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Building my first "Shorty" Open Gun, Need Help!


gunsngeeks

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Hello everyone,

I'm building my first open gun and I'm planning on using one of the STI 4.15" barrels with compensator blank and a Caspian slide.

The frame is from Limited 10 and I'll be using EGW internals.

Is there anything I need to know about to make the gun run properly? I'm still trying to decide whether to chamber the barrel in 38 Supercomp or 9mm (Major).

I've heard horror stories about getting these guns to run properly so any help I can get would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help...

Dan

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Save a bunch of money just get a Rock Island 2011 Tactical and throw your trigger parts, barrel/comp and dot on it and get with it keep your limited 10 as a backup. My first and last shorty took a while to sort out but the ticket was the 11# recoil spring, all my long guns use 9#.

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First and most important thing for making it run properly - make sure the magazine lips are at the correct angle. The correct angle will load almost any ammo with a 7 pound recoil spring, in my experience with several very different 2011's.

Shape the front of the ejector appropriately (pointed about a 1/2 of the way down the face if the optic is above the ejection port.

Time the barrel correctly.

You're welcome.

Coco's advice is worth a million bucks. I've had super expensive open guns. I now run a cheap one just as fast because I don't want the worry of my $5000 gun getting stolen out of my checked-in luggage with a giant "EXPENSIVE FIREARM INSIDE, PLEASE STEAL IT" orange sticker on it.

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/27/2016 at 9:31 PM, Whoops! said:

First and most important thing for making it run properly - make sure the magazine lips are at the correct angle. The correct angle will load almost any ammo with a 7 pound recoil spring, in my experience with several very different 2011's.

Shape the front of the ejector appropriately (pointed about a 1/2 of the way down the face if the optic is above the ejection port.

Time the barrel correctly.

You're welcome.

Coco's advice is worth a million bucks. I've had super expensive open guns. I now run a cheap one just as fast because I don't want the worry of my $5000 gun getting stolen out of my checked-in luggage with a giant "EXPENSIVE FIREARM INSIDE, PLEASE STEAL IT" orange sticker on it.

Sorry for the late reply but could you tell me how to get the feed lips timed properly.  Also I'd like to see the extractor work you're talking about.  You can send pics to gunsngeeks@gmail.com  Thanks for your help!!!

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You shouldn't have to treat it differently than any other open gun. Just because the barrel is a touch shorter doesn't change the entire set up. 

I run a steelmaster in 9 minor and Major, (steel challenge and USPSA) I just change the recoilmaster main spring. So far it's been good. Other have done the same. The matchmaster is a shorty major gun from sti. Just get it to eject the brass and get the recoil spring matched to your set up. I don't notice much difference between my Steelmaster and my buddies trubore on the same ammo. My PF 2-3 points lower, it's not some huge difference 

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2 hours ago, HeathForbis said:

Make sure you tune your ejector so the spent rounds dont bounce off of the sight mount causing jams

How do you tune it to eject low?  Do I shape the ejector so that it contact the round high and left?

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2 hours ago, Aircooled6racer said:

Hello: Build a light 5" gun and forget the shorty. A 5" slide that is lightened will do everything a shorty can do and more. A good starting point is a STI Tru Bor in 9mm. Thanks, Eric

I'm building a shorty because I lucked into a Trubor 4.15 barrel brand new for next to nothing.

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8 minutes ago, Tdizle said:

You shouldn't have to treat it differently than any other open gun. Just because the barrel is a touch shorter doesn't change the entire set up. 

I run a steelmaster in 9 minor and Major, (steel challenge and USPSA) I just change the recoilmaster main spring. So far it's been good. Other have done the same. The matchmaster is a shorty major gun from sti. Just get it to eject the brass and get the recoil spring matched to your set up. I don't notice much difference between my Steelmaster and my buddies trubore on the same ammo. My PF 2-3 points lower, it's not some huge difference 

That's awesome...I have a recoilmaster for the gun too. 

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Sure,

I'm actually going to link you to a couple of gunsmith tutorials on it.

http://brazoscustom.com/magart/ejection perfection.htm

In the Brazos article, the most important aspect is the ejector tuning (not the extractor tuning)

http://www.freedomgunworks.com/pdf/Competition Mag Tuning Tutorial.pdf

In the Freedom Gun Works article, the most important aspect is the feed lip dimension.

 

Ironically, in both articles, the most important aspects are toward the end.

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On 9/18/2016 at 7:59 PM, Tdizle said:

You shouldn't have to treat it differently than any other open gun. Just because the barrel is a touch shorter doesn't change the entire set up. 

I run a steelmaster in 9 minor and Major, (steel challenge and USPSA) I just change the recoilmaster main spring. So far it's been good. Other have done the same. The matchmaster is a shorty major gun from sti. Just get it to eject the brass and get the recoil spring matched to your set up. I don't notice much difference between my Steelmaster and my buddies trubore on the same ammo. My PF 2-3 points lower, it's not some huge difference 

Thanks so much for the links...this will be a great help!!!

Edited by gunsngeeks
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