Weird Question Regarding Hellcat Pro 9mm

[DanseMacabre]

Okay. I just used a Springfield Hellcat Pro 9mm recently for the 1st time. I was qualifying at a range on this 1st-time shooting & expected the gun to handle like every other semi-auto pistol I ever used. I had the slide locked backwards & released the slidelock. I then fed a magazine in, racked the slide, & the 1st round went flying out the ejector port. I expected it to be chambered but newp, it went airborne instead.

I've always handled my semi-autos like this so my 1st shot is single action. All my pistols are SA/DA except for revolvers. I honestly wasn't sure if the Hellcat Pro is SA/DA. Is this normal? It happened again the 2nd qualification round. Once more on the 3rd round was enough for me. The range officer counted all 3 ejected rounds as misses which had me flustered. After that, I waited to insert the mag 1st before releasing the slidelock. This time it chambered a round & the gun was instantly in battery, but then all my SA/DA pistols do the same ~ the only difference being my 1st shot will be DA on my regular guns vs SA.

Is this how a Hellcat Pro is supposed to function? I'm guessing this is normal & is probably a silly question to most gun veterans, but this was a shockingly unexpected thing to me. I'm assuming the pistol is SA-only & this being my 1st time ever shooting an SA semi-auto, this is how it's always been. Am I wrong?

 

[Occam]

Unless I'm truly misunderstanding something, it sounds like you already had one in the pipe when you went to rack the slide.

 

[DanseMacabre]

Unless I'm truly misunderstanding something, it sounds like you already had one in the pipe when you went to rack the slide.

Newp. It was empty. That ejected round came direct from the magazine.

 

[Occam]

Newp. It was empty. That ejected round came direct from the magazine.

No Hellcat I've handled behaved that way. Regardless, in the scenario you describe, I'd always leave the slide back, insert the mag THEN slingshot the slide home (never pressing down on the slide lock as a release). If I wanted to top of the mag, then, I'd do so, making sure the replenished mag is truly snapped in - it's tight quarters in those little pistols when the mag's full and the slide's already closed.

 

[DanseMacabre]

I'm definately stupified at what happened then. And I'm 100% certain I never once inserted the mag 1st before releasing the slidelock.

 

[Threeband]

Newp. It was empty. That ejected round came direct from the magazine.

I don't see how that's physically possible.

 

[DanseMacabre]

I don't see how that's physically possible.

At least I now know that's not supposed to happen. But happen it did. One round ejected & the one below it chambered.

 

[Occam]

At least I now know that's not supposed to happen. But happen it did. One round ejected & the one below it chambered.

The only thing I can think is that the top round in the mag wasn't well situated, and you dragging the slide back was enough to pop it the rest of the way out of the mag. I'm not sure if I could set things up to happen that way if I tried to, though.

 

[DanseMacabre]

The only thing I can think is that the top round in the mag wasn't well situated, and you dragging the slide back was enough to pop it the rest of the way out of the mag. I'm not sure if I could set things up to happen that way if I tried to, though.

I don't know if this would make 1 bit of difference but I do tilt my pistol partially sideways when racking the slide. I do that so I can make sure the gun is fully in battery, a habit I acquired after having some assorted ammo crates with the occasional bad round of ammo (bad seating of the bullet in the casing would cause the casing lip to catch & jam up the slide). Tilting sideways became habit after one too many of those malfunctions.

The range officer seemed to think my technique could be causing this but I've racked my other guns like this more times than can be counted with no problems. I have my doubts but still, this was my 1st time using a Hellcat Pro. This pistol was also a range workhorse with countless thousands of rounds put through it so maybe there's a "wear & tear" issue which nobody caught till I used it. And dare I say if that's the case, that gun is still on range because I didn't make an issue out of it afterwards. Tbh I wasn't sure if this was the gun functioning as designed & I didn't know any better or if this was a malfunction.

 

[LuckyShot]

you obviously didn't clear the gun. Ammo doesn't magically appear in chambers. At some point u might of manually put a round in the chamber with your hands OR if you had a mag in there when u released the slide it the mag wasn't empty.

If there were guns where rounds magically appeared everyone would be getting free ammo

 

[DanseMacabre]

you obviously didn't clear the gun. Ammo doesn't magically appear in chambers. At some point u might of manually put a round in the chamber with your hands OR if you had a mag in there when u released the slide it the mag wasn't empty.

If there were guns where rounds magically appeared everyone would be getting free ammo

I am absolutely 100% certain the gun was clear all 3 times it happened. It literally was ejecting the topmost round from the mag out on the backwards pull of the rack, & then chambering the next round on release.

 

[Occam]

I am absolutely 100% certain the gun was clear all 3 times it happened. It literally was ejecting the topmost round from the mag out on the backwards pull of the rack, & then chambering the next round on release.

Did it do this with more than one mag? Could be a played-out spring in the mag. How hard was it to get the last round into the mag when loading it, assuming you loaded to capacity?

 

[DanseMacabre]

Did it do this with more than one mag? Could be a played-out spring in the mag. How hard was it to get the last round into the mag when loading it, assuming you loaded to capacity?

It was a single mag that the range provided with the gun. I loaded 5 rounds per shoot which was the limit for each. This was my Day 2 handgun qualifications for MD CCL training where you do 5 rounds each, 6 seconds per round. Had to put a total of 25 rounds downrange & get a minimum of 18/25 on the silhouette to pass. I got 21/25, 3 misses due to this weird malfunction & 1 bonafide miss because after the 3rd time, I was a bit panicked & let one fly before taking careful aim. I had zero doubt I'd walk away with a perfect 25/25 score but suddenly I found myself sweating bullets & nervous I was about to wash out. I couldn't remember how many misses I was allowed because anything less than a 25/25 score wasn't even a possibility in my mind given the short range distances.

I actually brought my regular shooter with me but had decided the night before I was going to buy a Hellcat Pro as my EDC. After watching all the Youtube gun guys praise it, I held one at the gun store the night before & instantly fell in love. Like an idiot, I couldn't wait to actually come back AFTER I did my 2 day/16 hour conceal/carry course load to rent one. I had to get the range guys to yank one out of their rental case & let me use it.

Yes, I know. Totally stupid thing to do but I was like a kid the night before Christmas who just has to sneak downstairs & open up a present while everyone sleeps. I desperately wanted to shoot that gun & had decided 100% I was going to get one for CC. Why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone? I still passed the shooting qualification portion of the training but that was definately a dumb gamble I took.

Pretty sure the mag they gave me had good spring tension but then again, it was my 1st time handling it. It felt right though.

 

[Mark75H]

Ooof. That's not the legal course of fire. For 3 yards it's 3 seconds; at 5 it's 2 in 5, 2 in 5, 1 in 3 - reload 2 in 5, 2 in 5, 1 in 3; at 7 it's 2 in 5, 2 in 5, 1 in 3. 15 yards it the only distance you get 6 seconds for each shot.

 

[DanseMacabre]

Ooof. That's not the legal course of fire. For 3 yards it's 3 seconds; at 5 it's 2 in 5, 2 in 5, 1 in 3 - reload 2 in 5, 2 in 5, 1 in 3; at 7 it's 2 in 5, 2 in 5, 1 in 3. 15 yards it the only distance you get 6 seconds for each shot.

Yep. That sounds about right. I guess I conflated the 6 second timer with all the rest since the 15 yd shoot was the final shoot but there definately was different timers on the 1st few shoots. The entire time my brain was furiously trying to remember how many misses I was allowed. The range officer counting the 3 rounds lost to the malfunction as misses really threw me for a loop.

 

[Occam]

The range officer counting the 3 rounds lost to the malfunction as misses really threw me for a loop.

That's crazy talk. If you're using the range's hardware and it's malfunctioning, the instructor telling you to load and make ready should be entirely before any firing occurs. The malfunction should have been an occasion for mag out, slide back, gun down, live round off the floor, and the RO watching while the pistol was again made ready ... and THEN the counting starts. There's a lot wrong with everything you went through there.

 

[teratos]

That's crazy talk. If you're using the range's hardware and it's malfunctioning, the instructor telling you to load and make ready should be entirely before any firing occurs. The malfunction should have been an occasion for mag out, slide back, gun down, live round off the floor, and the RO watching while the pistol was again made ready ... and THEN the counting starts. There's a lot wrong with everything you went through there.

This.

 

[Mark75H]

In qualification shooting, malfunctions are scored as misses, but a malfuction of a gun provided by them should have been a do over. If it reoccured, they should have brought out a replacement. I would have had a temper tantrum.

 

[Occam]

In qualification shooting, malfunctions are scored as misses

Only once the string starts. The OP's trouble (whether it was his pistol or the shop beater, doesn't matter) happened before that. All bets are off until the shooter has loaded and made ready. That shooter, with that gun, in those circumstances, was not ready (three times!).

 

[Art3]

I don't have a hellcat to play with, but I just can't imagine how this would happen. I've certainly never heard of anything like that. If it was a problem with the feed lips on the magazine, I would think it would do it all the time, even when firing.

No other malfunctions at all?