This past Tuesday I picked up my new Performance Center 9L in 9mm.  I took it home, took it apart, and cleaned and lubricated it.  Wednesday, I took it to the range, fired 100 rounds, and I have a problem with it,  About every third round would fail to chamber.  The tip of the firing pin would stick through the firing pin hole and prevent the round from sliding all the way up the bolt face so the slide can chamber it.  I took it home, took it apart again and looked every thing over.  I took the striker assembly out and everything looks to be assembled correctly, There isn't any obstruction in the firing pin channel and it is clean.

I took it out again yesterday and fired another 100 rounds through it.  This time it did the same thing, but only about once every 17 rounds this time.  Any thoughts on what could be the cause of this?

Slide the firing pin into the hole manually and see if there is enough clearance for it to retract with no drag.

The spring easily pulls it back, but it feels a little rough.  If I dry fire it, and then lock the slide back, the tip of the pin is showing.  If I then release the slide all the way forward and the pull it back again, the firing pin has been retracted all the way and no longer shows.  

I just spoke with a friend of mine who ordered the same handgun about the same time I did, and he said that his has the exact same problem that mine does.  He also has an older one and he said it has run perfect from day one.

I've been playing with it and watching how it is working.  When I dry fire it and pull the slide back, the firing stays forward showing through the firing pin hole.  As I slowly release the slide, the firing pin doesn't fully retract until just before the slide closes all the way home.  I'm guessing that when my handgun works like it is supposed to, the firing pin retracts sooner.  I'm also guessing that when it stays forward and stops the round from being chambered, the tang on the firing pin isn't catching on the piece that cocks the firing pin.

A friend of mine figured out what the problem is.  The plastic sleeve that stays in the firing pin channel in the new handguns are shorter that the one in his older handgun.  His older one has two pieces that are pressed together, and it looks like the newer shorter one lets the firing pin protrude through the firing pin hole when it shouldn't.

Here are a couple of pictures.

These are the plastic sleeves from the firing pin channels.  The longer one is from the older 9L.  The shorter is allowing the firing pin to stay forward with the tip protruding through the firing pin hole while the slide is moving forward.



This is what it is doing.