Posted: 2/17/2014 7:22:35 PM EDT
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A couple of weeks ago I picked up a G42 blue label. I really like the pistol and find it to be extremely accurate, soft shooting and with great ergonomics. However, I've had several FTF and FTE. Let me tell you about them…
Cleaned and lubed pistol before use. Ammo used: 25-Hornady Critical Defense FTX bullet 125-Monarch BrassFMJ (really Privi Partisan) 5-Monarch Steel FMJ (Wolf/Tula) 100-PMC Bronze FMJ Federal Hydra-Shok (hand cycled only) Hornady-With one in the pipe and 6 in the mag, I twice encountered a failure to feed after the first shot. Subsequent shots performed without issue. Monarch Brass-One failure to feed on the first mag. I seem to recall it was again with a fully loaded mag and one in the pipe. Monarch Steel-Don't even bother. All 5 rounds failed to eject. PMC-99 rounds functioned without issue. One FTE when shooting left handed with light grip and intentionally limp wristing. Federal Hydra-Shok- Have not fired yet, but have found them to be very difficult to hand cycle. At this point after 255 rounds, I simply don't have enough faith in the pistol to shoot anything but FMJ. I realize many people suggest shooting FMJ in a .380 for improved penetration but I'd like to know that there's at least one or two hollow point loads that work reliably both in the gun and in terms of penetration/expansion. I think I'm going to leave the slide locked back and the magazines loaded for a day or so, to see if that makes any difference. |
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I got out with mine for the first time today. 50 rounds of WWB without a hitch.
Tried one mag of Buffalo Bore - no problems. 10 rounds of Hornady. Now, this is interesting. Earlier in the week, I had loaded a mag of Hornady and inserted it into the G42 with the slide locked back. When I power stroked the slide, the first round took a nose dive. Fifth and fourth rounds did the same. At the third round, it fed correctly. My initial thought was that it was a combination of bullet shape and new mags. I had no issues shooting Hornady today. I shot it after the WWB and BB. I will probably keep an eye on it. Funny thing is when I got back in the car, I loaded fresh mags with Hornady and went to chamber a round. It hung up for a second (nowhere near as bad as earlier in the week) before going into battery. I guess it is breaking in. Like I said, I will keep an eye on it. Neat little gun. |
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I got out with mine for the first time today. 50 rounds of WWB without a hitch. Tried one mag of Buffalo Bore - no problems. 10 rounds of Hornady. Now, this is interesting. Earlier in the week, I had loaded a mag of Hornady and inserted it into the G42 with the slide locked back. When I power stroked the slide, the first round took a nose dive. Fifth and fourth rounds did the same. At the third round, it fed correctly. My initial thought was that it was a combination of bullet shape and new mags. I had no issues shooting Hornady today. I shot it after the WWB and BB. I will probably keep an eye on it. Funny thing is when I got back in the car, I loaded fresh mags with Hornady and went to chamber a round. It hung up for a second (nowhere near as bad as earlier in the week) before going into battery. I guess it is breaking in. Like I said, I will keep an eye on it. Neat little gun. You might might mark one of your mags to see if one mag is doing this or both mags. I usually put dots of correction fluid on my Glock mags so I can see if one mag acts up. |
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what do the extractor grooves look like on your brass? over at Glocktalk, they are saying that brass like on the left and right of this pic eject ok, but the ones in the center can have issues http://www.glocktalk.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=238048&stc=1&d=1392146852 That's interesting. The PMC and Hornady cases are pretty similar. The Monarch (PPU) cases look much more like the R-P cases. The Monarch (PPU) was likely the most reliable to date. But, the PMC has performed almost flawlessly. FYI, Federal Hydrashok cases appear identical to the Hornady. |
I have shot 500 rds of BVAC reloads (all diffrent brass) with NO malfunctions of any type. I even shot 50 rounds of some super hot HP relaods I got from a gun show with no problems. I love this gun! And becides ball ammo has been killing people for a long time, I don't mind carring it............Sully
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UPDATE
I left the gun with the slide locked back and both magazines loaded for about two days. I don't know if it made a difference, but the gun is shooting 100% now (except with Wolf). Took it to the range just a bit ago and put 50 rounds of PMC FMJ through it with zero problems. Then I put 25 rounds of Federal Hydra-Shok through it. I had noticed that most of my prior FTF happened with a full magazine after the first shot. I've read people are having a similar problem. So, I loaded a round in the pipe and and with a full magazine fired one shot to ensure proper feeding. I did this probably 10 or so times and never had an issue. The Federal Hydra-Shok was 100%. Then I did the same test with Hornady FTX. I had a few issues earlier with this ammo so I tried 10 more rounds (single shot w/ full magazine) to ensure proper feeding. 100%. Then I fired another 50 rounds of PMC FMJ with one in the pipe and full mag, strong hand, weak hand, rapid fire and limp wristing the shit out of it. Zero issues, 100% The Wolf had been an absolute disaster previously. This time it did feed a bit more reliably, but rarely had enough oomph to fully cycle the slide and in some cases failed to load a new round or didn't have enough inertia to fully chamber a round. So Wolff is a FAIL. NOTES: The Federal Hydra-Shok was the hottest round and ejected the brass about 3' to the right. It was very accurate and the pistol ate it up. The Hornady FTX was slightly softer and the brass dropped to my 2 o'clock position about 1.5-2' out. The PMC was softer still, and the ammo ejected to the right about a foot and occasionally just kind of fell out of the pistol. But, it was also 100%. I now have much more faith in this little pistol and love how it shoots. Very accurate, fast follow up shots and arguably better terminal performance than the LCP and Kahr due to the longer barrel and slightly better velocity. No, it's not a 9mm but I'm impressed. I now have about 390 rounds through mine and aside from the Wolf, I've had 4 failures to feed and all were in the first 100 rounds fired. I'm very confident in FMJ and also confident enough in the Hydra-Shok that I'll likely carry that load, with FMJ in my back-up mag. Now, off to Cabela's to buy reloading supplies for .380! 
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I just returned from the range after shooting my G42 and found some of the same issues mentioned above.
50 rounds of PMC FMJ 90 grn-1 failure to feed, 1 failure to extract and half a dozen failures to lock the slide back when empty 50 rounds of Remington FMJ 95 grn-3 failures to lock the slide back when empty 50 rounds of Winchester FMJ 95 grn-4 failures to lock the slide back when empty 40 rounds of Buffalo Bore FN cast 100 grn-0 failures 20 rounds of Buffalo Bore FN cast 100 grn +P-0 failures It seems like the G42 likes the faster heavier loads better and there didn't seem to be a big difference in felt recoil and only slightly more muzzle flip. It was definitely a much better shooter than the LCP in 380ACP or the Beretta Nano in 9mm. |
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I just returned from the range after shooting my G42 and found some of the same issues mentioned above. 50 rounds of PMC FMJ 90 grn-1 failure to feed, 1 failure to extract and half a dozen failures to lock the slide back when empty 50 rounds of Remington FMJ 95 grn-3 failures to lock the slide back when empty 50 rounds of Winchester FMJ 95 grn-4 failures to lock the slide back when empty 40 rounds of Buffalo Bore FN cast 100 grn-0 failures 20 rounds of Buffalo Bore FN cast 100 grn +P-0 failures It seems like the G42 likes the faster heavier loads better and there didn't seem to be a big difference in felt recoil and only slightly more muzzle flip. It was definitely a much better shooter than the LCP in 380ACP or the Beretta Nano in 9mm. Try leaving the slide locked back for a few days and try again. I agree, I think it likes hotter loads. I've never had an issue with extraction or getting the slide to lock back with anything other than Wolf. I just picked up 100 rds of Herter's (really S&B) and supplies to start reloading .380. I'll start experimenting in the next several weeks. |
| This is good to know, I'm definitely picking one up to replace the LCP. I hate that thing. I got it originally for my wife but that trigger pull for her is just horrible. I was about to get a Sig P238 then Shot happened. I'll probably end up carrying the G42 on days I don't feel like carrying my 23 or 27. :) |
I picked up a G42 for the wife to carry and played with it a little bit at a local Steel Challenge match today. Recoiled like a pop gun and was a lot of fun to shoot. Much more controllable than any of the pocket .380s and 9mms. I ran a stage with it today for fun (Glock 42 stage at the end of the video): |
I picked one up after fondling it at the LGS. It felt great in the hands so I figured why not. I thought I would put a couple boxes through it and pass it off to the wife. I now have 100 rounds through it and the Wife will need to buy her own if she wants one 
Makes for a great BUG in a 5.11 holster shirt or a gun to toss in your pocket for a quick run to the gas station un the street. I've been carrying for 15 years now and it's nice to have options. |
| Took it out again today. I only put a few mags through it (I really didn't want to expend all my ball ammo, supply is so scarce right now), but I fired some Buffalo Bore at some milk jugs filled with water. At 3-4 yards, bulletin went into the third milk jug. Perfect expansion, no jacket separation, and it looked as though it retained all of its weight. Nice little mushroom. BB is definitely going to be my carry ammo. |
| Hornady critical defense is the only ammo I can get my G42 to eat without a jam. I tried 100 rounds of RP Golden Saber and 50 rounds of ball ammo. I had FTF after the first shot on half my mags. I shot 100 rounds of Hornady CD today without a problem. After 100 more rounds without a problem, I'll carry it. |