Sand? Brass Flakes?

[foo.c]

My XD 9mm SC had only 100 rounds through it before today. (I cleaned it after the 100 rounds and didn't notice anything unusual.)

I have a friend who is a total noob when it comes to guns, but he expressed interest to me about getting started, and maybe getting a CHL when he felt he was ready. (I'm not the most knowledgeable guy, but I did at least grow up with guns in the house and we did some hunting.)

So I took him to the range and showed him the basics. I loaded one round for him and let him shoot. I told him to load one round in the magazine, release the slide, and take a shot, repeat often, and then whenever he felt ready to go ahead and load up a whole mag and go at it. (He told me later he shot 1 shot at time for 96 rounds, LOL.)

Anyway, I go to box up my XD and there's flakes of something around the ejection port. I didn't say anything because he's a good friend and if he messed something up it was probably my fault for not showing him something or watching him longer.

I get home, I take it out of the box to clean it and the cocked indicator is sticking out 1/4".

I field strip it and there's this sandy looking crap all throughout. I think it may be brass flakes, because some are shiny. It's not sharp at all though, not even hard. It's in the barrel, slide, bottom of the magazine, magazine well, everywhere.

I got every flake that I could see, but I think I need to completely take it apart and find every bit of it. The cocked indicator is now acting normally. The slide is fine, and the trigger feels fine. Nothing looks chewed up.

Any ideas WTF this stuff is or where it came from? The gun has never seen sand, never been carried, etc.

My only guess is that he wasn't letting the slide close on its own, and was letting it gently go into battery. Maybe the shells weren't going fully into the chamber? I have no idea ...

Oh, the other thing that was weird was that his fingers were turned yellow after shooting. I'd never seen that before either.

[Cupsz71]

K......I had the same thing to report myself. I shot thru 200+ rounds last night and when I was demonstrating a basic "field strip" to a member who was interesting in getting an SD9sc over a S&W M&P and I found the same yellowish "gunk" throughout the gun - but mainly on the frame rails below the feed ramp/barrel & magazine well. AND my finger-tips were a yellowish/green???

- no problem with the cocked indicator on mine - but this stuff did show up after my first shooting break-in of 300 rnds last week. I cleaned the gun the next day.....and now the same crap is back.

I'm shooting Winchester 115grn FMJ for my range ammo. I've got 1400+ rnds thru my Beretta 92 of the same brand/type and nothing like these "oddities" have shown up.

I too am VERY interested if ANYBODY has an idea as to what is going on??

BRASS? SAND? METAL? POLYMER? COMMON TO XD's? 3" BARREL vs. 4-5" BARRELS?

[rogerxd45]

to me it sounds like he got lasy and started loading the round in the chamber and droping the slide on it. doing that is bad for the extractor and if you do it seems like the extractor could scrape little bits of brass off the case.

now when i clean out my firing pin channel i do get a few little flakes of brass but only a little bit after like 500 rounds.
brass is soft and when it in contact with hard steel moving really fast odds are some is going to get some scraped off. so brass flakes doesnt mean there is something wrong or that someone did something wrong. but if you have alot after only a little number of rounds then there MIGHT be a problem but not for sure

[rogerxd45]

look at your used brass and see if there is any deep scratches on them.

if brass is removed from the case then it will leave a mark on the case

[foo.c]

Originally Posted by rogerxd45

to me it sounds like he got lasy and started loading the round in the chamber and droping the slide on it. doing that is bad for the extractor and if you do it seems like the extractor could scrape little bits of brass off the case.

I can't rule that out, but he's a total noob and was a little scared of the gun. Knowing him, I just don't think he did that. I doubt it even dawned on him that he could do that.

Also, there was definitely a lot. It took me 2 hours and a ****load of q-tips to get them all.

[SteveW1958]

Good chance it's unburned powder. It can look like sand but is soft. Nothing to be concerned about.

[foo.c]

Originally Posted by SteveW1958

Good chance it's unburned powder. It can look like sand but is soft. Nothing to be concerned about.

This is the first time I've shot WWB in that gun. (Any gun for that matter.) It was the cheapest stuff they had at Wal Mart.

Maybe that's it.

[Cupsz71]

Originally Posted by rogerxd45

to me it sounds like he got lasy and started loading the round in the chamber and droping the slide on it. doing that is bad for the extractor

Dropping the slide? By that do you mean when you leave the slide locked back/or you run the gun empty....you then insert a fresh mag...flip the slide release to load the 1st round .....is BAD for an XD?

When I'm swapping mags while shooting lead downrange (I've usually loaded 2-3 per set)....that's what I've ALWAYS done with all my guns with NP.

(all guns at our range have to be seen w/slide back an open chamber visable after cease fire has been called for safety .... and that's how the next session starts after targets have ben re-set.)

It's SOP for some at our range to first pick up the gun....release the slide....dry fire/or flick the de-cocker safety......insert a full mag...holster/or hold.....then when permission to fire is given.... quickly "wrack" the slide to load a round... aim and fire.

(lot harder to visualize & explain both techniques than I thought...cause I never have given it much thought)

I've checked my casings.........didn't see any scratches......and I'm guilty of both "loading" techniques.

Am I missing something here?

[rogerxd45]

no i mean locking the slide back with no mag in the gun is put a bullet directly in the chamber and then drop the slide on that round. the xd is called a "controlled feed" where the bolt/slide will grasp the round with the extractor and feed it in. as aposed to a "push feed" where the bullet gets pushed in and once its in the chamber the extractor will "snap" over the rim to grab the cartridge. the xd isnt designed to work like that. you should put a round in the mag and then load it in the chamber.

and i didnt even think of the unburned powder

[Cupsz71]

Originally Posted by SteveW1958

Good chance it's unburned powder. It can look like sand but is soft. Nothing to be concerned about.

DOUGH! That make sense. And just after I got typer's cramp trying to visualize loading techniques............and posting them.

And thanks rogerxd45......after my long winded explanation.....I figured out what you were talking about........too much caffene today.

I gotta go to bed...........

Thanks.