dth122

That's a great suggestion - thanks. Do you happen to know if he does general gunsmithing besides work on his own builds? I sent a message a few days ago but haven't heard back. I wonder if this isn't the type of thing they'd want to take on. - Dave

I'm looking for an experienced 2011 gunsmith in PA, preferably in the Philadelphia area but willing to travel for the right person. I have an open build that's not quite right... occasional jams with 115gr, picky with mags, etc. Nothing that unusual but I'm looking for someone with experience to look it over. I did some searching and it appears a lot of the recommended shops have closed or retired over the past few years - Gans, EGW, Garthwaite. Hoping not to have to send it away, but if it comes to that... are there any recommendations for shops who take on this type of work rather than ground-up builds? - Dave

After some sanding and a tiny bit of filing, everything is good to go. Disco is running smoothly in the channel and it's activating and deactivating as expected. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, it was a combination of everything involved that got things running smoothly. Incidentally, I remembered that I had a spare Wilson disco so I tried that and ran into the same problem. So, at least in my case, the problem wasn't unique to the EGW part. - Dave

After a very little bit of light dressing on the lugs, the slide now goes fully into battery. And just as quickly as that was solved, I ran into another snag. The trigger works fine with no slide, but locks when the slide is installed. The problem is that the disconnector isn't resetting when the slide is in battery. There's plenty of spring tension, but it's not aligned with the slot in the slide. I can see that it's hitting on the ejector side of the slide. My next question is how to address this. The weird thing is that the slide is aligned on the frame. It's very well centered. Even if it wasn't, I'm not sure I could fix it without doing some serious work on the slide rails. I can't expand the notch in the slide because it's on the ejector side and there's very little material to take out. The only thing I can think of is to file the side of the disconnector ball to give it some clearance. I know that modifying the disconnector is generally frowned upon, especially length (which I wouldn't touch), but I don't think I have any other options. It's an EGW disco which I know generally run on the large side. I guess I could try another brand and hope that it's a few 0.001" smaller. - Dave

That's a good idea. I did the same thing to check for even contact on the pin but I didn't try the reverse to see where the pin is hitting the lugs. I'll give that a shot and see what I can learn. - Dave

I'm measuring it at 0.048".

The link was actually my first inclination that led me to ask the question. The fitting instructions (if you follow them) specifically state that the lugs and the link are selected/fit at the time of manufacture and neither should be modified or swapped out. Of course, this selection and fitting is done without the benefit of having the slide or frame, so YMMV. I guess my real question was how likely it is that I have to refit the lugs to get everything to work... and I got that answer loud and clear. That's a great idea to try different pin diameters. I have a gauge pin set which will make that test pretty easy and accurate. I'm pretty sure I'm good on lockup and the firing pin location, but I'll double check that and then see if I need to move on to the lugs. That's pretty much validation of my initial thinking... if those are set within spec then I have no choice but to move on to the lugs. - Dave

I'm having a problem after the final assembly of a new 2011 build using a Rogue Tactical barrel, slide and frame. I tried contacting RT but it seems they're not in business anymore..??? The problem is that after being assembled, the slide does not go fully into battery. It looks like the barrel is locking up but the slide is stopping about 0.5" early. Needless to say, after removing the slide stop pin everything moves freely and I can't feel any hang-ups around that area of travel. My question is what to do to troubleshoot and fix. Normally, I would look at how the lugs are cut. But in this case, it's one of their primed "ez-fit" barrels that has pre-timed lugs that don't require fitting (per the installation info). It uses fitment pads at the top of the hood instead. I could start filing the fitment pads but am hesitant since I already have good lockup. This is my first time using one of these barrels so I'm not sure how to proceed. I'm open to any advice. - Dave

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I ended up taking a little bit off at the muzzle end and that got me in the ballpark. Then I started working on the upper lug pads. Getting those to the point that the barrel would ride over the slide stop pin gives me plenty of engagement. I think the trick was finding the springing point. Once I did that it was easy going. I still need to check the firing pin hole to make sure it's centered. TBH, next time I think I'm going to use a regular gunsmith fit barrel. I appreciate the you don't have to cut the lower lugs on the EZ Fit, but it seems to limit your areas of refinements and adjustment. - Dave

Took me a while to look at this. I totally agree with everyone that I need more lockup. That's why I'm concerned. Incidentally, what's the best way to measure? I can tell it's too little by eye. I've measured from the top of the slide to the top of the hood, in and out of battery. Is that the best way? Or is there something more reliable and repeatable? Plumbers putty comes back clean... I don't see any any of it making hard contact around the lugs. The only area of contact seems to be the fitment pads. I agree that it's likely springing. Is there an easy way to identify the contact points? I haven't tried candle soot yet, but I can't see any interference around the top of the muzzle end of the barrel with dykem or sharpie. I could start filing down that area in general, but that seems unscientific. - Dave

I'm working on my first 2011 build using a Rogue Tac slide and 9mm Primed bull barrel. Generally speaking, it's like a Kart EZ-Fit. I've run into a question on the barrel fitting process. The hood seems to fit well. Hood length is 1.311" and I'm not seeing any light between the hood and breech face. The guidance I've seen is that I need at least 0.038" of lockup before I start filing the lug fitment pads. However, I only have 0.027" of lockup. My problem is that I can't find interference anywhere. The hood back and sides look clean and the lugs look clean after some aggressive cycling of the barrel in and out of lockup. Is there someplace else I should be looking for a better fit? Or should I go ahead and start working on the pads? I don't want to file the pads and end up taking them down too much while my lockup problem is somewhere else. Any thoughts? - Dave