Witness Match feed problem

[buckaroo45]

OK. I'm oficially as confused as a high school dropout in a TV game show. I shoot an XDM 40 in Limited and a 625 in Revolver. I bought a Witness Match which is already setup for Limited to see whether a steel gun would improve my scores. This particular gun was used in competition before it came to me and supposedly ran "like a striped ape", whatever that means. It came with 5 extended mags with new Grams springs and Henning's extensions. First shakedown session on the range with Win white box 180's (nominally 1.116 OAL)it jammed with every mag when feeding the first few rounds. The rounds were jamming straight ahead into the feed ramp with no apparant effort to feed upwards onto the ramp. I presume these are the nosedives I've seen talked about. In searching this forum I've found references to feed lip dimensions ranging from .380 to .396, bending mag springs and comments about loading more than 15 rounds can cause the problem. So here's the crux of my problem. First, I've never had to tune mag feed lips. Pliers seems somewhat barbaric considering the damage possible in wrong places. Second, as basic as it seems, I'm having little luck removing Henning's extended base from the mag body. The Arredondo extensions on my XDM have "buttons" and plates on the bottom to compress the spring to remove the base. No such luck with these. I don't want to just pull them apart. Seems like there should be a trick or method involved. I've been to several websites with tech areas on the Tanfo but haven't found any solutions. A little guidance would be greatly appreciated.

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Ah that I were young enough to have focus now that I see the use of it. - Me

Edited May 2, 2010 by buckaroo45

[10mmjunkie]

buckaroo45,

Striped Apes are lame from birth. Their femurs are only 10 inches long as adults...Actually I have no idea. Sorry I just could not help it.

Recommend you call Henning. He is a wealth of information and quite happy to share it. His number is 720 352-1080, web site www.henningshootsguns.com. Best of luck.

Respectfully,

JW

[heckle]

Here is how my limited and match like to run (its all in the mags). Feed lips set at .385, yes I use a par of pliers, tweek the feed lips as far back as possible but messure at the front of the feed lips. With 10mm mags you have alot of extra room to load long mine are at 1.220". Next is the most important part STRAIGHT CASES, you have three choices to get straight cases New brass which is expensive, get a roll sizer which is also expensive, or get a gizmo/redding push through die. A gizmo or a redding will run you about $100 plus you will need a lee undersize die (you can get one from henning) to go on the top, take the primer removal pin out of the undersize die and drill the treads out just make sure you dont hit the carbide insert at the bottom, use a drill bit that is just larger then your cases. If you want to run factory ammo and not reloads then use stock mags with the spacer in the front. As far as getting the base pad off just use a little elbow grease and pull, no it will not hurt any thing. If you run extended mags you will need to pull the base pads off regularly as dirt will jam these mags very quickly.

[Jediwarrior]

Do a search on this forum for the recommended OAL. Since you already have Grams followers, your magazine bodies do not have the spacers in the front. So you need to seat your bullets a little longer to prevent nosedives.

[bikerburgess]

to take the mad bases off remove the little set screw at the back ( or run it in till it is past flush if it will go that far ) and just push the mag base to the front till it pops off the spring will be fine but it does feel strange the first few times you do it.

I must be lucky I have a match with 4 mags 2 with extensions and 2 without all 10mm bodies (no spacer) and they feed standard length ammo as well as long loaded stuff just fine. in fact I can only think of 1 mag related malfunction in over 5000 rounds (after dropping a half full mag I got a round under the follower and couldn't load to full capacity)

Mike

[buckaroo45]

Upshot to my feed problem. Simply pushing the base off works just fine but I still feel like a barbarian. I loaded to COL of 1.175 and dropped one round to 19 instead of 20 and verified lips at .385 +/- a couple .001's. Still haven't deciphered shooting like a striped ape but w/ no FTF's or nose dives I think I no longer have a problem. Thanks to all who participated.

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Ideally you should always practise with one eye closed, standing on your weak side leg, with weak hand only.

Then when you get to a match, everything else seems easy. - some guy from Dallas