Post by tpelle on Oct 13, 2020 16:06:04 GMT -5
I have an FEG Hi Power that I use for my EDC pistol. Actually it's one of those notorious FEG Counterfeit FN pistols, and I bought it out of a shipment of surplus guns out of Israel through Coles Distributing. Of course, being a straight FEG P9 under the parkerizing, it has the old style Hi Power barrel with the humped feed ramp. From what I've read, the humped feed ramp is not suitable for feeding "modern" large-mouth hollowpoints.
For the several years I've owned and carried this FEG I have used the Federal 9BP 115 grain JHPs for my carry ammo - mostly due to the praises heaped on it by the late Steve Camp. It has always fed 100% and produced fine accuracy. It was also cheap, usually under $20.00 for a 50 round carton. What's not to like.
Of course Federal has discontinued it! Bummer! Gonna have to find some new carry ammo. But in the pre-election panic and Covid pandemic, ammo is pretty much unobtainable, and when it is obtainable it's three times the price I used to pay for my much-loved 9BP. Good thing I stocked up on it when I had a little spare cash, but my supply ain't gonna last forever.
So I've been searching for a new barrel to drop in to my FEG that had a straight feed ramp that improved my odds at finding a JHP load that would feed.
Top candidate was the barrel offered by BHSS at $299, but it was out of stock.
Another candidate was the barrel offered by Brownells for $130. It is offered in two versions, one that is standard length and one that is longer and has the muzzle threaded for a suppressor, both at the same price, but both out of stock. The Brownells barrels are both only offered with a black nitride finish.
Periodically I would bounce back and forth between BHSS and Brownells to see who would show their product as "Back in Stock". A few weeks ago the Brownells threaded barrel showed as "In Stock", but I figured that the standard barrel would quickly follow, so I placed one on backorder. Received it last Friday.
I immediately grabbed my FEG, checked clear, and field stripped it. The new barrel dropped right in and locked up tight, so I reassembled the pistol and tried hand feeding a 9BP. Wouldn't feed, with the cartridge hanging up with the nose of the bullet just touching the feed ramp. Odd. I tried a ball round. Same thing.
I got my FN MKIII out of the safe, field stripped it, installed the new barrel, and tried hand feeding it. Both cartridges fed fine. Cussed FEG a little, and started wondering it I should send the barrel back, but figured it was mostly my fault it didn't work, as it was intended for an FN pistol, not an FEG. Decided to sleep on it for a couple of nights.
Monday I decided to give it another try, and reinstalled the new barrel in the FEG. Same result - didn't work. Field stripped the FEG and placed the barrel in the topless frame in the position it would be in during the feed cycle. I then installed a magazine and manually pushed a cartridge out of the magazine as if it was being fed by the slide going in to battery. The cartridge hung up at the same point, but I could now see where the cartridge was hanging!
Here's a pic of the FEG with the barrel sitting on the frame in the feed position:
Here's a pic of the FN MKIII with the same barrel in the same position:
See the difference?
Notice the parts of the frame on each side of the feed ramp. On the FN (second pic) notice how the edges of those parts facing the feed ramp are slightly beveled, and then notice how those same surfaces on the FEG are left with a sharp edge! Bingo! The sharp edge is where the cartridge was hanging up - that edge was catching the case mouth. The beveled edge on the FN would let the case mouth slide past.
I studied the beveling on the FN closely, then broke out a Swiss Precision File with a safe edge and went to work on the FEG. It took me about 3 sessions with the file, reassembling the pistol, and trying to hand feed cartridges until I got them to feed the new barrel smoothly!
Today I went to the range with 50 rounds of Federal 9BP and another 50 rounds of ball. Function was 100% except for one cartridge that I limp-wristed (darned hammer bite distracted me). Accuracy was improved over the original barrel. I'm happy. I would recommend the Brownells barrel.
So why did the original barrel with the humped feed ramp work on the unaltered FEG while the new barrel with the straight feed ramp didn't? My theory is that, when the bullet tip contacted the steep curved surface at the bottom of the humped feed ramp, the bullet was tipped up at a steep nose-up attitude. This presented the "curved belly" of the cartridge case to those aforementioned sharp edges, and the case slipped right past. Past that point the humped feed ramp straightened out, and the cartridge was now above the narrow part of the sharp edges and had a more or less straight shot into the chamber mouth. On the FN MKIII with the straight ramp, the FN factory beveled those same edges so that the case mouth would slip past without the case mouth catching. This must have been added out of necessity when the factory went to the straight feed ramp. As a matter of fact, the beveled edges looked as if they were added after the MKIII was blued, and were done with a file. I am the original purchaser of this particular MKIII and can attest that no 3rd party gunsmith ever had his mitts on this pistol, so the beveling had to have been done at the factory. Whodathunkit.
I've never seen a field-stripped FN MKII. Can someone here with a MKII advise if the same corners are beveled on the MKII?
That John Moses Browning was one tricky dude, wasn't he? But wouldn't you think that a straight feed ramp would have been easier right from the get go?
