Boberg XR9-s and Civil Defense 50gr 9mm ammo

I have owned a Boberg XR9s for a while now. I like interesting handguns, and the mechanics of this handgun are indeed interesting. boberg_civildefenseIs a double action only pocket 9mm, that has the breech set back further than a normal handgun. To accomplish this, it uses an elaborate system to draw a round off the back of the magazine, and lift it up into the breech.

Due to this system, the bullets are loaded projectile end first into the magazine. This may feel wierd to anyone who may remember the HK brochure handed out at the 2004 shot show featuring a similar photographic blunder. But perhaps the photographer who screwed that pooch was just channeling some future work by Boberg.HKbulletsBackwards

I wanted this handgun to be the perfect CCW handgun. Sadly, I just don’t feel comfortable putting my life in its hands. I have 2 different feed issues with the handgun that persist to this day. Two trips to the manufacturer couldn’t fix them, I doubt another will make a difference. In every case, Ive only fired ammo that is listed on the compatible ammo list hosted on the Boberg forums.

I felt a little better after going through 25 rounds of Civil Defense ammo and getting only 1 feed failure. Followed by 50 rounds of ball ammo with 3 more feed issues. Originally, this handgun couldn’t fire 6 times in a row, that hurdle is cleared, but its too little when a $400 Beretta Nano doesn’t have any of those problems and a similar size.

The first feed issue is a failure to chamber. The round goes about halfway into the chamber and stops. When in this state, I can not pull the slide back to eject the round, but I can use my palm to slap the slide forward and fully seat the round. It will then fire and load the next round with ease.

The second feed issue may be magazine related. I marked the magazine to see if it holds true. This issue is a second round popping up a little in the magzine blocking the slide from going all the way forward. Pulling the slide back a little bit and ejecting the magazine clears this issue.

I will be running this handgun in an IDPA BUG (back up gun) match this month that will allow me to check further if the magazine is causing the second issue.

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