerfuffle.
Just for fun, I had my gunsmith measure a couple of cartridges from the same batch. As you can see from the photo above, the UMC cartridge extends 1.109″. So I called Chris Carson at Remington’s Little Rock ammo plant to check the spec.
“That’s entirely within specification,” Mr. Carson said. “Both ours and SAMMI. We manufacturer that round from 1″ to 1.147″.”
Yes, well, it’s a little on the low side. For comparison sake, my gunsmith and I measured a Blaze 9mm cartridge. As you can see below, it clocked in at 1.165″. By Remington’s standards, that’s too large. Go figure.
Are we done yet? Suffice it to say, again, I’ve never had any problems with UMC ammo before. And I don’t expect any hiccups with the Remington Golden Saber bullets (manufactured to tighter tolerances) headed my way.
Make of that what you will.
Look forward to hearing about the Golden Sabers. Have had nothing but trouble with the UMC's in my SR9c…
Tomorrow.