Wife got a new Hellcat yesterday and we took it out today to shoot. She's not much for shooting handguns and hasn't shot one in almost two years so she's basically starting over. Gun was fine for the first 20-25rds then the next 100rds she was getting failures to feed at a rate of 2 out of every 10rds. This is what the failures looked like.
Attached File


The nose is pushed up against the front of the mag or barrel ramp but if you pulled back on the slide the round would pop back up and the slide would chamber it. She got tired of shooting so I fired off the last 25rds we had and had zero issues so I'm thinking she's inducing the failure somehow. She said she was gripping the gun tightly and it didn't appear she was limp wristing it. The one time she bumped the slide lock so I had her change her grip and watched her hands as she shot and she was not riding the slide or anything for the other failures.

Ammo used was S&B 115gr FMJ and Fed 147gr HST. The gun was cleaned and lubed before using it. I used shooter's choice synthetic grease on the rails but that's what I use on her XDM and my M&Ps without any issues.

When my Shield was new you really had to make sure you wrist and arm were rigid. It got much better after a few hundred rounds.

That's what I was thinking. I control the gun so hard my arms and hands get tired after a couple boxes but I doubt she's getting into the gun that hard.

I will say that even though the gun is pretty snappy(I'm used to full sized guns)it shoots nice and is accurate. I really like the sights as the front is easy to stay focused on. My wife was consistently shooting low left but it's her because when I shot the gun I put everything in the center of the target. She just needs more practice.

Low left for right hand shooter is usually too much trigger finger.  Maybe a slight flinch.  
Press trigger with finger  pad
The flinch might be causing the malfunction

Is wife name....Peggy....?

Low and left for a righty is from her squeezing the grip when she is pulling the trigger. It’s a flinch and not isolating her trigger finger.

No, she's real. I'm not lame enough to post one of those "a friend has this problem" threads.

I know she has a flinch, I saw it towards the end when she dipped the gun before it went off. She admitted she had one also.

Sometimes you can cure a flinch by dry firing the pistol a number of times. Make sure the pistol is not loaded, check it again to make sure it is not loaded, then have her aim at a spot/target and pull the trigger. If after the hammer falls are her sights still on the target? If not, she may need to correct her grip, may need to correct where on the trigger her finger is, or practice not flinching.

Once she gets those right, it is then a matter of practicing doing the same thing over many times until it becomes muscle memory. She should be able to transition the process to live rounds.

I'm going to have to get her to do that. Her groupings weren't too bad(for a new shooter) until she got fatigued then they opened up quite a bit. I could tell she was wore out and was going to say something but she told me she was tired and should stop.

I looked through my shooting log and she hasn't fired a handgun since 2014.

If I have not been to the shooting range for quite a while, I will sometimes find my self shooting low left.

I can do just a bit of dry firing and and get my proper grip, sight picture, and trigger pull back, returning my shooting back to what it had been before.

I hope you are able to get your wife in the groove!

She picked a heck of a time to want to start shooting again but I'm not saying anything. She loves to shoot clays and rimfires but it's been a challenge to get her to shoot anything else the last few years.

I'm kind of lucky that I can not pick a handgun up for months and my shooting stays the same, although I'm not what I consider a great shot with a handgun. I can only keep my shots in a fist sized group at 15yds no matter how much I shoot.

She got tired.  It's a light handgun w/ a good bit of recoil.  It might be too light for her.

I had one of the first Walther PPS single stacks. Really liked the gun but it would jam on me occasionally. Let someone.else shoot it and no jams.

I had 2 people watching me shoot and they never saw anything that would induce the jam. It was me, so I sold it.

Just thought I would mention, dry firing is usually only for center fire pistols, not for most rim fire pistols. You probably already knew that.

I think you are lucky to have a wife who likes to shoot. Mine doesn't like shooting, but I am lucky to have a wife who tolerates my buying fire arms, ammo, reloading supplies, etc. She likes to refer to me as a mag whore!

My wife has her own guns that she picked out herself, she just doesn't shoot them much. Not that I do much shooting either anymore. Only time she's ever said no to something I mentioned buying was the Barrett .50BMG. That was fine though because I wasn't really serious about buying one anyway.

Thats backwards

That's what I was thinking. I asked her how much finger she had on the trigger and she had to to the first joint,I told her that was too much and just use the pad. I'm pretty sure the low left was from flinching but we need to figure out for sure and correct the jamming if she's going to carry the gun.

The jamming is most likely from limp wristing.
I have an XDs, which from a size and weight standpoint is very similar to the Hellcat, and it does not like limp wristing at all.

That is also likely indicative of a somewhat looser grip on the gun and will allow the trigger squeeze to pull her off target. All of that is made much worse if she is flinching.
To get a good idea as to the severity of the flinch, load up a mag for her with a snap cap somewhere in the stack and watch. Pulling the trigger, expecting a bang and getting a snap cap will easily show the magnitude of her flinch.

One other thing that can be a contributing factor is the concussion from the shot. Have her double up her ear pro for awhile and see if that helps. I know of a few infrequent shooters that flinch on the expectation of the report of the shot more than the recoil.

I'll do the snap cap trick next time we go out. I usually load the mags for her so she can keep shooting so she'll never know. I know the concussion on this gun is pretty noticeable.

Let her shoot a few rounds of .44 Magnum. After that the 9 will be nothing for her. ??

Yep.

Subcompact 9s are pretty unforgiving, both accuracy or functionally,  of bad form.  

My wife also occasionally goes shooting with me.  My Shield 9 is not a good gun for her - she has issues with grip strength, and the sharper recoil seems to quickly exacerbate this.  

She can maintain functionality, but she’s trying so hard to keep a firm grip her accuracy goes to hell.

Now, with a 4” K-frame and mild wadcutters she can shoot solid groups.

If the pistol functions 100% for you, then it’s probably her form.  Maybe have her build her form using a full size pistol before transitioning to the subcompact?

She has a fullsize XDM 9mm that she's never had an issue with but it's been awhile since she's shot it. Will have her go back to that if she can't get the Hellcat to work 100%.

IMHO, bring her back up to speed with the one you know works well for her. (confidence builder) Then swap to the little one and take her the last little bit.

She should use as much or as little as needed to pull straight back. Most people should be using their joint and not the pad

This.

I was always taught that for DA triggers you pull with the joint of the finger, and for SA or striker fired triggers you press with the pad of the finger.

Just like most guns, most shooting techniques taught are intended for right handed men.

If thats how you can pull straight back then yup.

Most people need to shoot strikers like DA... But not all

If she's flinching, she's firing too powerful of a round or has too light of a gun.

Get her back to a .22, focus on trigger control, front sight, breathing.

Flinch is fear of recoil.

Practice, practice, practice.

Some guns are more forgiving of limp wristing than others. I’ve gotten rid of one that was. It was pretty compact and light, but I switched to something I was more reliable with.

Use your phone and video her shooting from the side at 90 degrees from about 10 yards. the video will help diagnose issues.

Smaller lighter guns are harder to shoot and more likely to limp wrist. My oldest daughter jams my lcp consistently. Fine for everyone but her. G17 or gp100 are better choice for her.

Small guns are not good for novice shooters and if a shooter isn’t very physical, not good for that either.

Understand that a small pistol has a small slide, which means less mass. So there’s less inertial resistance. To slow that slide down, a more powerful spring is needed. That makes smaller guns often harder to rack, but also making timing more important. The slide is coming back quickly and going forward quickly. That doesn’t give the mag much time to feed properly. If the shooter is allowing the gun to move rearward during recoil, it can easily short stroke, or induce the limp wrist failure. Small guns that don’t allow a lot of grip purchase exacerbate this further.

As for finger placement, I wish people would stop with the distal pad nonsense. Something that may have some value when shooting a hair trigger competition rifle doesn’t translate to pistol shooting, no matter how many times your pappy told you or that stupid diagnostic wheel. Please stop with it. What is important is that they can pull the trigger to the rear without disturbing the sights. Use whatever part of whatever finger works for you. It should also be natural and repeatable. If you need two seconds to adjust your grip and finger placement, it’s never going to work under any amount of stress.

As for the flinch, again the small pistol isn’t helping. Things to help with it:
Releasing some of the tension. New shooters tense up real hard and then in anticipation of the explosion occurring a couple feet from their face, naturally push it away from them. Small pistols tend to have bigger flashes as there’s more powder burning outside of the barrel. Add to it the worry that the gun is going to fly out of their hands (especially with a small pistol they don’t have a great grip on to begin with). Relaxing the grip, arms and shoulders can help prevent flinch. But, it can also lead to limp wrist (especially with...you guessed it, small pistols).
Double up ear pro. Plus try to shoot outside. The  reaction to the bang is from sight, sound and feel.
A number of people recommend dry fire. Dry fire can’t hurt (okay, it can if you’re practicing bad habits). But the flinch is a reaction to the gun firing. Dry firing lacks the stimulus that you are reacting to. My recommendation is actually to waste some ammo. Loosen up and get used to the bang by doing a mag dump or two. Gets you accustomed to the noise and all, and reassures you that the gun isn’t going to fly away.
It may not be just a flinch. It may be wanting to see the results. Instead of staying on the front sight and following through, you want to see where the shot lands and lower the pistol to look over it. Just like golf, if you try to watch your shot, you’re likely to stand up and top the ball. Focus on firing 5 rounds without looking at the target.  
It could also be getting tired. All tensed up and the gun is going to waver. The sights dance around the target and when you finally see the right sight alignment and sight picture you snatch at the trigger to get the shot off before the perfect shot disappears. Only by doing so, you ruined your own shot. It takes a lot to be a good enough shooter when you can snatch at a trigger without disturbing the sights.

Hope you find some value somewhere in this. I also hope people stop repeating the wheel of doom crap.

Other than the Mini-14 one.  

ETA:  Everything you said is spot on.

That isn't what limpwrist malfunctions usually look like. Bullet nosedives are usually a gun issue. Send it back to Springfield and have them figure it out.

That's what I thought but it never malfunctioned once for me and it was doing it at least twice per mag when my wife shot it.

I flinched so bad once I induced a misfire.  Got it on video.  In my defense, I then proceeded to fire 24x 3" 12 ga 00 buckshot.

I had a G27 that nosedived just like the OP's pic.

Long story short-  the problem went away immediately after I replaced the magazine springs.

They had only been kept loaded for 5 or 6 years...