Springfield Range Officer - Hollow points?

[halfmileharry]

Two hand shooting, wrist support, and IF you've got them damned slick wood grips on the RO get rid of the things. IF you've got average to smaller hands go to SLim Grips.

 

[The Ninja]

I noticed the case gouge in that pic. It's why I wanted to see pics from different angles. That pic may hold the key.

Results of my photo session.

Case head:

Case side:

Case opposite side:

 

[bwframe]

277 rounds total at this point. 50 rangers, the rest 230 gr WWB. Roughly 150 rounds total before I ran the rangers, though. No FTE in that time, and only one FTF caused by me not fully seating the magazine.

If WWB runs fine in your gun, I'd just keep shooting that. For now use it as your SD ammo (it's still .45.) After you get a flawless few more hundred rounds down the tube, you can revisit the hollow points again. Your gun is still new and settling in.

 

[Drail]

Just from looking at the torn off case rim I'd say your extractor is toast. (if it wasn't before - it is now) Number your mags and if one is the trouble maker measure the feed lips with calipers. If the bad one is wider than the other mags - toss it. It looks like you had a hard push feed or inertial feed with the extractor behind the rim and then dragged the case through the lips. What recoil spring weight are you running?

 

[churchmouse]

Just from looking at the torn off case rim I'd say your extractor is toast. (if it wasn't before - it is now) Number your mags and if one is the trouble maker measure the feed lips with calipers. If the bad one is wider than the other mags - toss it. It looks like you had a hard push feed or inertial feed with the extractor behind the rim and then dragged the case through the lips. What recoil spring weight are you running?

It is a new to him gun. Doubt it has been changed from stock offering.

 

[halfmileharry]

It's definitely a Springfield. I know that by the vertical indentation in the case in your picture. It's usually not an issue though.
I'd try a different mag like a Wilson, EB, CMC before I did anything else. The damage I see in the empty casing is from jamming between the slide and frame and is to be expected. It's from the rear forward.
One thing I never rule out is any Winchester AMMO quality control. I've got 1952 and 1956 surplus ammo that's better than any Winchester I've gotten in the last 6 or 7 years.

 

[The Ninja]

If WWB runs fine in your gun, I'd just keep shooting that. For now use it as your SD ammo (it's still .45.) After you get a flawless few more hundred rounds down the tube, you can revisit the hollow points again. Your gun is still new and settling in.

That's what I've been using thus far and will continue to do so until I'm confident that my gun is happy with some quality HP. While .45 ball might not be the absolute best ammo available, it worked well enough in WWII to be deemed adequate.

It is a new to him gun. Doubt it has been changed from stock offering.

Yep. Completely stock with the exception of the new fixed rear sight.

It's definitely a Springfield. I know that by the vertical indentation in the case in your picture. It's usually not an issue though.
I'd try a different mag like a Wilson, EB, CMC before I did anything else. The damage I see in the empty casing is from jamming between the slide and frame and is to be expected. It's from the rear forward.
One thing I never rule out is any Winchester AMMO quality control. I've got 1952 and 1956 surplus ammo that's better than any Winchester I've gotten in the last 6 or 7 years.

If fixing my grip doesn't resolve it and it's not isolated to 1 or 2 magazines, I'll see if I can get my hands on some of other manufacture to try out.

That's pretty much what happened, i think. The round managed to get smashed in between the slide and the frame, with the slide stuck far enough back that I was able to actually manually engage the slide lock. That's part of what made it hard to get out: I could only rack the slide a few millimeters before running out of room. I recall distinctly having the thought after about a minute or so of trying to extract the casing: "If I'm having to actually use this ammo in a real life situation, this would not be okay."

I'll be honest, I'd expect a lot more ammo quality problems out of the white box than the "LEO only" ranger-ts. Not ruling it out, but I'd think that Winchester would be a bit more stringent on that line.

 

[halfmileharry]

IF it says Winchester on it, newer than 6 years old, it's junk. I won't use it. The only fails I've had have been with Winchester and some HPs in cheaper guns

 

[looney2ns]

IF it says Winchester on it, newer than 6 years old, it's junk. I won't use it. The only fails I've had have been with Winchester and some HPs in cheaper guns

Winchester has such poor quality control these days it's pitiful. I'd sure blame the ammo before doing much else.
I don't think they can measure a powder drop accurately to save their soul. Powder levels are all over the map.

I reload, and was having issue's with FTE's out of my 9mm Ruger Sr9 during IDPA matches. I use range brass to load.
I finally thought to use calipers on the various brass, the Win brass was terribly below SAMMI spec size wise at the rim. Stopped using WIN brass, and my problem went away.

Besides the fact that it is the filthiest shooting stuff on the planet.