[buzzsaw]

I got mine today. Here's the preliminary report.

Superficially, it looks a whole lot like the standard barrel. The muzzle has a small recessed crown instead of a beveled crown. Both the tops of the lands and the bottoms of the grooves are mirror smooth, whereas the tops of the lands of the Kel Tec are somewhat dull. I assume this means the KT ones are rougher, probably due to coarser machining. However, it is harder to push a patch on a jag through the Feddersen. I assume this means the bore is somewhat tighter. The Feddersen has eight lands and grooves instead of six for the KT. Judging by eye, the Feddersen has a slower twist rate than the KT.

I have a pizza and chess appointment tonight and this is about all the time I have to spend on this at the moment, and, of course, the proof is in the shooting, which I hope will happen this weekend.

buzzsaw

 

[pktrkt]

Barrel

Received the Feddersen barrel today, accuracy was better compared to factory as was getting 2 inch groups instead of 6 inches at 15 yards. I only fired 50 rounds as it was some kinda cold here. Did have 3 FTF so not really sure what's going on there as factory has had zero. I didn't clean it before firing but did have to blow some fuzz out of it. Over all I guess it was worth the $55.00+shipping..

 

[Shady]

i got my barrel no chance to shoot it yet

looks like a decent barrel but I didnot have problems with my stock one lol

 

[buzzsaw]

I shot mine on Sunday, and used CCI Maxi-Mag 40 gr JHP and BVAC 40 gr JHP. The BVAC is US made but has the same headstamp as Armscor. I am assuming that it is the same as the US made Armscor. The CCI is one of the rounds that keyholed with my stock standard barrel.

The good news: The CCI does not key-hole. The grouping is not good (2 inches off a rest at 8 yds, 3 rounds) but they do hit the target nose first. The holes are round, not oblong, and certainly not a side profile of the bullet. The BVAC groups into about 1 inch under the same conditions.

The bad news: I had some failures to feed. This was mostly with the BVAC, and sometimes it short-stroked, but that happens fairly regularly with this ammo in my gun. The CCI sometimes stripped a round, but it didn't fully chamber. Both of these might be due to insufficient break in. When I installed the barrel for the first time, it was difficult to hand cycle. I took it apart and put more oil on it and reassembled. This helped. I had one round either fire out of battery, or extract while pressure was still too high. The back 1/8 inch of the case was shredded and I got a face full of particles. I am glad I had my eye protection on. This round was CCI. Some of the BVAC cases had rounded (bulged) case heads so that they would rock when I stood them up, and others didn't.

So far, I am happy with the barrel. Some of these issues may be related to a tight chamber, which is typical of match barrels. The recommended ammo may feed better, and I am not going to criticize the barrel for these issues, nor am I going to criticize its accuracy since I have not yet shot the ammo they recommend. The BVAC is not exactly match grade ammo, and I would expect the CCI to be better than it, but it isn't. I wonder if the issues with CCI might be related to this particular length of barrel coupled with their particular powder burn rate. I am looking forward to trying more ammo, especially the recommend 22 magnum Hornady 30 grain VMax. I don't have any of this ammo at this time.

buzzsaw

 

[wanderson]

CCI 30 gr

Will be curious to see how the CCI 30 grain or Hornady 30 grain will perform. I figured the chamber would be tighter on a 'match' barrel, polishing it might help reliability but I have no idea what to use to polish a straight chamber that small.

 

[4ster]

The Feddersen barrel arrived cold off the UPS truck and I thought it needed heating up. These targets were done off hand using a laser sight pointed at the center of the target. Ten rounds of the test ammo was shot through the Kel-Tec barrel and 10 rounds where put through the Feddersen Barrel. The takeaway (for now) is that the recommended ammo shot slightly better out of the Feddersen, the non recommended ammo shot a lot better, but had case issues.

I tested it with the recommended round, 30g Hornady V-Max:

Then Speer Gold Dot:

As a lark I tried some Sellier & Belliot 40 gr - FAIL:

After the S&B case rupture I gathered up the empties I noticed that the other 4 S&B showed signs of excessive pressure. Some of the Speer did as well with the worst offender in the picture of the Speer target.

So I think this needs to be investigated further. The barrel puts lead on target better but the breech end has problems.

Edit: I have shot over 1,000 rounds out of the Kel-Tec barrel and have never noticed signs of excessive pressure with any round, including the S&B. This is the first case rupture I have experienced.

 

[buzzsaw]

I like S&B's centerfire ammo. My experience with their rimfire was pretty bad. I had some of their .22 mag for my Grendel P-30, and I don't think it ever fired more than two in a row. There was even one squib. (Other than the squib, this may not be the ammo's fault. The Grendel likes Winchester Super X, and ONLY Winchester Super X.) However, when I shot the rest of the S&B through my Ruger Single Six, there were obvious differences in report and recoil from round to round. There is no excuse for that bad performance, it's a single action revolver. I just assumed I had a bad lot.

I think the pressure is running higher on this barrel because the bore diameter is a hair smaller than the Kel Tec barrels.

buzzsaw

 

[4ster]

After I posted my report with the targets above I contacted the Feddersen company with the same information. Almost immediately I received an email from them that they are looking into it and a short time after that I got one from Fred Feddersen that they will be recalling the barrels and will make new ones after they are finished with a production run for another caliber. All remaining inventory from the run of PMR-30 barrels will be thrown in the trash.

There have been a couple email exchanges about specifics and in my last email I asked if I could pass on that information here.

He said to relay that "Fred said his barrel were made to shoot Hornady 30gr Vmax. Hornady out shot all the ammo we tested. We will recall the barrels, so we can make a new barrel to shoot all types without excessive pressure."

 

[posthole]

After I posted my report with the targets above I contacted the Feddersen company with the same information. Almost immediately I received an email from them that they are looking into it and a short time after that I got one from Fred Feddersen that they will be recalling the barrels and will make new ones after they are finished with a production run for another caliber. All remaining inventory from the run of PMR-30 barrels will be thrown in the trash.

There have been a couple email exchanges about specifics and in my last email I asked if I could pass on that information here.

He said to relay that "Fred said his barrel were made to shoot Hornady 30gr Vmax. Hornady out shot all the ammo we tested. We will recall the barrels, so we can make a new barrel to shoot all types without excessive pressure."

Thanks. Mine is due to be here next week, two weeks on a UPS truck according to tracking. So do I test it with 30gr or do I send it back unfired? Decisions...

 

[jwills]

Thank you for the updates gentlemen.

This is my take from you guys are saying so far..... If its a match grade barrel with one particular ammo type then great. That is what it is then at this time. If they loosen up the tolerances just a touch and a future offering effectively performs/behaves much like the stock barrel then the "upgrade" appeal just got lost for me IMO. If in fact something is produced that doesn't keyhole, accuracy wise is on par or slightly better than the stock barrel and the case overpressure/rupture isn't a concern then its worth the gamble

My 2 cents at this time.

Patiently following this thread to see where this goes. If it just happens to be that particular barrel length and the CCI burn rate as it has been suggested doesn't play nice then I guess we all will just have to accept it. Maybe it was best I didn't jump right away on this one. For those that did thanks for being the guinea pigs.

 

[Shady]

Well I guess we will see if they will be sending out recall notices then I will defiantly let you know if I get one.

 

[buzzsaw]

Thank you for the updates gentlemen.

This is my take from you guys are saying so far..... If its a match grade barrel with one particular ammo type then great. That is what it is then at this time. If they loosen up the tolerances just a touch and a future offering effectively performs/behaves much like the stock barrel then the "upgrade" appeal just got lost for me IMO. If in fact something is produced that doesn't keyhole, accuracy wise is on par or slightly better than the stock barrel and the case overpressure/rupture isn't a concern then its worth the gamble

Agreed.

My 2 cents at this time.

Patiently following this thread to see where this goes. If it just happens to be that particular barrel length and the CCI burn rate as it has been suggested doesn't play nice then I guess we all will just have to accept it. Maybe it was best I didn't jump right away on this one. For those that did thanks for being the guinea pigs.

I've never noticed any key-holing with the CCI out of my two Grendels. Whenever I shoot anything out of them other than the Winchester, I am too busy dealing with malfunctions to worry about the target.

There is definitely something about the CCI that doesn't play nice with the with the standard-length barrel, and likely contributes to the poor grouping, even with the Fedderson barrel, since it is the same length as the stock one. The Grendel barrel is thicker-walled and is fixed to the frame (pure blowback action). Measuring my barrels from breech to muzzle: Grendel P-30: 4.950 inches; Kel Tec standard barrel: 4.269 inches; Kel Tec threaded barrel: 5.000 inches; Feddersen barrel: 4.273 inches. Next time I can get to the range, probably next weekend, I can try the Grendel(s) as single shots with the CCI to check for key-holing. I know for a fact, that my Kel Tec threaded barrels don't key-hole with 40 gr CCI. Indeed, I bought the second one with the idea of cutting the threaded section off and crowning it, leaving it approximately 1/4 inch longer that the standard barrel. If my theory about CCI and this particular barrel length is correct, then I am glad that I never got around to it. It looks like I would have just ruined a barrel, at least as far as CCI 40 gr. is concerned.

I also searched for some of the Hornady 30 gr VMax ammo. It's apparently number 83202. 25 online sites were all out of stock...The days of just going to The Gettin' Place and expecting to find any specific kind of rim fire ammo seem to be over. You have to take what you can get. This is apparently the new normal. You know it's "interesting times" when you can reload 9 mm cheaper than you can buy .22LR, and you can reload (or even buy) .223 cheaper than you can buy .22 magnum. Instead of selecting ammo that shoots well with our barrel, we might have to consider having a selection of barrels to go with whatever ammo we happen to be able to find. I plan to try the Feddersen barrel with Hornady Critical Defense, which I do have some of. At least it is the same brand and uses a Hornady-made bullet. The only 30 grain bullets I have are the CCI and Federal loadings of the Speer TNT bullet, which is completely different from the VMax.

buzzsaw---This is my 1000th post! Woo Hoo!

 

[buzzsaw]

Well I guess we will see if they will be sending out recall notices then I will defiantly let you know if I get one.

defiantly?

I wasn't terribly concerned with the one case I had that ruptured. (Mental note: Never shoot a rim fire, or any gun, especially semi-auto .22 magnum pistols, without eye protection.) Apparently it wasn't firing out of battery that caused it. Firing out of battery is supposedly next to impossible with a PMR-30. Indeed, if mine is out of battery by twice the thickness of a business card, it won't drop the hammer. I also am not too concerned if this barrel is optimized for only one kind of ammo, assuming you can get it. However, if it's going to be unsafe with other kinds of ammo, then that's not good.at.all.

buzzsaw

 

[posthole]

I finally got a chance to try mine out. I had a several years old unopened box of Hornady 30gr V Max and set a target at 10 yards. Ammo supplies are tight so I shot a three shot group with the factory barrel. My PMR eats Hornady Critical Defense with zero problems but I happened to notice I had three failures to load a new round with the 30 gr. The third would have been a CD already in the mag. It would eject but not pick up a new one. My group was 1.125".

I switched barrels and shot three with the new barrel. Also got three failures to load. My group was 0.770". The Fedderson barrel will shoot.

I will never get a good group with that string of Christmas tree lights they use for sights. As an old Master class pistol competitor, I like plain black sights for fine work.

 

[r_thunder77]

I called to order mine and was told that they have pulled the barrels and are recalling them , with no idea on when the new design will be out!!!!!!
thanks RT

 

[Shady]

if they are recalling them I have not gotten a notice yet.

 

[posthole]

if they are recalling them I have not gotten a notice yet.

Me neither.

I mean, nor have I.

 

[r_thunder77]

All I'm passing along is what I was told when I called to order my barrel.
V/R
RT

 

[cmatera]

No recall received.

 

[cmatera]

Did anyone ever hear any more about the recall. I never heard anything. Still have the barrel nib but don't know if I should use it.