Went to the range with a friend today and shot his Browning Buck Mark, I think it is a Plus series in stainless. Really nice gun to shoot, crazy nice trigger for a handgun.
Was shooting CCI Mini Mags and federal Automatch, and put a couple CCI Quiets through just for fun. I expected the Quiets to not cycle properly but had issues with the MMs and Automatch…
AFAIK, both are full power 22lr, and maybe because it was like 25 deg today they were affected by the cold, but I kept the magazines in my pants pocket to keep 'em warm.
The spent round ejected okay but the next round didn’t go fully into battery. So, trying to figure if it was just cold ammo or a cold gun or what…
I’ve shot the pistol before in nicer weather and it functioned just fine.
Wax! I think the cold might have something to do with it. Mini Mags aren’t so bad but I’ve had other ammo that had excessive coating on it and caused me some issues. I’m sure even the light coating CCI has can get sticky in the cold.
If you shot the Automatch then the mini mags, the wax was already in the chamber.
The cold can have unfortunate effects, especially with petroleum based products. Even the oil you use to lube the gun can get too think in the cold and stop proper functioning.
A few years ago I was shooting my S&W 1911 in CDP division at the Arctic Blast IDPA match. It wasn’t running at all well and cost me a couple of stages. It runs fine in normal temps but the tight tolerences, the Hoppes oil and the cold were not a good combination. I switched guns to my XD-45 which is much looser fitting and I finished the match without further issue.
I ran 20 round nose mini mags first, and chose round nose because I thought the hp might have some trouble with the feed ramps.
Put 50 through his Glock 17, ran like a top.
I’m gonna chalk it up to a combination of factors. Cold gun, cold ammo. As I mentioned, put the mags in my pocket to warm up the ammo but it had already been sitting out for a bit and it was like 25 deg.
One of the fist things I asked was when was the last time you cleaned this gun, and he sad never, but only had maybe 300 rounds through it.
Was it standard or HV mini mags? I have 2 buckmarks and they can be a little fussy but generally quite reliable. Usually when my wife is shooting it and not gripping firmly enough but fouling def plays a factor.