bountyhunter

Fully strip, check trigger moves freely in the frame then add the parts and check. Make sure the sear moves freely. If had to guess, the sear spring could be installed wrong or bent to give too little pressure. Some people believe they can get a super light trigger just by bending that spring and screw the gun up. If it is an aftermarket trigger somebody installed, it may not have been fitted properly.

There are some decent floor mount safes you can bolt to the floor studs. That's what I did.

I don't know how good the info is, but here is some test data on magnaporting. It's the only test data I saw on ported barrel performance. http://www.tsengineering.com.au/mag-na-port/ Which confirms my own experience on 9mm and .40 which are low pressure rounds like .38 as I saw no perceivable difference. I have not found any published data on muzzle flip or G forces on the gun. Seems like that would be easy to measure using sensors like they use in football players hellmets attached to the gun.

No, but I use blue loctite on the side plate screws and cylinder retaining screw (also the cyl release screw). Also use it on the strain screw. Basically, I would rather they not have the chance to walk out.

To my knowledge, nobody has ever said that compensators do not reduce recoil. My statements were only about ports. It's interesting I have never seen any "bench test" data published for "before and after" porting where g meters were affixed to the gun and recoil measured in the X and y axis. It would be a very easy thing to test. I conducted a test on porting some years back on a Beretta 92 with a ported barrel (two ports) where I added four more ports one at a time. I did not get reduced recoil but I got a barrel so noisy and flashy nobody would want to shoot it. If porting actually has any significant effect it should be very easy to measure it and quantify it. Not sure what that's about either. Compensators don't make anything disappear, they simply trap muzzle gas, cause it to expand and then force it into a "wall" which is like slamming your hand against a wall. It just takes energy that exists anyway, and would issue out into the air, and cause it to hit something. That forward force partly offsets recoil so the net recoil force reduces. It is simple physics.

As I said in my post, compensators certainly do reduce recoil and muzzle flip. The reason is simple: recoil line of force is directed above the wrist so it generates rotational moment twisting the gun up. Reduce recoil force and you reduce muzzle flip. A compensator has an expansion chamber where gasses leaving the front expand out and then are stopped at the front wall of the compensator by the restriction of the small front opening. That is the source of the forward force offsetting part of the recoil. Ported barrels do not generate this forward force although the do create a tiny down force from the upward venting of gas. My point is that ports and compensators are not the same thing at all. Compensators do have gas ports, and certainly have been proven to reduce recoil but not simply because they are ported. Gas ports alone are not compensators, and the several ported barrels I currently own (9mm and .40) have only what could be generously described as a negligible effect at best. It's possible port effect might be slightly higher with higher pressure ammo, I shoot only factory load. But felt recoil is a perceived force so it is user's choice. The point I was making is that mixing ported barrels and compensators is apples and oranges.

The slide and barrel assembly on an auto acts as a "recoil suppressor" by reducing peak recoil impulse using much of the energy to cycle the slide. IMHO, most of the "effect" of ports alone is psychological. All compensators have ports, but ports alone are not compensators. Compensators definitely reduce recoil and muzzle rise because there is an expansion chamber where forward moving gas slams into a flat "wall" causing a forward directed force cancelling out part of the recoil force. Ports in a barrel create very little (if any) forward directed force. Michael Plaxco posted some good info on this in "Shooting From Within" were he experimented with a compensator and showed that the benefit comes from the forward gasses, not the upward vents.

Check endshake and also cylinder gap back to recoil shield (breech face) which I think is supposed to be nominal .062" (min about .060 and max about .064"). Endshake should be not more than .001". I would inspect the hammer for frame drag as well. If this is a MIM gun with external firing pin, clean and inspect it and make sure it moves freely. Use calipers to verify it is .495" length, not a defective shorty. NOTE: the most common culprit I see for "marginal" strike energy is when the strain screw gets worn at the tip. It only takes a little to do it.

EFK makes some threaded barrel, depends on which application. http://www.efkfiredragon.com/threaded-barrels.html This one is a threaded 40-9 conversion barrel for Glock 22: http://www.efkfiredragon.com/glock-22-31-9mm-conv-interchangeable-with-40-sandw.html

Had to do the same thing on my new Para 1640 to get it to feed. My STI Trojan 40 never needed it, guess they got it right the first time.

Just remember about any liquid oil: gravity is going to make it end up on the floor. Mixing it with grease makes it stay in place a lot better.

For lube I use only Slide Glide blended with FP-10 because of the versatility. I can adjust the viscosity to anything I need. For cleaners: I use non chlorinated brake cleane spray and bore cleaners like Shooter's Choice and Hoppes, nost any cleaner is good. I use only nylon bore brushes and don't over clean the bore.

The good news is that a new STI is very tight and will loosen up. Stovepipes can be a combination of things: 1) magazine springs 2) extractor tension 3) ejector but also slide velocity affects the energy the case has to "fly out", you may want to try a different recoil spring during break in. I suspect this will sort itself out as it breaks in.

There is no legal way to procure "normal" (full capacity) magazines in california unless you are LE.Looks like it's time for a trip out of state Lot of people do it, but it's not worth the felony for me. They have had stings in Nevada looking for "California plates" buying contraband material at gun shows and gun stores and nailing them hauling it back in.

STI Trojan used to be the best bang for the buck. I love mine. You can get them in every caliber. 40 vs 45 is a whole nother thread, but I own many 40's and no 45's. Cost of ammo mainly and 45's are not built in many standard platform guns so I never got any.

Hard to say from video, but it looks like maybe the clearance is a little tight at the bottom end of the DA sear where it swings across the top of the trigger beak. Might need to LIGHTLY polish the tip of the DA sear? The DA sear fit is super critical to get a proper pull, it might be a shade tight (?) but don't remove much just polish with 600 paper on a flat stick. I also polish the front face of the DA sear mirror smooth to help the trigger nose glide by more easily.

There is no legal way to procure "normal" (full capacity) magazines in california unless you are LE.

another option would be to cut a plate that fits the bottom lip out of something like plastic PC board material and glue it on the bottom using urethane glue or cyanoacrylate. That gives you a flat surface you could glue any kind of mag extender onto it that you wanted. BTW: are those mec-gar mags? They look just like the 10 round (restricted) that came standard with my CZ.

It is not typical but I have seen similar on various guns. It could be that the FP channel is drilled slightly off, more likely it is how that particular barrel fits the frame. STI guns are fitted so the barrel lugs are ground to get perfect 3-point fit in lockup. The lower barrel lug's feet rest of the slide stop cross pin and the upper barrel lugs rest against the top slide cuts. If you are concerned about it, call STI. If it shoots OK, I would not be worried.

A top end built up by a gunsmith anf finished usually ends up costing close to what a gun would if you just bought a good used one. I had one built because in my state it was illegal to buy a gun but legal to have a top end built to go onto a receiver I already owned... and I think it cost about 80% of the price of the NEW gun I wanted.

For $20, this could be an easy fix. I just installed a Fusion slide stop in my 9mm Trojan. Their slide stops come with a groove machined in the face which catches the tip of the plunger head and make it really hard for the slide stop to engage. On mine, the stop wasn't engaging AT ALL and I have to grind it off to get it to lock back at all. Might be an easy thing to try. http://www.fusionfirearms.com/parts/frame-parts/slide-stops/slide-stop-9mm-blue

The chamber is almost certainly in spec, have it checked before doing any "reaming". It sounds like the problem is the ammo and I am very familiar with that problem. I bought several cheap aftermarket barrels for some of my guns I could ream to shoot crappy reload ammo because it was cheap and the only stuff available.... but I would never ream a factory barrel to make it shoot out of spec ammo.

I think mine is an Aimtech similar to this kind.

I have a plastic one that clamps on the the frame rail for my G35 that actually works pretty well and doesn't require any drilling. Can't remember where I got it but everybody sells them.