[williamthewolf]

Hello everyone-

So I just got back from the range with my Expert .45. The past few times I've shot it, after around 50-100 rounds, the gun sporadically starts to jam. I've used Winchester White Box, Remington UMC/Golden Sabers, and PMC brands of ammo. I thought it was a mag problem. I was convinced it was one of my mags causing these problems. The malfunctions occur during extraction. I tried different mags today as well as the old ones and they ALL had problems. Could be an extractor problem? I'm past the 2000 round count.

Also, today, was a first for the slide not regularly locking back upon an empty mag. Frustrating range day. But I still love this gun and I shoot it great.

I'd love for you all to help me troubleshoot this...

Thank you!

 

[azimuth]

Slide not locking back could be that you are touching the slide lock lever while firing. Happens all the time and doesn't take much pressure. By jamming, do you mean failure to extract, feed, eject or combo?

 

[williamthewolf]

Thanks.. It could be that I'm touching the slide release lever. I'm not too concerned about that.

The malfunctions are failure to extract and eject .. A few times the slide would not cycle fully after firing the round.

 

[azimuth]

Your grip and wrist are firm?

 

[azimuth]

Do you have any of that ammo left? Take the barrel out and manually place a round in the chamber. Does it slide in easily and flush with the barrel hood? Cycle the slide manually with the safety on and finger away from the trigger. Does it feed and extract smoothly? Examine the extractor claw. Is it deformed? Does it grasp the rim of the casing fully?

 

[williamthewolf]

Azimuth.. thanks for you help here..

I took the barrel out, placed a round in and it slides in and out easily with a little vertical play when set in the barrel. Otherwise it is flush with the barrel hood.

I cycled the gun manually. I've noticed since I got the gun that when I rack the slide back with a loaded magazine in, there is a little resistance at first, then it cycles normally over all.. except I just tried it for a second time and the last round stopped the slide from returning. ...

The extractor claw looks fine to me. Maybe it's time for a detail strip to remove any gunk in there?

 

[williamthewolf]

I just did it again, and it got stuck on the last round again. When I'm shooting it at the range, it gets stuck on random rounds, not only the last.

 

[williamthewolf]

I tried with 3 magazines.. last round on all of them. I noticed that the barrel looks jarred to the side when it's stuck as I try to clear it.. this takes an amount of force to eject the stuck round.

 

[azimuth]

When you say the last round stopped the slide from returning, does that mean the last round won't eject or won't feed?

Hang on, I'm going to get mine out...

 

[williamthewolf]

Azimuth-

I mean when there's one round left in the magazine, I manually rack the slide back and it gets stuck as it's feeding.. the slide sticks before it can return forward.. you can see the bullet in the barrel hood.. and then when I try to eject it by racking the slide backwards, it takes a little force to free it.

 

[azimuth]

so mine will cycle semi smoothly by hand slowly. The first 1/2 of an inch of the cycle, the breach opens without resistance. Then the slide catches and I have to apply a little more force. When I continue to cycle the breach open, the exracted round is tilted up by the next round in the mag, but does not eject until the last 1/16 of the breach is completely open. Then the cartridge ejects and the next round slips onto the botome of the breach face. As I cycle the slide closed, that rounds rides up the breach face and slips behind the claw of the extractor. The tip of the round is tilted up on the feed ramp by the following round and continues to be inserted into the chamber as the slide cycles inot battery. What I did notice is the last round slides into the chamber in a flatter presentation since there is no next round to press against it. Is this what your gun is doing?

 

[azimuth]

Azimuth-

I mean when there's one round left in the magazine, I manually rack the slide back and it gets stuck as it's feeding.. the slide sticks before it can return forward.. you can see the bullet in the barrel hood.. and then when I try to eject it by racking the slide backwards, it takes a little force to free it.

Yeah, I noticed the last round sits flatter in the queue because there is no next round to tip it up. Try this, press the bottom of the mag against your quadraceps to apply pressure upward as you cycle the last round. tell me if that helps...

 

[azimuth]

When you turn your gun to the ejection port side and slowly cycle the slide, do you see the barrel hood tip down at about the halfway point of the cycle?

 

[Kobra45]

I'd also check the mag springs just in case.

 

[williamthewolf]

Thanks for all your help guys. . okay. I put a full mag in there, and when I slowly cycled the slide, even the first couple rounds got stuck. the projectile (tip) of the bullet got stuck on the top of the barrel hood. This happened with JHP's. I threw some FMJ's in there and it was a little smoother but that doesn't prove anything bc I shoot primarily FMJ at the range... and it jams on those as well.

The barrel tilts down a little, as it should.. maybe not as much as it should! I don't know! This is strange. I had a flawless first 1000 rounds (with maybe one malfunction due to user error).

 

[williamthewolf]

By the way Azimuth.. The last round in the mag + force by pushing on my quadricep worked! So maybe it is related to a mag spring problem... just seems strange that in reality at the range it doesn't always happen on the last round.. maybe it does.. but I'm pretty sure I've had jams in the middle of the mag. And as I just proved to myself, it happened on the first round too a few times.

 

[azimuth]

By the way Azimuth.. The last round in the mag + force by pushing on my quadricep worked! So maybe it is related to a mag spring problem... just seems strange that in reality at the range it doesn't always happen on the last round.. maybe it does.. but I'm pretty sure I've had jams in the middle of the mag. And as I just proved to myself, it happened on the first round too a few times.

It could also be in the mag release... might be causing the mag to present the round at the wrong angle. Interesting that the round seems to hit the barrel hood. Something is not lining up right. Can you take a pic of a jammed round?

 

[orfeo]

. . . Can you take a pic of a jammed round?

This will help ^

 

[williamthewolf]

yes pic on the way. hang on.

 

[williamthewolf]

Okay. So now I can't replicate the problem where the front of the round is pressed up against the barrel hood... now it's the opposite. the back of the round is jammed. Man I don't know what's going on. Seems like the mags are all screwy... presenting the round in weird angles.

Any tips on how to maybe resolve this?