Shoot another couple boxes of blazer, then herters again. If you get a repeat- then bingo.

 

In that last pic, you can see where the extractor dragged across the case lip.

If you have any Herters ammo remaining, I would remove the barrel and perform a drop test of multiple cartridges in the barrel to see if they all drop in easily. Maybe a few are out of spec.

I would suspect the ammo, over the extractor, but you might take a look at the extractor, just to be sure.

 

Remove slide and barrel. Inspect extractor, "claw" to ensure it's not broken or part chipped off. Slide a new cartridge base up the breech face, - it should slide up with minimal friction and only a little more as it goes into the extractor. Make sure the extractor moves freely against its spring - push in on the rear edge with a plastic pen cap etc. The extractor should hold the cartridge in place, even with gentle side to side swaying.

As @sprdvan says, drop a round into the chamber, it should go in and out smoothly by gravity alone. Clean the chamber well. Go shoot again.

 

Could the extractor just go bad all of a sudden? I feel like if the ammo was that bad, my 320 would have had at least one malfunction.

 

As a note of interest, it is reported that Herter’s isn’t actually a company anymore - going bankrupt in the 1980s. Cabela’s currently owns the Herter’s brand name and contracts out the actual production of the ammo to other ammo manufacturers. It is reported that Winchester is the predominant manufacturer, but there are others, so the quality of the ammo you receive can vary.

 

Even with Winchester, the quality of the ammo you receive can vary 🙂

 

 

I could be wrong, but your extractor claw looks to be intact. Maybe it has a bad spring?

 

you might take a look at the extractor, just to be sure.

Remove slide and barrel. Inspect extractor, "claw" to ensure it's not broken or part chipped off.

I was suspecting the extractor, too. I've had a few rounds fail to extract from my P365, too. I had to tilt the pistol back to shake out the spent cases from the chamber and then use a fingernail to get them the rest of the way out.

 

What kind of ammo were you using?

 

related? Maybe not?
This macro has 200 rounds through from a few weeks ago with no issues, using blazer brass.
Today I shot 100 rounds of Herters through it with five malfunctions where the empty casing did not eject and would seat at the beginning of the barrel above the feed ramp. I used a key to pry it out each time.

I'm guessing ammo is the problem. I've never had a failure to extract on a semi-auto, but I've had difficult extractions with hot loads in revolvers. If you had to pry 'em out, they must have been stuck in the chamber pretty firmly. Could be the brass, overload, dirty ammo that crudded up the chamber, I dunno. Maybe the P320 has a stronger extractor than the 365. Anyway, since the problem has occurred only with one kind of ammo, I'd suspect that first.
I've shot lots of Herter's through mine with no trouble at all, but like Phoenix said up there, different batches come from different sources and YMMV.

 

Herters is one of the few brands that i don't use because of constant problems. it is made by winchester, iirc, and they both had some pretty big recalls this year and last year.

 

I typically don’t buy it, but left my house without putting any in my bag. There was a cabelas across from the range and they literally only had Winchester white box and herters left. I’ve shot a lot of it in the past and didn’t care for it. It’s dirty and I’d always have a few duds out of 100 or so. I’m going to shoot some federal brass through it to rule out anything else.

 

The extractor on mine looks similar, down to that circular mark on the face. I tried to take a picture, this is the least worst:

A reshoot with Federal seems like a good idea.

Not using new magazines, by chance?

 

Nope. Same two that came with it.

 

As a note of interest, it is reported that Herter’s isn’t actually a company anymore - going bankrupt in the 1980s. Cabela’s currently owns the Herter’s brand name and contracts out the actual production of the ammo to other ammo manufacturers. It is reported that Winchester is the predominant manufacturer, but there are others, so the quality of the ammo you receive can vary.

I did not know that, thanks.

Looking over my log books, the most issues I've had with ammo seem to be related to Winchester, most recently some RED45 flat-tip .45 I tried in my 1911. Three Fail to Chamber (and the stoppage looked a lot like the OP's picture) in one box of 50. Haven't ordered any more of that, for sure.

 

Nope. Same two that came with it.

Gotcha. Is it this stuff?

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/herters-target-9mm-luger-115-grain-handgun-ammo

Looking at the reviews, most are positive, but there are some comments about dirty / failure to ignite / failure to chamber in there.

 

New magazines wouldn't likely cause extraction issues. There's no interaction between magazines and extraction unless the mag lip are so spread that they let successive rounds sit high enough to block the path of the round being extracted, but even if that were the case, the round would at be partially extracted rather than being entirely seated inside the chamber.

Ja I get it, just thinking of possibility of the rounds nosediving on a full mag, leading to a double feed. I just went through fixing that on my 1911 (imagine!).

200 rounds through a set of mags either way isn't a lot, and since the problems started with the Herters, seems like the most likely source of the OP's issue.

 

I have 1911 issues where the slide locks back on the last round in the magazine and then just pops the whole round out through the ejection port.

In the OP's photo, though, the round still in the chamber has a dented primer, ruling out a double feed.

 

I have 1911 issues where the slide locks back on the last round in the magazine and then just pops the whole round out through the ejection port.

In the OP's photo, though, the round still in the chamber has a dented primer, ruling out a double feed.

Good catch.

 

Yeah, Herter's is the only ammo I've ever had a Glock choke on. It's, as other's have said, owned by Bass Pro/Cabela's. However, I believe I'm correct, that 95-100% of Herter's branded ammo is Olin, AKA Winchester made. Even their .22LR bulk packs, of which I have a lot, say Olin. It's Winchester ammo. It's not good ammo. It's equivalent to WWB. If you don't know what WWB is, you'll soon learn; it's Winchester White Box and it's notorious for failures and issues.

Furthermore, the extractor seems ok, but if the issue is persisting with different ammo types as you said and continues, it may be a phone call to Sig. Plunk tests, as some have mentioned, to see if the chamber throat is a little tight with those various ammo types that you're having issues with. The P320 has a more Glock like extractor design, with a more robust design, so that may be why it runs the same ammo a bit better.

 

Most likely your issue is poorly made ammo. On the other hand, you can pull the extractor and give it, and it's recess, a complete cleaning. I have found that any amount of crud under the length of the extractor can cause intermittent failure to extract issues. It is a simple task shown in the video provided below. (You don't need to completely remove the roll pin. Only tap it out far enough to release the extractor) Additionally, a quick, light chamber polish using Wenol or Flitz will help with extraction issues. I have done both on my 3.5K round P365 with excellent results.

 

One of my German X-Fives will simply not shoot Mag Tech reliably and presents the exact same stoppages tha the OP has been experiencing with Herters.

All of my other pistols handle Mag Tech just fine, and it's my belief that the rimless portion of the cartridge cases is profiled slightly differently than that of the brands that function flawlessly in the one pistol, resulting in the extractor riding over the rim when a cartridge feeds.

I resolved the problem by no longer shooting Mag Tech in that X-Five and its been perfectly reliable for many thousands of rounds.

There's nothing "wrong" with the Mag Tech and it runs reliably in all of my other pistols.

I've only got a few X-5 extractors left, and they're as costly as gold these days, so I'm not going to mess around with one or replace it simply to try to get the gun to shoot Mag Tech reliably.

 

Today I ran 150 rounds of Blazer Brass through it and had zero issues. Thankfully it was just the ammo last week.

 

Additionally, a quick, light chamber polish using Wenol or Flitz will help with extraction issues. I have done both on my 3.5K round P365 with excellent results.

Can you elaborate a bit on how you do this? I clean the bore/chamber with a Hoppe's snake but confess I don't spend a lot of time on the chamber. A couple passes is about all I do. I've never spent much time looking at the chamber, but now you mention it, maybe I ought to take a look.

Today I ran 150 rounds of Blazer Brass through it and had zero issues. Thankfully it was just the ammo last week.

Outstanding.

 

Can you elaborate a bit on how you do this? I clean the bore/chamber with a Hoppe's snake but confess I don't spend a lot of time on the chamber. A couple passes is about all I do. I've never spent much time looking at the chamber, but now you mention it, maybe I ought to take a look.



Outstanding.

This will make some folks here cringe, but I used a Dremel VERY CAREFULLY and SLOWLY! Dremels can get you into a lot of trouble if you don't plan on what you are going to do and have the proper sized polishing tips. Most people can get away with some quality Q-tips dipped in a polishing medium. I use the red tube of Wenol.
Bore snakes are good for a quick bore swab after a range session, but are not a substitute for a proper sized bore brush, some Hoppes #9, and followups with a proper sized patch and jag.

 

Good thread. Some ammo, and some batches of some ammo types, will not work well in a given pistol. Worth doing a plunk test with any given type of ammo to make sure it seats well and extracts easily in your pistol. Chamber specs, irregularities, powder residue, etc., can cause dimensions to vary. The chamber in a given gun may also be a bit oversized or undersized, scratched or scuffed up, etc.

Some serious shooters will test every self-defense round they intend to carry with a plunk test - to make sure there are no surprises.

Chambers can be cleaned like the barrel - with a solvent and brass wire brush - but also can be cleaned with Flitz. But I avoid using any mechanical (motor driven) buffing wheels inside the chamber -- because I don't want to make a dimensional change in the metal. Given mechanical driving power, speed in RPMs, resultant heat, etc., you probably could damage the inside of a barrel or a chamber even with Flitz, which the maker claims has no abrasives. Flitz, which does miraculous work in polishing my stainless steel watch, should be avoided on blued parts of guns.

I've hand-loaded a lot and shot most of the common brands -- including a bunch of Herters that was actually S&B -- and lately have been shooting MagTech and S&B 115 grain because it is available at good prices (around .25 per round) on the web. Most is well within spec but occasionally a couple of bad rounds will sneak through (I have seen two or three rounds out of thousands with primers in sideways or backwards). FWIW, I've never had any problems with WWB, which gets maligned a lot on the interweb. I stay away from Russian-made ammo, whether in brass cases or mild steel cases.

 

I simply use a bore brush to clean chamber and barrel with some Hoppe's 9. Never had any issues with a casing getting stuck after ~8000 rounds. Haven’t “polished” anything on any of my handguns.

 

I had issues with this gun last night again, this time with Winchester white box. My 365 X handled it fine, but the macro was a malfunction of the same type every few rounds. I’m done with this gun. Getting sold. Everything must go. I had just bought an optic for it too, even though my astigmatism doesn’t like green dots either.

 

Have you contacted Sig Customer Service to see what they say?

Be specific with all details when you discuss with them.

 

Did you remove the barrel and see if a round slips in and out easily? I know in 1911's sometimes the barrel needs work where the round chambers.

 

Yep. Blazer brass seems to run fine in it.

 

I had a Ruger Lc9 that wouldn't extract Federal I narrowed it down to the extractor cut in the case. Two trips to Ruger could not cure the problem it went down the road.

 

The vast majority of feed issues are magazine related . Also was the unspent case stuck ? You say pry ? you would be better off if it happens again . Taking a cleaning rod with a plastic tip and pushing it out . If it was so tight you literally had to pry it . That's the ammo not the gun . If it was loose inside the chamber then it's a gun issue or mag issue