OAL for Nosler 185gr JHP in Pardini GT45

About once in 100, a round gets "snagged" with it's nose on the bottom of the feed ramp. When this FTF happens, the round looks too horizontal rather than angled up from back to front. (mag won't drop until I take slide pressure off and push down on the round. The mag then drops and the round is still in the mag.) I'm using 1.20" OAL for the Nosler 185gr JHP which is a classic OAL for these bullets but I'm guessing that this particular new gun wants a tad longer or shorter.  I'd love a suggestion from someone more experienced than I regarding the solution ... and why.  Obviously, I can try both but that'll require twice the waste in primers, bullets and powder.  Since it doesn't happen very often, I could burn a lot of test ammo figuring it out!

Are the rounds too long and hence snagging the ramp or too short and hence have too much slack in their feed cycle path?

FWIW, all the rounds have been dropped in a gauge and are fine.  (i.e. drop in flush and fall out smoothly)
Glen

1.200 is a tried and true oal for the nosler. Have you tried a different mag? some mags release the bullet sooner or later than others, the wilsons seem to work good with fmj-hps

1.200 is tried and true, but I use 1.240. I very rarely used to have the same problem. I found there were 2 things that seemed to cause the problem. 1. there was not enough bullet forward of the case ( in the right spot) to guide the case away from the very sharp edge in the barrel. The case was actually hitting that edge square on and stopping. 2. This did not happen with all magazines. It only happened if I was using one certain brand (WC) the factory mag had no problem. I solved the problem by taking 3 steps ( any one would probably solve it) 1. I went to 1.240 OAL. 2. I rounded edges on barrel. 3. I went back to factory mags.

Len

I have four magazines for this gun which is not a 1911. (Pardini GT45) I even have them very visibly numbered so I have no excuse for not checking to see if the problem is correlated to one of them.  Before I start making new ammo, I need to start taking notes!
Thank you DavidR!

If it is not linked to one particular magazine, I'll try tweaking the OAL a bit longer OldMaster65.

Hello all,

I use 1.215" and have no problem in six M1911s of various makes and ages.

Perhaps you could give a better description of what is happening; e. g. which cartridge in the magazine (first, last, in between).  Photographs?  At this point; what you described could be due to several causes.

Jim

I lengthened mine as well for my GT45 and have not had any issues.  I can run mine around 1.205" to 1.210".  Make some tests rounds to find the acceptable length for your gun.

A pardini 45 is  finicky when it comes to ammo  from what ive read and ive never owned one so I step aside on this one. But I did add Pardini gt45 to your topic line so you can draw more response's.

It's always after the first round.  I don't think it's ever been the last.  I'm a BE shooter so I always load 5 rounds.  It looks to me like the hp nose is stuck on the bottom of the ramp as if the round did not get lifted enough to enter the ramp.  I'll take careful notes next time.  When I'm practicing, it's hard to switch from concentrated focus on SHOOTING to hardware diagnosis. (i.e. clear and continue)  As of today, it's happened just often enough that I need to get to the bottom of it.

I'll watch magazine numbers and possibly tweak a bit longer if not isolated to one mag. Thanks for all the input guys.

Usually, what you have means that the magazine are not releasing the round soon enough or your COL is too long. You could also be short-stroking the slide (weak wrist or a Shok-Buff limiting slide travel).

Does the Pardini barrel work similar to the 1911? In other words a frame feedramp and barrel throat. Are you HP noses catching the transition from the feedramp to the throat on the barrel? On 1911's the barrel needs to be offset forward apprx. 0.030" to allow the nose of the bullet to smoothly transition from the feedramp without catching the bottom of the barrel.
Jon

Jon,
Yes, the Pardini GT45 frame has a slight (smooth, rounded) notch below the barrel ramp.  The barrel ramp is indeed set slightly forward.  At this point, my prime suspect is a magazine.  I repeatedly cycled a stack of snap caps through all four magazines.  I had one occurrence of a magazine not pushing the second round up when cycling by hand.  Because this problem is very intermittent, I'm going to take very good notes regarding magazines in use.  The gun is still very much in the break-in stage.  I have under 500 rounds through it. 
Thanks for the input.  It's helping me know what to look for.