Very likely the coppery-bits were causing the light-strikes/off-center. Before I read what you found, I was thinking debris in the striker, by the symptoms. My bet is you found it.
It could happen to any gun.
Don’t heavily-lube the striker upon reassembly. That just attracts more spooge.
Once you take it to the Range again, please let us know the results. I, for one , am very interested. 
Yup, never lube the striker or striker channel. I’m thinking I got it too, but we shall see if I can get to shoot it again this week.
There is a place (a small one) where the slide is enough forward to allow the striker to be released yet not fully forward enough to have the chamber raised high enough for the primer to be in line with the striker channel or, obviously, the striker. The gritty/ grabby slide/frame interface I believe is the culprit. Even after cleaning and oiling (more than once) the two components feel and sound as though they don’t like eachother.
Funny thing (not “haha” funny), I found a 9mm Squib laying on the ground at the range today, during Range Exercises. (it wasn’t from our class)
It had a distinct mark on the nose from the cleaning rod used to pound it out. You could just make out the beginnings of the rifling and markings from the forcing-cone, and the base was very blackened with partially-burnt propellant.
Luckily, it appeared that it didn’t completely ruin someone’s day. I showed it around a bit, and we had a short discussion about squibs, but I didn’t save it. I think maybe the Instructor took it for future reference.
Welcome to the forums @Nimrod We’re glad to have you!
sorry to hear about the issues with the Dagger Compact, I agree with TJ, and say it may be a break in period..I too would try a few different ammo types and cycle through them including using different magazines if possible. It almost sounds like some of the primers in that ammo were hard primer caps and or not fully seated … I think though that saying you’ve lost confidence with any other psa product off of the behavior of one new dagger, is a bit extreme, especially after you having such good examples before. THis one will work out, it may need to be seen by the guys at customer service, but it’ll be fine.. the fact is this one doesnt change how the others function, so no need to condem the whole lineup for one that in my opinion just needs to break in.
I can also understand your dread at having to possibly contact someone at PSA proper, and then removing your RDS? i assume its an optic, but if so why not just use the same screws you had to begin with? im not following you there at all. once you get it broke in, im sure itll restore your confidence by being quite reliable.
As always your more than welcome to vent. we all get frusterated at times especially when we have a new toy that isnt living up to what we believe it should. But rest assured, they will make it right if you have to contact them. thats why we have the lifeetime warranty after all. I urge you though, dont loose hope on PSA daggers you already have you know are 100% reliable. this one just needs a little more love before it is too.. thats all.
well.. all PSA firearms that are complete are sold with having undergone a pretty rigorous test firing.. so i’d be willing to say that that gun had been test fired and functioned without any issues on their ammo and with their magazine, which is why i asked you to try different magazines too..
IIRC they even test fire the complete slide assemblies sold.
Gamecock Operator, I had better be nice to you as I fly through the Gamecock MOAs fairly regularly.
I do not believe the issue was caused by hard primers as the striker marks were off center and when the affected rounds were re-chambered they fired first try. The poor slide/frame interface probably prevented the barrel from assuming its proper position at full battery while still being close enough to full battery position to allow the strike to release. Granted this is a narrow window of opportunity for failure but if you saw and felt and heard how bad this slide is on this frame it would be more readily apparent.
The screws holding the RDS to the slide are pretty much, at least with best practices, SUF (single use fasteners) given the hardness, dissimilar metals (screw vs. slide) LocTite and my using the Holosun provided Torx wrench in lieu of a shop wrench and either a padded vice or other jig to hold the slide. Obviously heat defeats LocTite but I do not know how it will affect the Cerecote. Mind you there was nothing improper about the installation but using the small Holosun provided small Torx wrench and a kitchen table install means the screws “could” be re-used but it’s certainly not ideal. Torx, like Allens but more so, are sensitive to exact wrench/fastener head alignment.
After swapping slides and frames with various Daggers I have, it appears to be isolated to “this” particular Cerecoted slide. Though not nearly as pronounced as with “this” frame, there is a noticeable rough spot just before full battery. With “this” slide and “this” frame it is really rough and makes a grinding squeaking sound - kinda like truck or train brakes just before full stop. It’s getting better with elbow grease but it is noticeable different than other Daggers I have.
Yeah, I was venting my frustration with this particular Dagger at the company - even though I have been a pretty regular customer for a good while now. The disappointment with this pistol doused me with buyer’s remorse on all of the other Daggers I purchased - causing me to wonder why didn’t just buy more Glocks or another Ruger RXM. Thoughts of the hassle of trying to even reach someone at PSA, let alone hope they fix it didn’t help as they seem more like a manufacturing and sales company than a service company.
I got bad one, it’ll sort itself out one way or another and I will carry on.
So you’re thinking it’s just a too-thick coat of ceracote?
Dunno but it’s a theory that possibly makes sense.
It is getting better with (many) slide cycles so it could be Cerokote, slightly out of tolerance slide, or … ?
The “hang-up” or rough spot right before full battery position is slowly getting less and less, though it’s still noticeable. I suspect that the next shooting session will likely be OK. We shall see.
Why not take a minute or two and run some emery cloth along the inside of the slide and frame rails? Barely takes any effort, could easily solve your issue, and won’t hurt anything.
Also, steel case ammo? Why? It’s not an AK, fire brass.
When you have an issue, it’s a lot easier to isolate out the potential variables (ammo and mags mainly) that could be the issue rather than jumping to entire conclusions and going on and on about the company and their production procedures. I have several weapons that just don’t simply like certain kinds of ammo, it could come down to dozens of little reasons why, but at the end of the day it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with them…and steel case is just not a common 9mm option and I bet there’s more than a few guns out there that would have issue with it.
i had a glock 17 oem that did this.. for years. i actually fixed the entire thing by swapping just the ejector. it’s like butter now.
yeah i believe you are right there as well Rufus.
haha well id hope youd wanna be nie to me for other reasons first off but thats as good as any reason i suppose. 
well ive seen them before when the primers arent seated all the way and the first hit pushes them some and the second hit actually sets them off once they’re in all the way but that wouldnt explain soft hits before they were sent off.
yeah, i can understand that, so did we walk you back from the ledge then? LOL. we’ve all been there one time or another.. i definately sympathize with you though. whenever we get a new toy we ordered and had been expecting it and finally get it in and get to play with them, if it doesnt do what its supposed to we all get upset with it, and get mad and need to vent. it makes sense. im glad you tried it on other frames and combinations.. maybe its just a co-incidence because of tolerance stacking the wrong way. sometimes ive seen / heard of that happening before.
we’ve all heard the stories about the customer service being less than stellar but for every 1 of the negative situations we hear about, there are 100’s of positive ones we never hear about. cause as we all know, the squeeky wheel is the one that needs the oil.. its never the good wheels that we hear about . maybe im just being an optimist, but you never know, you may get a good interaction with PSA and their customer service if you go that route. Time will tell and i’ll be interested in finding out how it goes if you do.
You all have been putting up with my complaining so I believe I owe the thread an update.
After many, many, many manual cycles of the slide, the rough, gritty, squeaky spot got to the point where the slide would either no longer hang up on that point if walked forward or wouldn’t hang up there if the pistol was even just shaken or jerked.
Based upon the foregoing, I shot is again yesterday and, with the supposedly dreaded steel case (but brass coated) 115g ammo and it ran flawlessly - as it also did with the 124g ammo I had also brought. Granted, it was only 80 or so rounds but at least I had no fail to fire episodes. For the purposes of a range toy, I feel as though it’s G2G. I do not trust it enough for carry, but so far, it’s shooting OK.
When I got home, I also field stripped and cleaned/oiled yet again - can’t hurt, right? It’s still gritty, grindy and grabby but less so than previously, I then compared it to other Daggers I have and it’s rougher than them, I also side by side compared it to my G19.5 which is a low round count piece and it was much smoother; the Ruger RMX was “like buttah” compared to the Daggers and the G19.5.
In sum, it’s a (range) keeper and provides decent accuracy. Lest I forget, it’s priced more attractively than the Ruger and especially the Glock.
ngl i want a rxm
They are awesome (RXM), love mine!
Glad to hear it’s better - probably needs a good 250-500 rounds through her to really get smooth
Wanted to share some crazy things I’ve seen over the last few range sessions. I purchased a couple Live Free Armory Combat 19 Compensated slides (LFA19) and a KM Tactical BDE (compensated) slide, put them on PSA Dagger S (the LFAs) and a PSA Dagger Compact (the KMT).
I had a ton of break-in issues… First, the KM Tactical was the one where I had inadvertently allowed the plunger spring to go in sideways. That mistake produced some weird stuff… First, Squibs (yes, it does NOT make sense), I got four of them in one session. Second, FTF and FTE issues, and Third, failure to go into battery over and over again… I found the issue w/the plunger, and had 200 flawless rounds through her on Monday. Now, the KM Tactical has about 400-500 rounds through and she’s good to go. It’s a TM Tactical Slide, CNC Tyrant Match Grade Barrel, Night Fission Sights, and the PSA Dagger Compact Frame with a Git Grips Magwell.
Next, the LFA slides… Live Free Armory puts a LOT of Cerakote on (it is THICK). That required a lot of rounds to break-in… They were tight, not a lot of slide movement, problems and more problems… Finally broke through and they are good. But I did have to change out a recoil spring - strangely, it didn’t fit well, was causing issues (I think the end with the screw head had a larger than spec washer). Again, very weird, but swapping that out fixed the FTF and FTE issues…
Last thing, tried XS Sights on the LFA slides, they came off in the first 50 rounds…. XS Sights says their sights are only good for Glock OEM slides 
.
I would use anti seize grease in the slide for break in its copper color just like what comes on glocks.
I got sights that I could push side to side with my fingers. Just clamp in padded jaw vice and center punch divots in the bottom of the sight it will expand and hold in the dove tail.
Sorry, front sight (should’ve said that).
