# G3 and Sierra ammo



## denis9834 (Oct 9, 2021)

Has anyone ran Sierra 124 GR JHP thru G3. Out of 66 rounds had to 2 jams failure to feed. Gun ran 400 rounds of FMJ with no issues. Those are the only hallow points that I tried so far. They are pretty cheap $11.99 for 20 rounds. Is that ammo just shit?


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## Tangof (Jan 26, 2014)

denis9834 said:


> Has anyone ran Sierra 124 GR JHP thru G3. Out of 66 rounds had to 2 jams failure to feed. Gun ran 400 rounds of FMJ with no issues. Those are the only hallow points that I tried so far. They are pretty cheap $11.99 for 20 rounds. Is that ammo just shit?


I haven't shot that, but Winchester Silver Tips, Remington Golden Saber, and Remington HTP, have worked perfectly in my G3.


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

I don't know? Cheap ammo out of a cheap gun. What could go wrong?


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## Tangof (Jan 26, 2014)

desertman said:


> I don't know? Cheap ammo out of a cheap gun. What could go wrong?


Kind of an insulting response to an honest question.. To the OP, there's nothing wrong with your pistol, some ammunition is not that great. Since you shot your gun without fail 400 times I would say the ammunition is the culprit. Ignore how some people like to denigrate your choice. I have had ammunition failures with CZ's that cost twice as much as my S&W 9 SDVE, Just buy quality ammunition if you can find any! I have not had a malfunction yet with my S&W.


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

Tangof said:


> Kind of an insulting response to an honest question.. To the OP, there's nothing wrong with your pistol, some ammunition is not that great. Since you shot your gun without fail 400 times I would say the ammunition is the culprit. Ignore how some people like to denigrate your choice. I have had ammunition failures with CZ's that cost twice as much as my S&W 9 SDVE, *Just buy quality* *ammunition* if you can find any! I have not had a malfunction yet with my S&W.
> View attachment 20233


Sorry, I just don't see the logic of putting hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of ammo through a cheap gun let alone buying cheap ammo. You can easily blow off $100 worth of ammo within 15 minutes. Now multiply that by how many times people should go out and practice in order to become proficient. If someone can afford to spend that kind of money on ammo then it stands to reason that they could afford to buy a better gun to begin with? 

After all a gun could possibly be used to save their life someday. So the $64,000 question is: How much value do they place on their lives? I will do all I can to discourage people who read forums such as this, especially first time buyers from making a penny wise and pound foolish decision. Especially when buying products that their lives may depend on. If some people's feelings are hurt then so be it. You say to "just buy quality ammunition". I guess that same logic doesn't apply to guns?


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## Goldwing (Nov 5, 2014)

desertman said:


> Sorry, I just don't see the logic of putting hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of ammo through a cheap gun let alone buying cheap ammo. You can easily blow off $100 worth of ammo within 15 minutes. Now multiply that by how many times people should go out and practice in order to become proficient. If someone can afford to spend that kind of money on ammo then it stands to reason that they could afford to buy a better gun to begin with?
> 
> After all a gun could possibly be used to save their life someday. So the $64,000 question is: How much value do they place on their lives? I will do all I can to discourage people who read forums such as this, especially first time buyers from making a penny wise and pound foolish decision. Especially when buying products that their lives may depend on. If some people's feelings are hurt then so be it. You say to "just buy quality ammunition". I guess that same logic doesn't apply to guns?


My dear old Dad, God rest his soul, had a term referring to people who were perennial victims as "Wounded ducks". 
I am not going to call names, but if the "Quack" fits wear it!


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## SSGN_Doc (Mar 12, 2020)

I try to remain objective. I may not be a fan of Taurus and especially their auto loaders. The millennium series showed some early problems but Taurus seems to have done what most folks would ask a company to do. They went back and made changes. The majority of reviews are now positive. 

Finding a load or brand of ammunition that does not function is not a full condemnation of the pistol involved. If you can run it successfully in another pistol, then you may be able to assign some blame to the gun. If it runs like crap in another gun I’m going to blame the ammo. Without either of those two tests, we can only go with the data at hand. Pistol runs with other ammo. Don’t run the ammo it doesn’t like. Run the ammo it does like. 

I started keeping a log book of ammo run through my carry guns as well as other pistols just to keep track of round count initially, but also to log changes I may have made to a pistol, such as changing recoil springs and noting any new changes in performance or reliability. I started this with my Beretta Px4 compact. I bought it with the intent of making it my primary carry pistol. My first outing with this pistol left me feeling a bit ill. I had 4 brands of ammo with me it was choking on two brands (1-3 rounds per mag would fail to feed) and running the other two brands with no problem. If using internet gun forum logic I would have ditched the pistol right then and gone to a forum to call all Berettas garbage. Instead I tried to trouble shoot the problem. It got kind of detailed. What was different about the cartridges in the two brands that didn’t function and the rounds that did Function. Turned out rim thickness was different a bit. This led me to look at my extractor. A burr on the lower edge of the hook was binding on the thicker rimmed rounds But allowing the thinner rims to pass up the breech face as intended. A quick hit with a polishing stone and the pistol has gone over 3,400 rounds without a hitch with multiple brands fired.

I don’t care if the pistol cost $200 or $2,000 if it runs 2,000 rounds successfully on all other ammo, then it is probably good to go and the ammo is the problem. 400 rounds is not 2,000 but it alreadybstarts to speak more to ammo problems than gun problems.


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

denis9834 said:


> Has anyone ran Sierra 124 GR JHP thru G3. Out of 66 rounds had to 2 jams failure to feed. Gun ran 400 rounds of FMJ with no issues. Those are the only hallow points that I tried so far. They are pretty cheap $11.99 for 20 rounds. Is that ammo just shit?


If this is the same "Sierra" as the bullet manufacturer, then I really can't see them putting out crap ammo...unless they subcontracted it out to some sketchy outfit, who loads it with their bullets.


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## tjkarch60 (Jul 14, 2017)

I have a G2C and it has been flawless with the exception of one type of hand load. It is a 124gr HP. I don't remember the make of the bullets off the top of my head, but they run fine in all other 9mm's I have. In the Taurus they don't fully seat and I have to push on the back of the slide and then they fire fine. I know that by pushing on the back of the slide I am pushing the bullet farther into the case and that might raise the pressure. I have only done this a few times and haven't seen any indications of over-pressure, but I will only do it in an emergency. I just use rounds that don't do this. 
The rounds in question are no longer then any other round and are within spec, so I think it is the shape of the bullet that is causing the issue.(?)
Everything else has been a non-issue and I haven't had any malfunctions other then this one load.
So maybe your problem is with the shape of the bullet?


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## Tangof (Jan 26, 2014)

desertman said:


> Sorry, I just don't see the logic of putting hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of ammo through a cheap gun let alone buying cheap ammo. You can easily blow off $100 worth of ammo within 15 minutes. Now multiply that by how many times people should go out and practice in order to become proficient. If someone can afford to spend that kind of money on ammo then it stands to reason that they could afford to buy a better gun to begin with?
> 
> After all a gun could possibly be used to save their life someday. So the $64,000 question is: How much value do they place on their lives? I will do all I can to discourage people who read forums such as this, especially first time buyers from making a penny wise and pound foolish decision. Especially when buying products that their lives may depend on. If some people's feelings are hurt then so be it. You say to "just buy quality ammunition". I guess that same logic doesn't apply to guns?


You know it's strange but I was a Professional Firearms Instructor for the DOJ for eighteen years and never found it necessary to demean or humiliate a Student once. If they asked for advice on a gun purchase I gave it to them. If they asked me my opinion of a firearm they bought I would give an honest answer in private and never make them look like a fool, just suggest something else in their price range if they had bought one of those horrible pot metal .25's that flooded the market. Your attitude is that the gun in question doesn't meet your standards it has no value. You are wrong. For once I do own the gun in question and my opinion is it's a good handgun and will serve well as a self defense gun. As far as the old "How much is your life worth?" It won't be worth anything if I don't have a gun to shoot because I am saving up for a whatever. The moderately priced guns serve a need. Nothing wrong with them. Buy yourself what you can afford after researching self defense firearms. Don't listen to the know it all's that have to feel a superior by buying a $1000.00 gun to mouth off about.


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## SSGN_Doc (Mar 12, 2020)

I do think there is merit in offering constructive criticism. Sometimes it can be delivered a bit harshly. But firearms ownership can be a progression. It can also be full of learning. If this is a first gun and a first experience with failures, either ammo related or firearm related it is an opportunity to guide somone through the process of determining where the problem may lie. 

if the problem is the firearm criticism is ok as long as guidance follows.

Yes there is a element of truth that one should seek out the best quality they can afford. They should seek reviews and track records. Many forums exist for many of the gun manufacturers out there. There are Taurus forums. They have specific sections for Taurus problems. It’s a good thing to have, because many sites just wan5 cheerleaders for their products without acknowledging that they can all have problems. Agin the G series pistols seem to have a decent track record. Do examples of problems exist? Yep. 

i just finished reading a summary of problems encountered with S&W model 65 revolvers submitted for testing in consideration for adoption by the border patrol in 1984. Neither revolver submitted met the accuracy standards before beginn8ng the test. Neither revolver made it through the test. One was having problems in the first 500 rounds and was taken out of the test after multiple parts failures and replacement part failures. It didn’t survive the test beyond the 2,500 round point. The second revolver was withdrawn from testing due to a surface anomol6 detected in one of the chambers at the 2,000 round inspection. This is a failure of 2:2 firearms submitted by a respected firearm maker for consideration of a government contract. the requirement was to undergo 10,000 rounds of fire and retain a base line of accuracy and with minimal parts failures. I’ve got some “cheap” guns that have already outperformed these specimens from S&W from a parts failure stand point.

So brand and price are no guarantee of performance.


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

As someone who has been working on mechanical devices both vehicles and guns for the greater part of my life. I'm no fan of cheaply made tools, firearms and especially ammo. You do get what you pay for. I just can't rationalize or justify cutting corners on something that my life may depend on someday. Of course there's no guarantee that any mechanical devise or tool will not have issues. Or that any manufacturer will not have issues with any one of their products. But the chances of having issues with a gun or tool from a reputable manufacturer will be a lot less. That's the bottom line for me. 

You don't see too many professional mechanics using Harbor Freight Tools. Just as you don't see too many law enforcement and military personnel equipped with Taurus products. There's got to be a reason why? Maybe because a mechanic depends on his tools to earn a living. While a police officer or soldier has a greater chance than the average person of having to use their firearm to save their lives. Their firearms are indeed tools of their trade, they depend on them. While I'm working on a vehicle I certainly do not want it to fall on me because of cheaply made safety stands. Just as if I have to draw a weapon to defend myself the last thing that I would want is for it to break or jam at the worst possible time. Sure you could put a few hundred or a thousand or so rounds out of a cheaply made gun without any issues and be happy as a pig in shit. Then rave to all the world about what a great bargain you've got. But can you really rest assured after all that punishment that a cheaply made gun has not finally reached it's breaking point? I certainly couldn't. 

I've found that cheaply made tools are not made to last. God only knows I've had my share of them when I first started fixing up cars. After buying a few of them I realized that they just weren't worth it and they were only good if they were hardly ever used. I don't see how guns could be any different? You don't have to spend $1,000 or more for a quality gun from a reputable manufacturer. There are plenty of both new and used guns that go for under $500. Guns from manufacturers that haven't had such a poor reputation for quality control and customer service. Buying cheaply made tools and guns really is a crap shoot.


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## Tangof (Jan 26, 2014)

Since I own both a Taurus G3 and a S&W SD9VE I'll keep shooting them and let you know when they break down. I do carry CZ's in both 9MM and .45, but I'm not a gun snob that needs to rain on someone else's parade. To the OP: If my experience is worth any thing your S&W SD9VE will serve you well. Upgrade if you want, but don't let the naysayer's bring you down.


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## badge851 (Jan 29, 2013)

Tangof said:


> <snip>...</snip> *Don't listen to the know it all's that have to feel superior by buying a $1000.00 gun to mouth off about.*


*Well-stated** sound advice!*


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

So OP, have you been able to come up with some kind of solutions? Just curious as to how you have come out.


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## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

"Topped with Sierra’s proven line of Sports Master™ Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP) bullets, the Power Jacket provides positive, uniform and controlled expansion by means of specially placed skives in the jacket around the tip of the bullet."

I've never heard of specially placed skives around the tip of the bullet, but if it were me I'd try other brands of hollow points and see if the pistol will feed them. Especially , after just running 400 rounds of fmj's


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