Yeah, long time no see eh? So much for the tearful reunion.
There is an issue w/SS. More than one have had their slide stuck in the open position w/bullets in the mag. The SS is moving towards the center, kicking off the bottom of the shoulder that it rests on in a normal, empty mag, slide lock position. It manages to position itself between that shoulder and the first of two tabs that extend from the breech face while stuck on the breech face. Instead of riding in the slot that's cut out for it to normally ride in. Then the SS rests on the breech face forcing you to beat it w/rubber mallet or slam the front of the slide against a tree/stump. Ain't that a bitch! Naturally, you remove the loaded mag first. Mine has done it enough that I can force the slide back w/off hand and it will pop back in the track. If your pistola has ever done this maneuver you will see the telltale mark on the previously mentioned first tab CW from the shoulder. The back of the SS is cut on a 90 degree so it can rest on the frame rail during slide assembly. I seem to recall Norm stating that a weak SS spring or too heavy grain boolit was the source for this pain in the butt. I speculate that possibly too weak of a recoil spring might contribute as well. For whatever reason the SS is not saying in it's position and periodically is raising up, not enough to engage the SS, just enough to for the top inside tip to collide w/shoulder which in turn kicks the SS inside forcing a head on w/breech face.
Ya'll gonna love this thought. I took the SS off and cut a piece of sheet metal to fit in the slot behind it where it moves up and down. I'm not altering the SS by heating it up and bending it nor, do I grind any metal. After cutting to a fit I sanded down this metal shim to around a paper book cover width and cut it down twice for a smaller area. It's amazing how such a small piece can affect placement at the end of the SS. I had to sand a couple of extra times to allow reassembly, w/o the recoil spring, but, have yet to remove enough for a test run. I was wanting to find out if I could eliminate jam by forcing the SS to the outside/applying slight force. It's amazing how tight the tolerance is between the SS and the slide. Even as thin as the shim was it wasn't enough to allow adequate slide movement or SS spring to function. In retrospect I might have been better served trying out various widths of feeler gauges. Granted, gauge nor shim would provide a long term fix if they worked. However, if the did succeed by preventing a SS jam through a box or two then I would be encouraged to alter the SS slightly. I was considering heating it and bending it outward in an attempt to limit the play. Of course I'm concerned about too much taking it off the rail that it rests on.
I don't recall if I have the 17lb? mainspring that Saands sent me a couple of years ago or the original that I cut. As I recall both were nice, neither failed to ignite and no mags dropped. It occurred to me that possibly, w/lighter mainspring and stock recoil spring, the slide is coming out of battery too fast and the extra blow-by is encouraging the SS to move up enough to hit the lower corner of the breech shoulder. I could always cut the corner, right above the slot that the SS usually rides in until the last round is stripped from the mag, as 1/8"-3/16" should be more than enough. Maybe a 22# recoil and a new SS spring are in order. Ya'll jump on in w/thoughts on the SS face plant.
Anywho, hey to one and all. Was there a final combination of mainspring/recoil that seemed to work better than others?
Slide stop jams impacting breech face
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nicksterdemus
- Senior member
- Posts: 224
- Joined: January 5th, 2007, 9:23 pm
- Location: SINTRULL RKINSAW
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nicksterdemus
- Senior member
- Posts: 224
- Joined: January 5th, 2007, 9:23 pm
- Location: SINTRULL RKINSAW
Slide stop jams impacting breech face
The slide stop lever pivots against the frame from its front tip. Its spring, roughly a third of the way back, forces the back end down where the 90 degree cut in the butt will allow it to rest on the rail. The muzzle flip, if anything, would encourage/apply force in the same direction as the spring. Most of the time the SS rests on the frame rail while inside the bolt cut-out. There are round(s) in the mag so the mag spring is out of the equation. What force is overcoming the SS spring tension enough to force the SS up slightly to collide w/bottom of the shoulder and kick the SS into the breech face?
