Very, very dirty gun, effect on trajectory?

P

PieterVN

Inactive
Hi all,

Rented a 9mm Beretta at a range today.
Fired three shots through it with the following effect:
Gun was so dirty, the slide did not go completely back, the empty case just made it out of the chamber. After removing the magazine, it turned out the slide stayed back WITHOUT using the slide-stop... It required a normal effort to pull the slide back, so I don't think it was a weak spring.

Also, all three rounds ended near the bottom edge of the target (at 10 yards). Normally, I shoot a 3 inch group at that distance. Usually a bit low and to the left (still working on that).

Could this bullet placement (or lack thereof) be related to the malfunctioning of the gun?

Thoughts, anyone?
 
Could this bullet placement (or lack thereof) be related to the malfunctioning of the gun?
Click to expand...

My guess is that it's more likely related to the use of an unfamiliar pistol. At 10 yards, the bullet's time of flight is so brief that any changes in velocity due to the pistol's dirtiness should have a very minor effect.

It's hard to tell much from three rounds.
 
PieterVN, I tend to agree with Matt that most likely the reason for the low rounds was you were unfamiliar with the weapon. I own numerous Beretta's and whenever I let someone try one out they shoot low at first. I've always thought it was because of the design of the grip it magnified the 'heeling' of the gun some people do anticipating the recoil.

Darryl
 
To be honest, I doubt all the blame lies with me.
I don't want to sound arrogant or something, but I have shot the same type of beretta quite often before, never had bullets end up THAT low. a few years ago, this gun was the first semi-auto I ever fired, bullets ended up at a reasonable distance from the bullseye.
After returning this particular one, they gave me another one (same type), bullets ended up where they should (or almost ;-).
I do have seen that some people shooting a Beretta for the first time intend to shoot low. But I sincerely doubt it was the cause here.

Sight were normal, fixed sights. If the gun banged into something quite hard, I can imagine one of them moving a bit. But that would cause a shift to the left or right. causing a shift in the vertical plane that way would be a bit more difficult, am I right?
 
I'm sorry; since you mentioned that the Beretta was a rental gun, I thought it was a type that you hadn't fired before and were just shooting on a trial basis.

Even so, if you expected the pistol to malfunction, you might have allowed your concentration to stray from the front sight to the target, in which case the front sight could dip and the round would go low. Or if the pistol was so dirty that the trigger wouldn't move smoothly you might have jerked the shots down.

Can you provide a few more details, such as the type of ammunition you were using and the distance (in inches) the shots were below the point of aim? The amount of drop represented by shots at the "bottom of the target" depends, of course, on the size of the target.
 
What kind of dork's take care (or don't)of those filthy range guns? I would be worried about renting a weapon from them - what other surprises awaits you?!
 
Never Assume...

PieterVN, sorry for the assumption. I also thought you had never fired a Beretta after reading your original post. Any additional details you can provide will help to solve this little mystery.

Darryl
 
Sounds more like there is something mechanically wrong with the pistol. It is very hard to get a Beretta so dirty that it has function problems like you describe, however since it is a range gun and probably has many, many, many rounds through it. It is possible that the locking block is damaged. If you look at the front of the weapon in battery. You will notice how the barrel mates with the slide, there is normally a gap in the front of the slide between the barrel and the slide. If the locking block is damaged/out of spec it can cause the barrel to index wrong and that not hit POA/POI. The actually trajectory of the round can be effected by a dirty tube, but it true effect is on MV and unpredictable as to what it will do to the POI, but should not manifest itself at short ranges.
 
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