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Open Blaster


JThompson

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I just got my Open back from Tripp. He did a fine job on it... I wish I had done as well taking pictures of it. :)

STI frame & slide

5.5" Schuemann Barrel (.355)

Bedell TI Comp

Barry Mount

C-more w/ 4moa dot

G&B Slideracker

STI Guiderod & reverse plug

EGW Link

EGW Slide Stop

AFTEC Extractor

Limcat Ti Firing Pin

Wolff recoil spring & Firing pin spring

EGW Sear

Extreme Disconnector

Koenig Hammer

Ti Mainspring strut & cap

17lb mainspring

SVI trigger

Medium grip texture

Ice Magwell

Isn't she sexy!

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And a what if with some Ion Bond on the comp. It kinda balances it nicely with the black on the front don't ya think?

2b.jpg

Edited by JThompson
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Beautiful gun! I WANT one!! :P Are you a lefty? I ask because the slide racker is on the right side, or does it extend all the way across? Can't tell from the pics. If you are a lefty, what rig are you using (holster and mag carriers)?

9 or 38 super(comp)? I want a 9 gun.

Is the C-More mounted sideways??

Who's safety is that? I like the bigger paddles on it.

Jeez... I'm just full of questions today! :blink:

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Beautiful gun! I WANT one!! :P Are you a lefty? I ask because the slide racker is on the right side, or does it extend all the way across? Can't tell from the pics. If you are a lefty, what rig are you using (holster and mag carriers)?

9 or 38 super(comp)? I want a 9 gun.

Is the C-More mounted sideways??

Who's safety is that? I like the bigger paddles on it.

Jeez... I'm just full of questions today! :blink:

No. I'm right handed. It's on the right because the C-more is in the way in this config. The C-more is mounted on a "Barry" mount. It lowers the position of the reticle right over the slide and I love it. I came from shooting Iron sights and had zero trouble finding the dot. It's so damn close to where the iron was that my natural POA is right there. BTw it's a 9mm

Nice!

How do you like the C-More mount? more specifcally how do you adjust the dot?

I love the mount, but sighting it is a royal pain in the a$$. To adjust the windage you have to remove the slide. You also need make a special screwdriver. I heated up a small one and bent it in an L shape and it works like a champ. I'm glad you don't have to adjust it to often. :)

Edited by JThompson
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Well, the slide felt okay racking it by hand, but after I start to shoot it I was having an ejection issue related to binding slide. Looks like it needs to be worked on a bit more. I was all set to shoot a few3 hundred and had to stop at 10. :( Damned if I could see where it was binding too. It doesn't lock, but just binds.... When you pull the slide off and put it back on it goes away until you shoot it again. I had a couple people look at it, I dunno squat about smithing, so I don't touch them... anyway, they didn't see it either. Rich is close, so I guess I'll drive it up to him on Monday and have him work it. Whaaaa! Back to my Beretta again.

Edited by JThompson
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Jim, what do you mean by "binding", exactly??

If you load up a mag and (carefully) hand cycle the action, does the gun work? (ie, pull the slide back, let it go, repeat until empty mag - don't pull the trigger). Then, you shoot a round or two, and what happens? The slide doesn't come out of battery at all? You have a jam of some sort, and the slide is hard to move by hand? You have a jam, and the slide moves easily by hand? If it jams, what kind of jam is it? And then it stays like that until you take the top end off?

That sounds like a nice strange one, there... ;) I'm tempted to say take a good hard look at the recoil system. If the gun can hand cycle rounds, the barrel, slide, and frame are likely not the cause of the problem (cause they would be binding while you hand cycle, too - in fact, the "break in" for those things usually causes them to be less likely to feed by hand, in my experience, than under full recoil). This smells more like a recoil spring that's too long, or something, where under full force of recoil, the spring binds up in the tunnel or something like that...

Do you know how to check for coil bind on the recoil spring?

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BJ, hit the nail on the head, there is always a break in period after hard chroming the gun. The last gun I had chromed had to have 400 rounds put through it before it ran 100% and that is why I am IonBonding everything from here on out.

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Jim, what do you mean by "binding", exactly??

If you load up a mag and (carefully) hand cycle the action, does the gun work? (ie, pull the slide back, let it go, repeat until empty mag - don't pull the trigger). Then, you shoot a round or two, and what happens? The slide doesn't come out of battery at all? You have a jam of some sort, and the slide is hard to move by hand? You have a jam, and the slide moves easily by hand? It comes partway out of battery, but usually doesn't eject the brass. The slide will move, but sticks when ever you release it. It binds more the further you pull it back. If it jams, what kind of jam is it? And then it stays like that until you take the top end off?

That sounds like a nice strange one, there... ;) I'm tempted to say take a good hard look at the recoil system. If the gun can hand cycle rounds, the barrel, slide, and frame are likely not the cause of the problem (cause they would be binding while you hand cycle, too - in fact, the "break in" for those things usually causes them to be less likely to feed by hand, in my experience, than under full recoil). This smells more like a recoil spring that's too long, or something, where under full force of recoil, the spring binds up in the tunnel or something like that...

Do you know how to check for coil bind on the recoil spring? No I don't.

Above I have bold texted the parts that are true for my gun.

I was having the same problem before it was chromed and asked Tripp to make sure there wasn't a slide/frame fit issue before he chromed it. I was having a galling issue from the start and the HC and slide work were supposed to take care of it. It still has the same problem, but no galling. I'm starting to get a little miffed.

Edited by JThompson
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To check for bind....

Take the top end off, and pull out the recoil spring. Put the gun back together (make sure the guiderod is still in there). Retract the slide all the way until it stops against the guiderod and frame. Now make a mark with something non-permanent showing the relationship between the frame and slide (a pencil mark, maybe, something like that). Take the top end back off and assemble it normally w/ the spring. Retract the slide - does the slide go all the way back (ie, do the marks you made previously line up now)??? If not, you are binding the recoil spring....

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To check for bind....

Take the top end off, and pull out the recoil spring. Put the gun back together (make sure the guiderod is still in there). Retract the slide all the way until it stops against the guiderod and frame. Now make a mark with something non-permanent showing the relationship between the frame and slide (a pencil mark, maybe, something like that). Take the top end back off and assemble it normally w/ the spring. Retract the slide - does the slide go all the way back (ie, do the marks you made previously line up now)??? If not, you are binding the recoil spring....

Spring length is okay.... What I don't get is it feels fine until you shoot it then it binds. That makes no sense to me. No that I removed the slide, in checking the spring, it's free as can be. One thing I did notice as I removed the slide stop and brought the gun about a quater/half inch forward of battery, the bind released. I then pulled the slide back and forth without any bind at all. Does this indicate something to you?

Edited by JThompson
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Look closely at the barrel lower lugs for marks or gouges, put the barrel into the frame without the slide on. Does it link up and down smoothly? Does it freely drop off the slide stop and stop firmly against the frame when you push it back? Is there any binding doing this?

Make sure you have at least .005" between the top of the barrel hood and the slide when the barrel is dropped down, .010" would be better.

I would really like to have the gun in my hands when this happens, internet troubleshooting is really tough.....

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Look closely at the barrel lower lugs for marks or gouges, put the barrel into the frame without the slide on. Does it link up and down smoothly? Does it freely drop off the slide stop and stop firmly against the frame when you push it back? Is there any binding doing this?

Make sure you have at least .005" between the top of the barrel hood and the slide when the barrel is dropped down, .010" would be better.

I would really like to have the gun in my hands when this happens, internet troubleshooting is really tough.....

I was in the process of checking the link clearence in relation to the frame. It looked like there might be some contact there. I cut a business card down to a strip and it slide between the link and the frame with no problem. I can see a little rub there, but I don't think that's it. The bottom of the lug appears to be making some contact with the slidelock. There is a very small flat lan on the lock. When the lock is removed (when in a bind) the slide doesn't free up. Also the barrel can be moved forward and back while the slide is a bind condition. This leads me to think that it doesn't have to do with the barrel or link if I can move the barrel and the slide doesn't snap into battery. Also, since the stop has been removed and the slide still binds.... I don't think it's a link to lug bind. I do see some marks on the slide/frame where it is rubbing, but it feels fine when working it by hand... silky even.

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced it has something to do with the recoil. It works fine unless you shoot it, so therefore, it would seem it has to be something it's doing in recoil. Whatever it's doing it's putting a force on the rails and that, is what caused the galling issue to begin with. I don't think it was a slide/frame fit issue. Something is excerting an upward or sideways force on the slide rails causing them to bind/gall. I was a machinist for years and know something about metal and tolerences. I know nothing of smithing, but I see signs of some form or torque at work here.

Edited by JThompson
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Holy cr@p what a blaster! I'm thinking recoil spring/guide too. Not that you haven't tried

this, but I would manually cycle it unloaded a bunch. I mean hundreds of times. It

gives these new parts some "time" to get to know one another. Strip it, blast it with your

favorite cleaner, lightly lube, put it back together and test fire.

...if this doesn't work, save yourself the frustration and give it to me. :)

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Holy cr@p what a blaster! I'm thinking recoil spring/guide too. Not that you haven't tried

this, but I would manually cycle it unloaded a bunch. I mean hundreds of times. It

gives these new parts some "time" to get to know one another. Strip it, blast it with your

favorite cleaner, lightly lube, put it back together and test fire.

...if this doesn't work, save yourself the frustration and give it to me. :)

I did find a rub on the rod... I stoned that down a bit and am going off to shoot it and see. I think it's more than that, but I have to try.

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Galling, if it was carbon steel in the frame and slide, is just from being too tight with a lack of lube but as a machinist you know that. If it is/was stainless..... well stainless has evil spirits locked inside waiting to bite you.

With the additional information you have provided I would say that it is something in the slide to frame fit, but I don't really know what it could be. How tight is the slide to frame fit? Have you or has someone else lapped it in? I am wondering how much of the galled surface is left under the chrome and how smooth the slide to frame is.

The slide does deform/move under firing pressure and before the barrel unlocks, mostly I think it is just a stretching deformation around the ejection port, but I don't know for sure what else happens.

If it is locking up there would HAVE to be some marks somewhere to indicate where it is locking up, now in chrome they might be extremely hard to see. Where was the galling before it went out for chrome?

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