bountyhunter

That is the plague of the single stack 9mm 1911. Main problem is the 9mm tapered case makes the nose prone to go down. One of the mag makers has a patented design where they molded a mini feed ramp into the front of the mag shell to prevent that but I don't remember whose it is.

That's a complicated topic.

As odd as it may seem, a lightened hammer or striker actually delivers MORE strike energy for a given strength of mainspring because it gets going faster and energy is proportional to 1/2 mass x (velocity) squared The FP spring must be strong enough to retract the tip of the FP before the case starts being extracted to prevent primer wipe across the face of the primer. You can usually see that on the fired casings. In states like california, the guns have to pass a muzzle drop test so the FP spring also has to be strong enough to prevent an "inertia fire" when the gun is dropped on it's muzzle. The kits I saw with multiple recoil springs for tuning always had an XP firing pin spring included which I assumed was "lawyer proofing". I guess they were afraind a really strong recoil spring might slam the slide into battery hard enough to get an inertia fire (?) I have always used stock FP springs in every gun I ever had.

+1. This is especially true with CZs. and Browning HP's.

But the FP spring "eats energy" from the FP's detonation strike as the FP flies forward compressing the spring. Installing an extra power spring can and does cause light strikes, especially in guns where the hammer spring is reduced power either from age/use or by intent to get a better trigger pull. I recommend always using a stock FP spring, although in some cases I have had to use a reduced power firing pin spring when the trigger was being tricked out and a light hammer spring was being used.

Make sure that new FP spring is stock, not extra power as that can give light strikes. The ones I bought always included an XP firing pin spring.

Best place to get a fix on prices is Gunsamerica. Go there and see they usually have lots of examples. I live in California where guns are restricted for sale so one of those (legally) here for sale would probably sell for a couple of grand. Any decent Colt Python sells for $3000 - $4000 here. My expertise on Colts is limited so I can't comment on how to check out condition other than the obvious: visual signs of wear, end shake on the cylinder, how tight it locks up, etc.

Or with a single stack mag: you can take a sharpie and just push the follower up and down against the spring while you watch TV. Same effect. Problem with the mags where they are trying to cram in an extra round beyond original design: the fully loaded state may actually crush the spring past the range of elastic deformation so it may shorten the life of the spring.

Yeah, love it. Took my Wife's Nissan in with 52k miles and find out it needs motor mounts... how bad can that be? Well, they are the "oil coupled" kind and it's over a grand. Every trip in is another fun surprise.

I swear, for the last month my bathroom has had a steady daily crowd of ants coming in through the window. Despite the fact we are having overnight lows in the 20's. In all the other 30+ years I have lived here, the ants go dormant during the winter and you never see them. These suckers just won't die. I have the bait traps out but they seem to have evolved to where they find the poison delicious. Kind of ridiculous, I guess it's evolution in action. I'm freezing but the ants have adapted to the new climate.

I lived on Cape Cod (Massachusetts) for a year. The wind blows 30+ mph there every second of every day. North Atlantic on 3 sides of the place. Winter wind chills probably -20. I remember one day we had heavy snow overnight that drifted the front side of the house and we had to get shovels and dig out the front door to the house. But I was young then. When you live in California, your body just doesn't expect to be frozen like this and certainly not for weeks at a time.

I once thought of buying an extended slide release for my STI but I called them first. They warned me that it might need fitting so I never changed it. I think they fit the guns tight.

The original design of the 9mm mag (standard length mag shell) is 9 rounds. To get ten rounds in, they basically have to squeeze everything. That makes it a little flaky and prone to problems. I have had the same problem with CMC ten round mags in my Trojan. As stated above, you can file the locking slot in the mag shell to make it lock in a bit lower in the frame, but that might cause feeding issues with the round too low with respect to the ramp.

My thought is that an extended striker tip (or firing pin tip) does nothing to reduce light strike misfires. The primer stops the FP anyway. Reduced mass strikers (and FP's) definitely increase strike energy and reduce light strikes. Assuming the tip is not broken or reduced (or defective manufacture) extending it just make it's more likely to break IMHO. Others may disagree, but if you could magically get better ignition by extending the tip a few thousandths.... I suspect the manufacturer would be doing it. Depends on the design. I believe Glock's have an internal FP bloacking safety to prevent discharge from impact (Or muzzle drop) so I doubt it would go off. If the gun does not have a built in FP block, it certainly would increase the chance of going off on a muzzle drop.

I have noticed the same thing. I wondered if the barrel makers made the ramp steeper to get "full coverage" on the .40 case after the Glock .40's blew out some cases and everybody started freaking out. The .40 is a high pressure case and some old cases that have been reloaded too many times can rupture if not fully supported. I can't think of any other good reason to make the feed ramps look like a cliff face.... anyway a "raised mag catch" will raise the mag but the corner of my Mec gar mags were bumping into the ejector and I had to file it for clearance.

My new Para 1640 did that. Only way to fix it was to recut the feed ramp. The good news is you are dealing with an excellent company (STI) not a schlock house like Para. I don't think your feed ramp was "out of spec", I think it just had to be fitted a bit to match the frame height.

Our clocks are all frozen. We may not see the new year until May.

I know 20 degree weather isn't as cold as some places (I was stationed at Otis AFB in Massachusetts one year) but it's still stinking cold. It got down to about 30 last night and will drop lower next few days. I didn't move to California so I could freeze to death.

I work in an animal shelter. If you knew how many animals ran away (and end up lost) from firework panic, you would want them outlawed. Some years back I was able to corral a dog running loose after the 4th of July. He had run away from his home. Know how I found out where he came from? Followed the blood trail footprints back a couple of blocks. His idiot owners had left him outside and he had torn his way through the fence, shredding his feet.

That's what I would expect. They make them oversize so that they can be fitted in perfectly. If you want a drop in barrel, EFK Firedragon would be a better choice. I think Barsto has the warning on their site that their barrels need fitting.

Check the throat with a light: do you see rotary milling lines? many new barrels have them and rounds like to snag on them. As stated, could be that it's just tight enough to start hanging up when the throat gets carboned up and expands from heat. If this was mine, I would polish the throat BY HAND (not Dremel) using a sanding form and some 400/600 paper and machine oil. You can use the smooth end of a drill bit wrapped with the paper, sand until throat is mirror smooth. Will take a while, keep changing the paper.

+1 Probably either the follower is hitting the slide stop or in some cases, the round itself can hit it (but not as likely with 9mm).

BTW, many guns REQUIRE some pre travel so the trigger system can function. Many home smiths screw the gun up by taking out the pre travel, then the trigger won't reset reliably. On a Beretta 92, the pre travel is where the firing pin safety is lifted out of the way: reduce pre travel and you get misfires because the FP safety is hitting the FP. So, don't go too far on reducing pre travel.

+1 I stage the trigger by taking up the travel, then break it to shoot the shot.

If it absolutely won't cycle with reasonable ammo, the compensator can be tweaked by opening up the hole at the front where the round comes through. That will reduce the amount of forward force so you will get a little more recoil (which is what operates your action). Open it very gradually.