[ronin8600]

I just received my new P30L V2 and have been having ejection issues with American Eagle 124 Grain 9MM (AE9AP) which I thought was pretty good ammo. It stove piped on me a couple of times and the majority of the ejections were weak and straight back (6'oclock).

I'm about to purchase some Winchester NATO to see if that helps. I was curious if anyone had tried to break in there P30L with this ammo and had similar issues because I thought most of the issues were with under powered 115gr ammo.

 

[Wolvee]

The whole breakin period thing is bogus. I know there are more than a few on here that will disagree with me. Every person I've seen that had a so called "break-in" period was limp wristing. From what I've been told it's very sensitive. There was even a thread about it just recently on page one about "a conversation with an Hk armour".

Ejection and stove piping issues are both signs of limp wristing.

 

[chester]

Maybe the higher-pressure ammo breaks-in the limp wrists.

 

[strider45]

I'm gonna' have to agree with Wolvee on this one. You should shoot your P30L again with the same ammo, and try to to get a stronger grip on it. I'm not trying to tell you how to shoot or hold your gun for that matter...I don't own a P30, but I find that when I let novice shooters use my pistols, they seem to encounter problems that don't ever occur when I'm firing them. Again, I'm not saying that you are inexperienced or anything like that...just sharing my experiences with the same problems that you've encountered.

You can also have someone else shoot the P30 with the same AE ammo, to see if it happens again...

Just my 2 cents...

 

[jaceh14]

Does it make sense that I only limp-wristed during the 1st 2 mags in my P30? I've had 2 failures, and they were in the first and second mags through the P30.

 

[leicar7]

The "break in" for the recoil spring in the P30(L) is acknowledged by HKCS, as well as by any number of anecdotal contributions on this forum. I had a long talk w/ their rep who dealt w/ my handgun. While a minority claim no problems using 115 gr immediately, most do, and need several hundred rds of 124 or NATO to break in the spring. Mine took nearly 1,000 rds. Another suggestion has been to leave the slide locked back overnight once or twice. While limp wristing may have contributed, I had not had such issues w/ my two .45s, and the purported "limp wristing" contribution was much more frequent early in the game. If limp wristing is the real issue, the gun is hypersensitive, compared to my two USPs, as it is to any lateral pressure on the side of the slide keeping it from locking back on the last rd.

 

[ronin8600]

Thanks for the advice on the gripping the pistol.

I'm a beginner when it comes to handguns so I could be the issue, but my first pistol was a SIG 226 and I've never had an issue with it failing to eject.

The next time I go to the range I'll try to work on my grip.

 

[Jim234]

You might also try while watching TV or such, taking out the magazine and manually cycling the action over and over to help it smooth out a bit (make sure it has a bit of oil on it).
The only time I saw one of the 9mm P30L pistols doing the stovepipe thing was someone with a weak grip and 115gr ammo (that seems to be the perfect combo to make it happen).
I was just out on the range last week putting 115gr S&B Ball ammo and 147 gr Gold Dot ammo through a P30L with no problems at all (it has seen a few hundred rounds).

 

[Apollo11]

I think the answer here is somewhere between some folks limp wristing, and some stiff springs and value line range ammo (weaker). I remember when was working up my 124g 9mm load, I started at 900 f/s for giggles and the gun literally laughed at me. I think the combo of new gun, weak ammo, and any bit of limp wristing will equal issues; take away one of those things and things get better.

ETA: The gun is now approaching 10K with all original parts, and no issues with function at all (besides my own loads that were intentionally pop corn fart loads, just for work up).

 

[Wolvee]

lock your slide back for a day and see if you have the same issues again.

 

[hkmanlp1]

My p30 was very picky about ammo for about the first 500 rds. I was using federal 115 gr. Finally I manually racked the slide about 200 times, and then left it locked back for 3 days. Haven't had an issue since. Some of these p30's are just a little tempermental.

 

[Brownie]

I think the answer here is somewhere between some folks limp wristing, and some stiff springs and value line range ammo (weaker). I remember when was working up my 124g 9mm load, I started at 900 f/s for giggles and the gun literally laughed at me. I think the combo of new gun, weak ammo, and any bit of limp wristing will equal issues; take away one of those things and things get better.

ETA: The gun is now approaching 10K with all original parts, and no issues with function at all (besides my own loads that were intentionally pop corn fart loads, just for work up).

I think this is the heart of the issue. A new "L" model P30 with a stiff spring is one of the least forgiving pistols that I can think of as far as limp wristing goes. It seems to me that the people who report no problems out of the box with 115 gr seem to be more experienced shooters who have established proper grips and therefore have no problems. Also shooting hotter ammo will mask any deficiencies in grip until the spring loosens up and and becomes more forgiving.

Saying that there isn't a break in period isn't exactly correct. There is definitely a time between the recoil spring being new and stiff and the point that it loosens up and becomes more forgiving to the average shooter. I think "break in" sums up that period of time better than any other term.

 

[majette]

blactical quiktrain video on how to shoot the lem. pushing the gun away from you and keeping your arms straight with wrists locked along with a firm grip helps.

 

[dobe]

The "break in" for the recoil spring in the P30(L) is acknowledged by HKCS, as well as by any number of anecdotal contributions on this forum. I had a long talk w/ their rep who dealt w/ my handgun. While a minority claim no problems using 115 gr immediately, most do, and need several hundred rds of 124 or NATO to break in the spring. Mine took nearly 1,000 rds. Another suggestion has been to leave the slide locked back overnight once or twice. While limp wristing may have contributed, I had not had such issues w/ my two .45s, and the purported "limp wristing" contribution was much more frequent early in the game. If limp wristing is the real issue, the gun is hypersensitive, compared to my two USPs, as it is to any lateral pressure on the side of the slide keeping it from locking back on the last rd.

Agreed. The earlier P30s were especially bad about this. My first 2 P30s would stove pipe with WW Box off and on for about the first 1000 rounds. The other two (purchased this year) have had no problem.

 

[SOCOMIISEAL]

Yeah you have to make sure not to limp wrist these I talked with a rep at HK and there getting a lot of these in for repairs due to that.

 

[texasgun]

limp-wristing? weak ammo? break-in period? weak ejection? are we in the Kimber forum or on glocktalk ?

if I were you i'd leave the slide locked back overnight and then see if the problem persists. weak ejection is not a big issue ... no surprise with a longer slide and a stiffer recoil spring. "weak" ammo just doesn't give the slide enough velocity when it pushes against a brand new and stiffer recoil spring. that being said : jamming is completely unacceptable!

i'm keeping sarcastic comments to myself (especially when considering how Glock got bashed here for ejection issues with their stiffer Gen4 dual recoil spring...) ... but if the P30L keeps jamming and failing on you (with standard factory ammo).... send it back!

If the P30L required +P ammo to function properly... HK would need to state that in the manual (and not actually WARN against the use of +P ammo in terms of "accelerating wear"). It doesn't matter if it's WWB or American Eagle or something else. We're talking about quality factory ammo from reputable manufacturers...not some ultra weak reloads...

Shooting is an expensive hobby... no need to make it even more expensive by running hundreds of +P rounds for plinking at the range. Aside from that: in a SHTF scenario ... do you want to be stuck with a gun which is picky with ammo?

 

[navyman8903]

I think the answer here is somewhere between some folks limp wristing, and some stiff springs and value line range ammo (weaker). I remember when was working up my 124g 9mm load, I started at 900 f/s for giggles and the gun literally laughed at me. I think the combo of new gun, weak ammo, and any bit of limp wristing will equal issues; take away one of those things and things get better.

ETA: The gun is now approaching 10K with all original parts, and no issues with function at all (besides my own loads that were intentionally pop corn fart loads, just for work up).

^ I like this answer the best. I feel like it is a little of both. HK likes to make things like everything else in Germany. Over engineered and Freight train tough. So with those as factors I can see that the Spring is probably a little stiff at first. I can also see how during that time the proper grip is important.

We will find out when I get home and shoot my P30. I am going to use 500 rounds of 124 NATO. But I might start off with 115 just for sh*t's. Because I am going to throw that video up as soon as I get leave. I can't wait to get home and shoot that P30.

 

[Apollo11]

texasgun,

It's not picky after the spring is broken in. As reputable as US made ammo is, it is under powered in comparison to Euro 9mm. Mine can chew up Fed Champ now like it's nothing, but it's getting close to needing a new RSA (due to the velocity of the loads I use). It could easily digest these rounds after a few hundred of my loads that are a little hotter than normal (close to a lot of Euro 9mm).

Shooting is an expensive hobby... no need to make it even more expensive by running hundreds of +P rounds for plinking at the range. Aside from that: in a SHTF scenario ... do you want to be stuck with a gun which is picky with ammo?

You're making a straw man argument about the P30/L needing +P to run correctly.

 

[ronin8600]

I was inspecting my P30L today and noticed the magazine had some deep scratches and was rough to the touch. Has anyone seen this before?? Could this have been caused by my frequent FTEs?

 

[Apollo11]

Normal, don't worry about it. All my mags that have been used have followers with a lot more marks than that. BTW, the FTE's won't effect the mags, the problem exist in the ejection port, not the mag (plus there are other rounds in the way of the follower).