[ylide]

Hello,

I have an OD P99 in .40S&W I purchased some Speer gold dot defensive rounds but my neighbor (who has been shooting the P99 since they were introduced) says they can cause a failure to feed occasionally. He could not back this up with any evidence besides a few FTF in his .40S&W P99

Has anyone else had this problem with Speer Gold dot 165 grain? I shot 20 rounds of it last night without a problem.

Also of the defensive round for the P99 what is considered the most reliable to feed and to fire ?

Thanks in advance for your time and help,

 

[Nocturnal]

I am no expert (heck, don't even have my P99 yet but I would say that 20 rounds is a statistically insignificant number. After maybe 500 rounds without trouble you can be pretty sure your gun is compatible with that ammo. I would be reluctant to depend on other people's opinion on what ammo works and which doesn't as each gun could behave a little differently. Certainly confirm advise from others with your own experiments.

Also, I intend to purchase dummy rounds and put those in my mag together with real ones. Then practice popping the dummy round when you get to it. For more realism have a friend load some dummies in random spots. I don't know of a way to make FTFs occur under controlled conditions so you can practice clearing those.

I would like to load my home clips with glaser safety slugs but the expense of making sure these rounds work makes me reluctant.

Am I being too conservative?

 

[JDog]

yhea but .40 speer gold dot an't the cheapist round to go out and shoot 500 rounds just for testing reliability. Seems like that could be expensive but if it is a personal carry or duty weapon than money is a small price to pay in sticky situations.

?

 

[Nocturnal]

As with most things it all depends on how much it's worth to you. Even after 500 rounds there is still the chance that round 501 misfires or is a dud

so we'd better be ready to deal with the situation.

 

[ylide]

Well I only had two mags of Speer gold dot on me. At $16.99 for a box of 20 I don't think I will shoot 500+ rounds of it.

I would rather find out what other P99 owners are having success with and test a small sample of that ammo myself.

That’s why I was asking if anyone else had this problem with Speer Gold dot 165 grain? And what defensive round for the P99 what is considered the most reliable to feed and to fire?

It seems to me that between all the P99 owners this information should be available.

 

[Riktoven]

Speer is fine brand, and should work fine. There is no way to tell you what ammo is going to work the most reliably in your pistol, because as others have stated, each pistol is different.

20 rnd is statistically insignificant, 500 is hella expensive.

I ran 200rnds of several types through my gun to put my mind at ease, and that was paying $17 per box of 50, not this crazy $400 peace of mind test.

As for good defensive ammo, Winchester Ranger is awesome in 9mm, so I imagine the .40 is on par with that. Heck of alot cheaper than most others too, can be a little hard to come by in some places. I know some people that sell it online if you need an email.

I honestly don't have enough experience with .40s to give much ammo advise so I'm gonna shut up now.

 

[Nocturnal]

I'm mostly considering Glaser because here in CA we build houses out of cardboard. Well, sheetrock but that's hardly any better. I do have a decent layer of stucko on the outside that will probably stop a frangible round. There's a solid wooden fence around three sides of the backyard to stop even more. Bedrooms are on one side of the house and it's hard to imagine a scenario where I will fire towards them.

Still, overpenetration is a concern. Glaser is 6 rounds for $13 (cheapest found so far). Ouch!

 

[Riktoven]

Instead of the marginally effective and Uber expensive Glaser slugs, you may want to check out Federals Expanding Full Metal Jacket (EFMJ). Gonna have significantly more penetration than the glaser (heh...what doesn't?) but it tends to expand quicker than most hollowpoints which should help.

Oh yeah, sure as hell isn't $2 a bullet either!

 

[Sacluded]

I carry 165g Rangers and have shot about 200 rounds of it with no problems.

 

[blueiron]

Your question has so many parameters that it is difficult to answer with definite certainty. Every pistol is a law onto itself. What one pistol likes and is accurate with may be the cartridge that drives another shooter crazy with problems.

Feed ramp angles, bullet ogive design, absolute cartridge pressure levels, recoil spring pressure, shooter grip strength, pistol firing position, lubrication levels, cleanliness of the pistol, cartridge metallurgy, barrel-frame-slide interface, etc. all play an important part in reliability.

We have used .40 S&W loads from Federal [hydra-shok 180 gr.], Winchester [ranger sxt 180 gr.] and Speer [gold-dot 155 gr.]. The pistols are several hundred Glock 22s without modifications. We discovered that about 4% of the guns didn't do as well mechanically or accurately as the other pistols. The pistol were fired by various shooters and some pistols were listed as "problem" pistols and removed from service.

Whichever loading you select MUST be followed on with statistically significant real world testing. Twenty rounds won't do. Buy ammunition in case lots and partially amortize the cost with a group buy.

This will assure you that you have a pistol/ammunition selection that is extremely reliable for your defensive needs. Anything less is gambling with life.

 

[Chris]

What do you gys think about Mag-Safe ammo? Ive heard it is top notch self defense ammo.I looked at a pack of them today 1900 FPS

 

[cracked]

Quote[/b] (ylide @ Oct. 28 2004,4:33)]Hello,

I have an OD P99 in .40S&W I purchased some Speer gold dot defensive rounds but my neighbor (who has been shooting the P99 since they were introduced) says they can cause a failure to feed occasionally. He could not back this up with any evidence besides a few FTF in his .40S&W P99

Has anyone else had this problem with Speer Gold dot 165 grain? I shot 20 rounds of it last night without a problem.

Also of the defensive round for the P99 what is considered the most reliable to feed and to fire ?

Thanks in advance for your time and help,

i've been running the speer gold dot through my .40 p99 with no problems, but i've only gone through a few boxes. i normally use cheaper winchester white box FMJ for practice. i can at least tell you the speer was recommended to me as quality ammo. i test fired a couple rounds at a piece of kevlar vest, to find it "mushroomed" nice and uniformly.

 

[fritzthecat]

I frequent gun shows on occasion and pick up a lot of different manuf ammo.  Plus Ammoman.com gets an order once in a while.  All were shot in 1998 P99 .40.

Fiochi Round nose HP - sharp recoil, mid accurate, had several ftf because the short round nose didn't like the feedramp angle.
Fiochi Trunc Cone FMJ - sharp recoil, good accuracy, excellent reliability.
ProLoad HP - medium recoil, mid accurate, lots of ftf/fte.  My P99 didn't like this ammo at all.
CorBon HP - super hard recoil, very accurate, very reliable.  This one hurt to shoot.
Blazer FMJ - med recoil, mid accurate, reliable.
Hydrashock - med recoil, very accurate, very reliable.
StarFire - Sharp recoil, accurate, reliable.
Federal EPFMJ - low recoil, very accurate, super reliable.  This is my carry load because it has a recoil equivalent to a 9mm and the fmj profile bullet has superior feeding characteristics.  Plus it's cheap so you can buy boxes of it to practice.


Fritz