I was shooting Winchester Ranger 180 grain ammo and Herter's TNJ 165 grain ammo with aluminum casings. It jammed with the Herter's. Also the round did drop into the barrel.
I was shooting Winchester Ranger 180 grain ammo and Herter's TNJ 165 grain ammo with aluminum casings. It jammed with the Herter's. Also the round did drop into the barrel.
I have tried this w/ some guns w/ decockers. Ayoob mentioned it in his Sig Sauer book. You drop the decocker, if the pencil jumps the decocker may have issues and the firing pin is hitting the eraser. If it doesn't move your firing pin is being stopped and the decocker is working as it should be.
Ayoob is where I originally heard about the test. I was researching it further with videos online and my only concern is that for the videos I've seen, the pencil jumps a few feet out of the barrel or across a room. With my P2000 it is merely jumping about an inch or two.
Which end of the pencil went in first? My HK45C only jumps the pencil about the same inch you describe if I load the eraser first - but the rubber of the eraser absorbs a lot of the impact. If I load an unsharpened pencil end in first it flies out and goes several feet. I can't test the decocking function as I've converted to light LEM so there is no decocker - and that's where I think this test is most meaningful.
But what counts - at the range - is that it goes bang every time.
Last edited by JR956678; 01-24-2012 at 01:23 PM.
If you want distance from your "shot", use a plain stick Bic pen. That what I have used before in other guns. I just tried it in my P2000 and it shot about 15 feet. Oddly enough I have shot one out of other guns and it shoot across my garage (about 30 feet). Only thing I can think of right off is that my 2000 is a .40 and all others I have tried are 9mm. A Bic is the perfect diameter for 9mm. With a .40 the firing pin is going to be off center. don't know how much difference that would make. But considering we are talking about most non-scientific test ever........i boubt it matters much.:)
But I have never had a malfunction in my P2k in roughly 700 rounds.
Last edited by twpayne75; 01-24-2012 at 03:21 PM.
Hmm, I just tried it with a Bic pen and I must say you are correct. Pen flew across the room. However, I'm starting to think the previous jams may have had something to do that the gun was made in 2008 and I picked it up about two months ago, making it almost four years without being fired. Just a theory but it seems to fit. I think.
Although, your additional comment about lack of any ignition problem indicate otherwise. The pencil jumping about an inch is not sufficient. I'm just wondering if you are using a "Standard" wooden pencil that is loose in your barrel ?? And is it sufficiently centered that it's being hit properly ??
Provided that the pencil is loose in the barrel and being hit solidly, the pencil should fly out of the barrel. ( with the gun pointing up.) I've used chopsticks to test my FP, when I changed it to the new style, and it hit my ceiling. The FP is hitting it hard enough that you can see the little holes in the wood. So, there is some thing wrong if the pencil is only jumping an inch.
Few possiblity come to mind:
-Dirty FP channel.
-Broken parts: broken FP, FPB, FP spring...
I don't agree with others that basically said "If you aren't having an issue then don't worry about it". You are either not performing the test correctly OR there is some thing wrong. (And the pencil test is pretty hard to do incorrectly).
Also, I tried it with the pencil again, this time with the unsharpened flat side and it flew out a couple of feet and I saw a hole in the pencil where the firing pin struck. For future reference however, how would I get to the firing pin if I needed to do some closer diagnostics?