Help needed....Freedom Ordnance FX-9

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  • jfed85

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    Feb 16, 2008
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    I bought a Freedom Ordnance FX-9 a few months ago and with ammo scarcity (At the time) and having other things to shoot I never got around to shooting it until yesterday. I have a Sig Romeo 5 mounted on it so I wanted to get the optic zeroed.

    I fire one round to see where I'm hitting before making any adjustment. Drop the mag and attempt to pull the charging handle to clear the weapon...nothing. Charging handle wont budge. I had to take the weapon apart and pry on the Bolt Carrier to get it to release. I put it all back together and when unloaded the charging handle worked as it should numerous time. Load a round into the weapon, and again, I cant pull the charging handle to empty the chamber.

    Anybody have any advice or tips here. FWIW it is the 8" FX-9 with SBA3 brace on it. Never fired until yesterday. It was disassembled, cleaned, and lubed before firing.

    Thanks in advance for any assistance with this issue.

    1630971052745.png
     

    Amishman44

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    Dec 30, 2009
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    Woodburn
    What type of ammo (brand, grain, etc.) are you using?
    And the bolt functions smoothly without ammo in the chamber correct?
    Q: Does the bolt function smoothly when you 'cycle' ammo through the chamber (but not having fired the ammo)?
     

    tcecil88

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    @ the corner of IN, KY & OH.
    What type of ammo (brand, grain, etc.) are you using?
    And the bolt functions smoothly without ammo in the chamber correct?
    Q: Does the bolt function smoothly when you 'cycle' ammo through the chamber (but not having fired the ammo)?
    That's what I was wondering. I have an FX-9 and it has ran great, but I have only ran Federal Champion, Federal HST, and Norma through it. Unless the chamber specs are off, I would look at ammo first.
     

    Karl-just-Karl

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    0   0   0
    Nov 5, 2014
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    NE
    This might sound stupid and no insult is implied, but here is my experience:

    When I first got mine I wasn't fully hitting the release on the charging handle before pulling. The catch on the factory handle seems pretty aggressive to me and if I try to grab the handle and pull too quickly it feels locked up.

    Option B, I was using polymer coated reloads that weren't seated deep enough and ended up having to "mortar" the thing open...a couple of times until I increased my seating depth.

    FWIW
     

    Cameramonkey

    www.thechosen.tv
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    35   0   0
    May 12, 2013
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    throw in some reliable factory ammo. Even some of your defensive ammo. See if it will cycle manually doing that.

    What you are describing is what I experienced with improperly resized reloads.

    And when you test this, make sure you lock the bolt back and let it fully hammer the rounds in by hitting the release button to make sure that if its an out of spec chamber it can properly jam, instead of riding the bolt closed and not getting it to jam up.
     

    jfed85

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    As far as the ammo used, I cant say for sure. I have so many different boxes of random ammo in my safe that I just grabbed a box and loaded a mag. Said mag was loaded for a week or so in the closet so the box it came in is long gone. I can say that I didnt THINK I had any reloads.

    But, you guys may be on to something. I took the 17 Round Glock mag thats filled with good self defense ammo and was able to cycle the whole mag through without the gun doing it again.

    When the issue initially came up, I wasnt even able to clear a round that had been loaded into the chamber. Unfortunately I wasnt able to do any live fire with it today, but thats at leas a promising sign.

    I will report back when I am able to put some different rounds through it and check for function.

    As Always, I appreciate all the input.
     

    Cameramonkey

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    Pull the barrel out of your pistol, and see if you can plunk test that questionable ammo.

    if you have digital calipers check the dimensions against the good ammo.
    And remember jhp should be shorter than fmj rn.
     

    DadSmith

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    1   0   0
    Oct 21, 2018
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    Ripley County
    I bought a Freedom Ordnance FX-9 a few months ago and with ammo scarcity (At the time) and having other things to shoot I never got around to shooting it until yesterday. I have a Sig Romeo 5 mounted on it so I wanted to get the optic zeroed.

    I fire one round to see where I'm hitting before making any adjustment. Drop the mag and attempt to pull the charging handle to clear the weapon...nothing. Charging handle wont budge. I had to take the weapon apart and pry on the Bolt Carrier to get it to release. I put it all back together and when unloaded the charging handle worked as it should numerous time. Load a round into the weapon, and again, I cant pull the charging handle to empty the chamber.

    Anybody have any advice or tips here. FWIW it is the 8" FX-9 with SBA3 brace on it. Never fired until yesterday. It was disassembled, cleaned, and lubed before firing.

    Thanks in advance for any assistance with this issue.

    View attachment 157065
    I'd contact them directly.

    Try a plunk test if you get it open. If it fails then the ammo needs checked. A the bullet is seated to long and or the brass needs trimmed. Or they screwed up with the barrel and it has a very short chamber.
     
    Last edited:

    shootersix

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    So first things first, what ammo? Hopefully it wasn’t aluminum case! I’ve talked to one of the owners of freedom, and he said “no aluminum, when I asked why is it not reliable or will it boom…he said “it’ll boom”. Your manual should have had an insert with ammo recommendations (ammo they’ve confirmed will function reliably) mines had nothing but wolf and Tula steel case!, in fact before all the covid/Biden panic buying, freedom bought skids of steel case ammo just for test firing!

    now my next piece of advice (after checking your ammo) would be to contact freedom! I can tell you that if you have a problem, they’ll fix it! In fact if it gets sent if for repair, there are only 2 people that would work on it, one is the owner of company I mentioned above, or one of my best friends, and I do know people who’ve taken their gun to the factory (in southern Indiana) and they’ve fixed it while they wait! (And by wait, I mean someone gives you a tour of the factory!) it’s really a cool facility!
     

    toyotaslave

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    May 22, 2011
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    Princeton
    So first things first, what ammo? Hopefully it wasn’t aluminum case! I’ve talked to one of the owners of freedom, and he said “no aluminum, when I asked why is it not reliable or will it boom…he said “it’ll boom”. Your manual should have had an insert with ammo recommendations (ammo they’ve confirmed will function reliably) mines had nothing but wolf and Tula steel case!, in fact before all the covid/Biden panic buying, freedom bought skids of steel case ammo just for test firing!

    now my next piece of advice (after checking your ammo) would be to contact freedom! I can tell you that if you have a problem, they’ll fix it! In fact if it gets sent if for repair, there are only 2 people that would work on it, one is the owner of company I mentioned above, or one of my best friends, and I do know people who’ve taken their gun to the factory (in southern Indiana) and they’ve fixed it while they wait! (And by wait, I mean someone gives you a tour of the factory!) it’s really a cool facility!
    I had no idea they were in Chandler. I had seen the products at Rural King but never thought about where they came from. I want to thank you and the OP for bringing the awareness to me. My next purchase will definitely be one of their firearms. Kudos!

    Shop small.
     

    jfed85

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    So first things first, what ammo? Hopefully it wasn’t aluminum case! I’ve talked to one of the owners of freedom, and he said “no aluminum, when I asked why is it not reliable or will it boom…he said “it’ll boom”. Your manual should have had an insert with ammo recommendations (ammo they’ve confirmed will function reliably) mines had nothing but wolf and Tula steel case!, in fact before all the covid/Biden panic buying, freedom bought skids of steel case ammo just for test firing!

    now my next piece of advice (after checking your ammo) would be to contact freedom! I can tell you that if you have a problem, they’ll fix it! In fact if it gets sent if for repair, there are only 2 people that would work on it, one is the owner of company I mentioned above, or one of my best friends, and I do know people who’ve taken their gun to the factory (in southern Indiana) and they’ve fixed it while they wait! (And by wait, I mean someone gives you a tour of the factory!) it’s really a cool facility!
    It wasn't aluminum cased. I've since been messing around with different ammo and cant replicate the malfunction with other ammo. I think it was just that one specific box.
     

    shootersix

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    I had no idea they were in Chandler. I had seen the products at Rural King but never thought about where they came from. I want to thank you and the OP for bringing the awareness to me. My next purchase will definitely be one of their firearms. Kudos!

    Shop small.
    Well actually there’s more to this story! They started out as alliance armament, converting siaga shotguns from imported “sports” models to ak47 style shotguns including making full auto! They made 25 and 30 round drums! Alliance also made 50 round drums for walter p22’s and slow fire upper conversion kits for mac 9/10’s and cobray m11’s (a friend has one for his full auto 380 that converted to to 9mm and takes Suomi mags!)

    mid you’ve ever heard of mag tactical (they made magnesium ar lowers) they bought alliance armament, but defaulted in the payments, so the people who owned alliance left mag tactical (they went to work for mag tactical) and started freedom ordnance! (And mag tactical has gone out of business!)

    ive met mike (he his brother and dad are the owners) mike is former military, kinda quiet, very customer friendly! Very pro gun (of course!) and in my post above you read about me asking about aluminum case, after I asked him and he said no, I made the comment that now I was in trouble, I was going to the Indiana state steel challenge match (this was 2019) and that I need to find ammo (since I couldn’t shoot aluminum) he said he’d sell me a thousand rounds for his cost!…then they gave he a shirt to wear at the match!

    freedom ordnance is a hell of a company, making awesome guns! (In fact they have the only 9mm ar platform that can be sold in Canada and they just shipped 1500 to them!)
     
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