Hello All,
My daughter has a lightly used Ruger PC Carbine in 9mm.(takedown model)
She and her boyfriend have been shooting both steel and brass cased ammo in this firearm. The complaint is, if you want to clear the firearm, the live round that is in the chamber will not be extract and eject with the manual operation of the bolt, normally they bump it out with a cleaning rod.
Under normal firing operations the firearm functions 100% and the last round hold open keeps the bolt open, as it should.
I did notice that when I insert a live single live round into the chamber, and press on it with my finger tip it will move into the chamber .020 - .030 thousands with a distinct snap/click when it seats in the chamber.
I cleaned the chamber yesterday and tried the insertion test, same results, kind of snaps into place. Then the live round can be extracted using only my fingernails.
Should a live round chamber like this one is doing?
Any thoughts to share will be appreciated!
Doug
*

if theres a burr, sharpie up a cartridge and insert it then pull it out. if there's a bur you should see scratches.

and the chamber is easy to see as the barrel pops off

sharpie test is a good one to see it it is binding

you can also plunk test it , since the barrel pops of
with the detached barrel vertical hold the loaded cartridge on the feed ramp at a 45* and let go it should "plunk" (the sound it makes) right in then invert the barrel and a little tap and it should drop out

direct blow back guns are DIRTY so regular cleaning of the chamber will be more necessary than it is with guns that are a locked breech or even delayed blow back like your 9mm pistols other than a hi-point .

in direct blow back the only thing keeping the bolt forward it mass and spring

the mess in blow back guns is almost all carbon so Hornady one shot makes for an easy cleaning spray out the carbon run a brush and unlike carb cleaner no need to re-lube the one shot cleaner and dry lube is the solvent and the lube and the corrosion protection

while my Glock 17 will go 3K rounds without a cleaning my AR-9 is more of a hose it out after each practice day or match

a brush on drill to really get that chamber clean is where I would start , there should be a shoulder you can see in there that the case mouth stops on

if they go in and out with a little flick from a fingernail or inverting the barrel and a little bump, then extractor issue and since it is fairly new call ruger they will likely ether send you one or send a shipping tag for your gun to go in and get fixed

Thanks for the replies!!!
I'll give the chamber a good cleaning.
Doug
*

Hello All,
Cleaned the chamber, and based on some ideas, took some pictures.
1. Marked a round with a Sharpie, you can see the scratch on the bullet, no scratching on the brass case.
2. A shot of the chamber.
(barrel laying on its left side, something is in there at 3 o'clock) it didn't come out with a brass brush.
Thanks,
Doug
*

Have you looked at the extractor? It should be hooked around the cartridge rim when extracting manually, or fired for that matter. Blow backs will mimic proper extraction even without an extractor due to the fired case being blown back and out of the chamber, hence the name blow back action. If the extractor is missing or not working correctly you get exactly what you describe of no manual extraction.

And all of the already mentioned issues(bur in chamber, excessive carbon fouling) can stress or disable an extractor.

Wouldn't you get a jam if the extractor never engages when you fire?

Not necessarily. There have been many blowback designs that never had one by design.

And other designs such as the K98 mauser and 1911 the extractor is a vital part of controlled round feed.

Most blowbacks are not controlled round feed and the extractor serves but just one purpose being just along for the ride the rest of the time.

Thanks for the input!
Doug
*