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Taurus G3C 9mm FTF issue

I got to thinking maybe I should start a topic on this instead of posting it in the G3C review thread. I'm not real bright sometimes....anywho...

I purchased a Taurus G3C 9mm last week. I'm a bit long winded but you'll let me know what I'm missing here. I have NOT got a chance to take it for a spin at the range yet, I was just too busy this weekend. However, On Saturday evening, I broke it completely down, cleaned each piece and lubricated it, saw no issues with it whatsoever. I also own a Taurus G2C 9mm and a Taurus G3 9mm and you'll know I sing praises for Taurus on here, I've found them completely reliable, accurate, and just overall great EDC weapons, especially the G2C as far as being able to conceal it. So, as you may or may not know, I use 147 grain Federal HST 9mm in all my 9mm handguns as far a carry ammo. I've shot a bunch of rounds of the HST thru both of my Taurus handguns with no FTF or FTE errors whatsoever, so I expected this one to be no different. I was wrong, now again, if I'm missing something here, let me know. The HST ammo keeps having a failure to feed on the G3C. It's not every round, but probably 1 in 3 so far. It's not only on the original round when you drop the slide either, sometimes, it will happen three or four times in a row before the next round will chamber, sometimes the first round chambers and there isn't an issue, but when it does not chamber, it's a dead weapon. You have to rack the slide very hard, then drop the mag to clear it. I have about 200 rounds of HST on hand so here's all the troubleshooting I did, I've narrowed it down to either a factory defect in the G3C barrel, more specifically in the feed ramp itself, or it just doesn't like the minimal added length the 147 grain HST rounds have over some other rounds I tried, so, here we go: Note: Again, the handgun has NOT been shot yet at all. No rounds except for whatever they might have fired at the factory have been fired thru the handgun. I suppose there is a chance there may be a bur or something on the feed ramp, although I ran my finger over every inch of it, and compared the barrel to the G2C barrel in every aspect, the barrel looks brand new, which it is...lol

1)Broke down the handgun, re-cleaned and lubricated EVERY part of the handgun...made sure the moving parts weren't gummed up with too much oil, if that's possible, then re-assembled and tried to chamber a round, again, about 1 in 3 won't chamber. The slide comes forward but the round does not elevate enough to chamber. The feed ramp on a 9mm is steep, but I've literally never had a problem with any 9mm round not wanting to chamber in a 9mm handgun I've ever owned. The nose of the round looks like it is not lifting up enough to slide into the chamber.

2)I have four 12 round mags, and two 15 round mags with sleeves for the G3C. The error is not mag related, at least not that discovered. I used all six magazines and had intermittent failure to feed malfunctions, all failing at the same point, the round not elevating and almost "digging" into the bottom of the feed ramp, again, the feed ramp is WELL lubricated

3) I changed out the barrel of my Taurus G2C with the barrel of my G3C. Upon reassembling the G3C using the G2C barrel, same length, they look identical as far as the barrel goes, the problem ceased to exist. With the reassembled G3C the problem disappeared, it chambered the HST rounds flawlessly time after time. Also, with the barrel of the G3C installed into the G2C, I was able to recreate the issue, BUT, not nearly as often as I did in the G3C. The HST rounds would FTF only about 1 in 7 or 1 in 10, although either is unacceptable in my opinion.

Now, here's the real kicker. I have about 250 rounds of Hornady 135 grain Flex Lock Critical Duty, the nickel plated round with the polymer filled in tip. I loaded up six mags after putting the G3C barrel back into the G3C.......each round chambered flawlessly, as did 5 different kinds of 115-124 grain FMJ rounds. I literally had no FTF issues with any of the Hornady or FMJ rounds, it's ONLY the HST rounds the G3C barrel doesn't like. So, having done all that, it has to be something with the G3C feed ramp and the HST round specifically, right? I mean, it chambered the other rounds with no issues whatsoever. I'm hesitant to take any action with Taurus before I take it out to the range. I'm hoping that maybe, firing some rounds thru it might break it in a bit and cause the FTF malfunctions with the HST to disappear, but I've never seen any 9mm handgun that didn't feed Federal ammo flawlessly. I've been shooting HST for quite a while, but the fact the handgun chambers all other rounds without issue is suspect to me. I'll try to post some pics of the FTF later if I can get them to upload.

Anyway, thanks for reading this and if I've missed anything or if you have any ideas, I'd greatly appreciate any input, and I thank you in advance. Ghost.
 
Seems to me it just doesn’t like the HST rounds, my first gen S&W Shield does not like Critical Defense ammo...period, but it eats Hornady XTP 147gr, maybe after you break the gun in, it may work with those, I don’t know, but, it can be frustrating at times. When I had the Kimber Micro 9, it would feed hardly anything, even fmj, but after I contacted there CS they stated it needed a 500 round break in period before you should use it with self defense ammo and for CCW carry.
 
Seems to me it just doesn’t like the HST rounds, my first gen S&W Shield does not like Critical Defense ammo...period, but it eats Hornady XTP 147gr, maybe after you break the gun in, it may work with those, I don’t know, but, it can be frustrating at times. When I had the Kimber Micro 9, it would feed hardly anything, even fmj, but after I contacted there CS they stated it needed a 500 round break in period before you should use it with self defense ammo and for CCW carry.
Thanks for the info. I'm hoping the break in period might be the trick. I have.....a lot of 9mm ammo, so here in a couple of weeks when I do get a chance to take it out to the range, I'm going to take a quite a bit of ammo and see if I can break it in, then see if the HST rounds will chamber without FTF malfunctions. It's just frustrating because I have a such a high expectation from Taurus and this is literally the first time I've ever had a problem with any handgun I've ever owned. I take very good care of all my firearms. If all else fails, I'll just probably carry the Hornady ammo in it, I just like to be consistent on my ammo choice for concealed carry. It's probably more like OCD when it comes to my firearms...lol
 
I have a question that the answer to sometimes matters and sometimes doesn't. When you say the HST will not feed , are you using the slide release to drop the slide or are you sling shoting it by pulling back the slide and releasing?
 
I have a question that the answer to sometimes matters and sometimes doesn't. When you say the HST will not feed , are you using the slide release to drop the slide or are you sling shoting it by pulling back the slide and releasing?
It failed using both methods, multiple time. I tried racking the slide quickly, slowly, both ways resulted in failures at about the same rate as using the slide release did.
 
you will need a dremel
Thank you, got an almost brand new dremel. Appreciate the info. I'm going to take it out and fire it first and see if that solves the problem, if not, this will be my next attempt for a fix.
 
Update....put about 200 rounds thru the G3C last weekend, still having the issues with Federal HST catching when you drop the slide. Strange that it's such an intermittent problem, not an every round issue. I've decided to just run the Hornady 135 grain Critical Duty as my carry ammo instead of risking a failure to feed when it counts. I've just never owned a handgun that didn't work with a certain type of ammo, it's a bit frustrating..lol
 
Update....put about 200 rounds thru the G3C last weekend, still having the issues with Federal HST catching when you drop the slide. Strange that it's such an intermittent problem, not an every round issue. I've decided to just run the Hornady 135 grain Critical Duty as my carry ammo instead of risking a failure to feed when it counts. I've just never owned a handgun that didn't work with a certain type of ammo, it's a bit frustrating..lol

I have a Keltec PF9 I bought new. It ate everything I put through it until I decided I wanted to carry Rem. Golden sabres . I went to the range , loaded the Golden sabres in my mags and started firing. I fired 3 rounds and then had a click. I dumped the mag and saw 2 rounds nose down in the mag and nothing in the chamber. I unloaded the mag and then reloaded it , making sure that every round was against the back of the mag like it should be. Reinserted the mag and had the same thing happen. I thumped the mag against my palm and the rounds jumped into the position they should have been in. I put the mag back in the gun and again the same results , nose down in the mag.

Ok , bad mag so I grab another and had the same results. I don't know why but it just would not feed the Golden Sabres. I loaded up my regular carry ammo and not a single mishap. Loaded my practice ammo and again no problem.

They never caused a double feed , a stove pipe , or any other condition other than always having 2 rounds nose down in the mag.

Sometimes it's just a case of :poop: happens.
 
Your conundrum sounds very familiar. I took five different kinds of ammo with me this weekend. Two kinds of FMJ range ammo, Hornady Critical Duty, the HST I've been having issues with, and some Sig Sauer V-Crown. So, I did a bunch of what you were describing. I took 4 12 round mags and 2 fifteen rounds mags with sleeves so I could not blame it on the mags. I put about 5 rounds of HST in each mag, had issues with all six mags, BUT, not in a row, and not one after the other. Sometimes racking the slide would cause the first round not to feed. It's jamming right at the point where the feed ramp meets the barrel and I can tell it's because either the serrations in the HST or the small diameter of the nose of the HST. So continuing on, I loaded up five rounds of FMJ, Hornady, and Sig ammo across all six mags, NOT ONE MALFUNCTION...lol. The G3C chambered every other round no matter if I short stroked the slide, sling shot or used the slide release, I could NOT make it malfunction with all the other ammo, I sat the rounds side by side of all five different kinds of ammo and the HST definitely has a small cross section on the nose of the round and the serrations are much more pronounced than the other rounds, that has to be it. So, I went online and looked at HST 147 grain plus P, the nose of THAT round is more expanded than the nose of the standard pressure, at least it appears to be. I can't find any right now, but when I do find some HST + P 147 grain, I'm going to buy a box and test it. If it runs, and I'm pretty sure it will, I'll use that. I really like the HST ammo, I carry it in everything I have, 9mm, .40, and .45 so I hate to get away from it, I'm just blown away that my G3C just doesn't like a certain round...it's like my five year old son absolutely refusing to eat Cheerios because he doesn't like the way they tastes.....but sometimes he wants them anyway????? My pistol is schizo....lol
 
Your conundrum sounds very familiar. I took five different kinds of ammo with me this weekend. Two kinds of FMJ range ammo, Hornady Critical Duty, the HST I've been having issues with, and some Sig Sauer V-Crown. So, I did a bunch of what you were describing. I took 4 12 round mags and 2 fifteen rounds mags with sleeves so I could not blame it on the mags. I put about 5 rounds of HST in each mag, had issues with all six mags, BUT, not in a row, and not one after the other. Sometimes racking the slide would cause the first round not to feed. It's jamming right at the point where the feed ramp meets the barrel and I can tell it's because either the serrations in the HST or the small diameter of the nose of the HST. So continuing on, I loaded up five rounds of FMJ, Hornady, and Sig ammo across all six mags, NOT ONE MALFUNCTION...lol. The G3C chambered every other round no matter if I short stroked the slide, sling shot or used the slide release, I could NOT make it malfunction with all the other ammo, I sat the rounds side by side of all five different kinds of ammo and the HST definitely has a small cross section on the nose of the round and the serrations are much more pronounced than the other rounds, that has to be it. So, I went online and looked at HST 147 grain plus P, the nose of THAT round is more expanded than the nose of the standard pressure, at least it appears to be. I can't find any right now, but when I do find some HST + P 147 grain, I'm going to buy a box and test it. If it runs, and I'm pretty sure it will, I'll use that. I really like the HST ammo, I carry it in everything I have, 9mm, .40, and .45 so I hate to get away from it, I'm just blown away that my G3C just doesn't like a certain round...it's like my five year old son absolutely refusing to eat Cheerios because he doesn't like the way they tastes.....but sometimes he wants them anyway????? My pistol is schizo....lol
And what really grinds my gears is that my Taurus G2C runs the HST standard 147 grain just fine, you can't make it jam with that stuff, I've been using it for quite a while. The two pistols are very similar as far as the guts go, not much difference but obviously there is something in the build of the G3C that isn't working. I'm considering taking it to a gunsmith and seeing if there's something he might can do. It's easy to replicate the error so I should be able to show the gunsmith what's going on.
 
Hey guys......

Found this thread on google. I just purchased a brand new Taurus G3 about a week and ahalf ago. I cleaned and oiled it last weekend. I am having the same FTF issue as OP, but worse. Today was the first day I tried loading a round into the chamber, because I was gonna take it to the range to put it through its paces.

However, I cannot get the damn thing to chamber a single round. It will not load anything into the chamber at all. I've used both of the 15 and 17 round mags, three different brand and types of 9 mm ammo and not a single one will chamber a round. It's doing the same thing that OP described. Pulls the round up and gets stuck at an angle when loading into the barrel like it's not being lifted up enough.

The ammo I've tried:

Federal 124 gr +P HST JHPs
Blazer 115 gr FMJ
Reloaded 115 gr FMJs
Magtech 124 gr hollowpoints

It has failed to load multiple examples of each. Has not successfully loaded a single round.

So far the fix seems to be to polish the feed ramps?

This is my first Taurus, but not my first gun. I did my homework and everything i found in both video and written reviews was overwhelmingly positive. Very disappointed that a new gun out of the box is completely inoperable.

I realize the price point, but I'm not gonna sit here and polish the feed ramps on a brand new gun just to get it to work how it should have right out of the box.

I'm in abit of a predicament here tho. It took me months to buy this because they've been out of stock. I got lucky and jumped on this one when my gun store suddenly had two in stock. Both gone same day and it seems I got the bad one.

I've heard horror stories about Taurus customer service and warranty claims taking weeks with them. I just figured because of the great reviews I wouldnt have to worry about it.

Not sure where to go from here.
 
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Hey guys......

Found this thread on google. I just purchased a brand new Taurus G3 about a week and ahalf ago. I cleaned and oiled it last weekend. I am having the same FTF issue as OP, but worse. Today was the first day I tried loading a round into the chamber, because I was gonna take it to the range to put it through its paces.

However, I cannot get the damn thing to chamber a single round. It will not load anything into the chamber at all. I've used both of the 15 and 17 round mags, three different brand and types of 9 mm ammo and not a single one will chamber a round. It's doing the same thing that OP described. Pulls the round up and gets stuck at an angle when loading into the barrel like it's not being lifted up enough.

The ammo I've tried:

Federal 124 gr +P HST JHPs
Blazer 115 gr FMJ
Reloaded 115 gr FMJs
Magtech 124 gr hollowpoints

It has failed to load multiple examples of each. Has not successfully loaded a single round.

So far the fix seems to be to polish the feed ramps?

This is my first Taurus, but not my first gun. I did my homework and everything i found in both video and written reviews was overwhelmingly positive. Very disappointed that a new gun out of the box is completely inoperable.

I realize the price point, but I'm not gonna sit here and polish the feed ramps on a brand new gun just to get it to work how it should have right out of the box.

I'm in abit of a predicament here tho. It took me months to buy this because they've been out of stock. I got lucky and jumped on this one when my gun store suddenly had two in stock. Both gone same day and it seems I got the bad one.

I've heard horror stories about Taurus customer service and warranty claims taking weeks with them. I just figured because of the great reviews I wouldnt have to worry about it.

Not sure where to go from here.
I'm sorry to hear that. I was irritated that mine won't feed just one kind of ammo, I'd be super pissed if it won't feed anything. I've never had to use Taurus customer service but I've heard stories spanning from horrible to great, so I'm not sure. From the articles and Youtube videos I've read, instead of a feed ramp issue, it's because of a divet at the intersection where the bottom edge of the feed ram meets the underside of the barrel. But, again, on the articles I've seen or watched it was just one particular kind or maybe two types of ammo. It was suggested that ammo with a small cross section at the nose area were particularity prone to FTF malfunctions, but that was on the G3C, not the G3. However, the issue on yours seems much more severe. I would think at this point, short of taking it to a gunsmith yourself and paying to have the gunsmith check it out, you'll be relegated to sending it back to Taurus for a fix. I'd definitely suggest taking some video or pics of the malfunction and put that on a flash drive or something to send in with the handgun. The more evidence you have of the malfunction, the less likely they are to send it back saying there's nothing wrong with it, which is B.S.....

As far as my G3 goes, it will eat any kind of ammo I put in it, hollow points or FMJ. Same with my G2C, the only Taurus handgun that doesn't like the HST 147 grain is the new G3C. I found about 3 boxes of Winchester Personal Protection 147 JHP in my gun closet a few weekends ago and I used it all up this last weekend on my G3C, not one single malfunction, 150 rounds, completely flawless, After I got done with the last mag of the Winchester, I immediately inserted a 12 round mag of 147 Federal HST ammo and.....JAM!!!! I used the slide release and the first round in the mag FTF. It's just frustrating....lol
 
I'm sorry to hear that. I was irritated that mine won't feed just one kind of ammo, I'd be super pissed if it won't feed anything. I've never had to use Taurus customer service but I've heard stories spanning from horrible to great, so I'm not sure. From the articles and Youtube videos I've read, instead of a feed ramp issue, it's because of a divet at the intersection where the bottom edge of the feed ram meets the underside of the barrel. But, again, on the articles I've seen or watched it was just one particular kind or maybe two types of ammo. It was suggested that ammo with a small cross section at the nose area were particularity prone to FTF malfunctions, but that was on the G3C, not the G3. However, the issue on yours seems much more severe. I would think at this point, short of taking it to a gunsmith yourself and paying to have the gunsmith check it out, you'll be relegated to sending it back to Taurus for a fix. I'd definitely suggest taking some video or pics of the malfunction and put that on a flash drive or something to send in with the handgun. The more evidence you have of the malfunction, the less likely they are to send it back saying there's nothing wrong with it, which is B.S.....

As far as my G3 goes, it will eat any kind of ammo I put in it, hollow points or FMJ. Same with my G2C, the only Taurus handgun that doesn't like the HST 147 grain is the new G3C. I found about 3 boxes of Winchester Personal Protection 147 JHP in my gun closet a few weekends ago and I used it all up this last weekend on my G3C, not one single malfunction, 150 rounds, completely flawless, After I got done with the last mag of the Winchester, I immediately inserted a 12 round mag of 147 Federal HST ammo and.....JAM!!!! I used the slide release and the first round in the mag FTF. It's just frustrating....lol

Well I have an update.....

So yesterday i took it apart again, and re-oiled all of the areas that might be causing the problem. I put it back together and still same issue. It wouldnt feed a single round of anything no matter how i racked the slide or locked back, etc...

I decided to take it to Scottsdale Gun Club where I bought it from since it had only been alittle over a week. They offered to deal with Taurus on my behalf if it needed to be sent in, which was nice. They took a look at it and loaded the dummy rounds they had and it worked flawlessly. Then they took it into their range and loaded all of my ammo, and again, they could not get it to FTF at all! It loaded everything just fine over and over!

Of course it would make me look like a fool........ They didn't try any corrective measures at all either. It just worked. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

I didnt have time to hit the range and put some rounds through it. That'll be this weekend. However, when I got home I tried it out and sure enough. It's working just fine now. Now I cant get it to FTF at all, which dont get me wrong I'm happy about, but geez what a way to fix itself, heh.

In all honesty, im thinking maybe the re-oiling I did just needed some time to penetrate? I use ballistol for all of my firearms.

Well, for now, problem resolved. However, I'm gonna put alot of rounds down range this weekend with it before I give it to my wife for her EDC just to be sure.
 
Well I have an update.....

So yesterday i took it apart again, and re-oiled all of the areas that might be causing the problem. I put it back together and still same issue. It wouldnt feed a single round of anything no matter how i racked the slide or locked back, etc...

I decided to take it to Scottsdale Gun Club where I bought it from since it had only been alittle over a week. They offered to deal with Taurus on my behalf if it needed to be sent in, which was nice. They took a look at it and loaded the dummy rounds they had and it worked flawlessly. Then they took it into their range and loaded all of my ammo, and again, they could not get it to FTF at all! It loaded everything just fine over and over!

Of course it would make me look like a fool........ They didn't try any corrective measures at all either. It just worked. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

I didnt have time to hit the range and put some rounds through it. That'll be this weekend. However, when I got home I tried it out and sure enough. It's working just fine now. Now I cant get it to FTF at all, which dont get me wrong I'm happy about, but geez what a way to fix itself, heh.

In all honesty, im thinking maybe the re-oiling I did just needed some time to penetrate? I use ballistol for all of my firearms.

Well, for now, problem resolved. However, I'm gonna put alot of rounds down range this weekend with it before I give it to my wife for her EDC just to be sure.
LOL, don't you hate that? It's like taking your car to the mechanic and you can't replicate the weird noise it's been making for 50k miles......I'm glad it's working sir, that's always a good thing. I've just started carrying Hornady 135 grain Critical Duty in my G3C and I don't worry about it at all, the only reason I was irritated is that I have 5 other 9mm handguns and I load them all with 147 Federal HST, have for years, without any issues whatsoever. I guess handguns can be picky....
 
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