Today I was out with a new PSA Dagger compact that, as per normal was cleaned and oiled as well as slide racked a dry fired good amount before going to the range. It still feels gritty and grabby in cycling but hopefully that will change with round count.
Here’s the problem: factory 115 grain ammo resulted in multiple FTFs and failures to go into battery - typically in the first 1-5 rounds of the magazine. A tap on the (Glock OEM) magazine (w/o slide rack) would get it into battery most of the time but I was getting what I thought were light primer strikes. However, examination of the rounds that FTF revealed light and off-center primer strikes - at the edge of the primer and on the case at the edge of the primer pocket. Re-chambering the round would result in the round firing.
When I came home I field stripped and also removed the striker for cleaning and examination - all looks well except for some what appeared to be a very few small copper slivers that came out of the striker channel. I fired only about 50 rounds this trip with the Dagger. Same ammo functioned flawlessly in my G17.3!
What sayeth the Brain Trust here of those who know more than me?
Thank you all in advance for your thoughts, comments and suggestions.
Pistol: Brand new, all stock PSA Dagger Compact
Ammo: Mag Tec 115 grain FMJ
Magazines: OEM Glock 19 or 17
Welcome to the forum! I know it sounds crazy, but I just had a similar issue with a KM Tactical Comp slide in a PSA FDE Compact Frame. Tried a different barrel, spring, frame, and kept getting light primer strikes, even had four squibs where the bullet failed to exit the barrel. Fortunately I didn’t blow up the barrel ( knew what had happened regarding the squib after the first one). The first squib didn’t allow the next round to fully seat, otherwise I could have had a barrel blow up in my face.
After getting home, I fully stripped the slide and found the plunger spring was sideways in the slide…. I’ve NEVER seen that before…
Probably a long shot, but check it if you’ve not already.
You got really lucky the lodged bullet kept it from cycling, but don’t know how a light primer strike would cause a squib. Unless there was no powder in the case. I mean they either ignite and fire or not. Light primer strike has little to nothing to do with squibs.
I checked to see if the slide lock may have been in backwards causing an OOB condition, but it’s in correctly. I worked and worked the slide as well as trigger, oiling everything except the striker and striker channel, of course and it doesn’t hang up as much just before full lock-up; but it’s still squeaky, grabby and gritty. I know I didn’t buy a Rolex, but this one’s rough.
My research, and examination (visual and tactile) does show that the barrel shield does move very much vertically in the last couple millimeters of slide travel prior to lock-up. I’m thinking that the slide was “just enough” out of battery to not bring the barrel up to its appropriate position but yet enough to allow striker release. The slide’s movement along it’s travel is gritty and grabby even after very thorough cleaning and oiling.
I will shoot it again today or tomorrow and hopefully things get better but though I have a bunch of Daggers (Compact and Micro) it has kind of soured me on the brand as I never had this much trouble with any new Glock or other brand. Granted they cost more than PSAs, but at least I can confidently carry those for protection - not so with this Dagger and now, not any other PSA product. I have lost confidence.
The thought of having to try to reach someone at PSA (??%&$??) then having to remove the RDS to ship the darned thing back, only to have to re-install the RDS with having to source proper length replacement screws only to wind up with a range toy that I won’t ever carry just isn’t that appealing.
Thanks for letting me vent; just not a happy camper about the quality.
No worries man, totally get it. You did check (just to humor me) the plunger spring in the slide?
I’ve not had much trouble with the PSA Dagger Frames, I have a few of them, the only problem I’ve had was self-induced, when I tried to upgrade the trigger to a Gen 4 trigger bar/shoe and then had massive problems. I tried going back to the stock setup, but somehow that was messed up. PSA sent me a new trigger assembly (free of charge) and I swapped them out and the problem was gone.
I hate to say it, but since your setup is a complete build, your best bet will probably be to send it back…
Mine are mostly frankenbuilds, so I have to work through the issues myself - I’ve found that 3 of my slides (two Live Free Armory and one KM Tactical) required a lot of break-in. The KM Tactical was the one with the sideways plunger spring in the slide (yeah, I did that… NO idea how). The other two were simply super Cerakoted slides that were “thick” and needed some serious break-in.
Not to say you don’t have an out of spec slide, but these are pieced together and there is always that one… I had a PSA AK that was out of spec, PSA fixed it. Yes, it’s a PITA to remove the optic and wait, and I was unhappy for sure, but now it’s 100% solid.
Good luck man, these things really suck when they happen…
Let’s say it takes someone at PSA, who is handling the item anyway to pack it, three (3) minutes to check the function and general QC of a pistol - even though it may not take 3 minutes, let’s call is 3 minutes - 1/20th of an hour!
However, with break times and the extra time to remove from shipment, paperwork, etc. let’s say he/she can only “inspect” 15 pistols per hour. That means that if PSA pays $20/hr, it’ll cost them $1.33 to make sure a pistol goes out OK. At $30/hr make that $2.00 per pistol. At $40 per hour it would cost them a whopping $2.66 per pistol to ensure that they are OK, keep customers happy and achieve a quality/reliable reputation. With a benefits package, let’s call it $50/hour or $3.33 per pistol. They made a business decision to have me, the ELU, be the (uncompensated) beta tester,
Every gun is factory fired before it is sold. Your gun functioned fine. That leads me to believe that you should try the magpul mag and make sure you didnt mess something up with your initial cleaning.
My “initial cleaning” was after ascertaining the gritty, grabby slide movement. My thinking was that perhaps machining debris or some such manufacturing residue was the cause of the rough slide movement. I would have cleaned and lubed in any event as I have done an all of my other pistols. The disassembly involved with that process was only to Field Strip level and, as I have performed that function hundreds of times over many years, with many Glocks and a few Daggers, was and am confident that nothing got messed up. Not that I am incapable of error (just ask my wife), but nothing got messed up.
I do believe that the pistol was, in fact, fired before being shipped. However, the first round is not where the problem manifested itself; it was typical mid magazine more in the first half of the rounds than otherwise. If PSA only fired one round, they most likely would not have experienced this problem, BUT, I find it very hard to believe that such a poor slide/frame operational interface would be unnoticed and acceptable from a company that cared about its customers, reputation, returns and the like.
Hopefully this will eventually sort itself out otherwise I will commence the process of trying to reach someone at PSA and see what can be done.
Just saw magtech….try different ammo. Magtech is known for soft brass and primer issues. Add that to the unsupported chamber of glock style pistols and it can introduce a whole host of issues.
Hmm, the MagTech ammo I was using was steel case. I didn’t have any issues with that ammo in the Glock I had for the same range session but am certainly willing to try a different brand/type of ammo.
Irrespective of the steel cased ammo I was using and what “soft brass” may or may not do, the gritty, grabby slide functionality occurs with NO ammo in the pistol - before and after cleaning and oiling.
I’m too far invested in PSA products to start hating them now, but wish they paid better attention to QC and were more accessible to customers who need customer support.