Sudden Failure To Feed

[mcoliver]

All of a sudden my gun is having some occasional FTF's (was flawless for the last 3K+ rounds). I didn't change anything and it started at the last stage of a match several weeks ago. Since then I've been having this problem even after doing a through cleaning of the gun.

The problem is that the slide does not go fully into battery. It remains locked at about .125" from fully closed and no amount of tapping can close it (although I didn't really tap very hard). Opening the slide to eject the round also needs to have some force. Seems like something is wedged preventing opening or closing.

But here's the thing, once I get the round ejected, putting it back in the mag then racking the slide, it closes fully. I noticed a slight clocking of the extractor but can't remember if it's been like this before the malf's.

Any suggestions?

Thanks a lot.

[Skywalker]

Opening the slide to eject the round also needs to have some force.

This usually happens with brass that is bulged at the base.

Did you check the ejected un-fired round, even if you are able to chamber it subsequently?

Otherwise, this might be related to your loading process: I mean, if you load lead bullets, and have changed something in your press setup (e.g. changed the flaring of the case mouth), is it possible you are getting loaded rounds with a small ring of lead ahead of the case mouth? This might prevent the slide from going to full battery.

Just another thought: are you still using the same bullets that run flawlessly for 3+K rounds?

[Jon Merricks]

I recently had a slide crack and it caused the same problems. So check your gun very good. When I my slide has not gone into battery I’ll use my thumbs to push the back of the slide while still gripping the gun. When doing it like this you can sometimes feel what may be going on. If it’s hard to push it may be the bulged cases, barrel fitting problem or round is front of the extractor.

[bountyhunter]

Possible your recoil spring doesn't have quite enough poop?

[bountyhunter]

Seems like something is wedged preventing opening or closing.

....I noticed a slight clocking of the extractor but can't remember if it's been like this before the malf's.

Any suggestions?

Thanks a lot.

That does sound suspicious. Might inspect the lower edge of the extractor to see if cases are hanging there instead of rolling under the lip smoothly. Might try radiusing the lower edges a bit and see if it improves.

[wide45]

Check your brass carefully for bulges near the base. I suspect you have some cases that have little frowns on them. Most of the time they will chamber OK, but if the bulge lines up with the barrel hood, it will be tight.

If you find brass with the frowns, they are caused by overpressure rounds starting to bulge down the ramp. Toss them. If you caused the frowns, change your load.

[joshua]

Sounds like you haven't been guaging your match rounds. I'm not sure how tight your chamber is but if it's in the minimum tolerance then firing 4 times fired brass may just be too much for clearance, specially range picked brass. Get some new brass to reload or some factory loads and see if the problem exist. josh

[Nolan]

Check your ejector as well. The rear leg broke on one of my ejectors and it caused a similar type of malfunction. The ejector would pivot on the front leg just a little bit causing the ejector to catch on the slide. It would stop about 1/8 inch short of battery.

[old shooter]

Have you removed the extractor and checked for burrs????

Mike

[mcoliver]

I stripped everything in the slide, polished the breech face, the extractor and removed some burrs from the etractor hole. I also polished the feed ramp (again) and thoroughly cleaned the chamber. Once it was done I lubed the gun and did an experiment.

Using a single ammo that has passed the case gauge (loose fit in the gauge, actually), I loaded it in the mag. Racked the slide, then very slowly assisted it closed. I can see the bullet hit the ramp angled up, then slide in the chamber. I also noticed the rim slide under the extractor claw.

Then it happens, at the very few mm prior to closing there's this binding. The feeling is similar to a disconnector binding that hasn't been lubed and it starts to hit the edge of the disonnector notch. I feel the bind when I try to rack the slide back just a tad bit (prior to unlocking), sometimes when I release it real slow it won't go in.

I'm stripping it again tonight to check for cracks in the slide as advised. I'll also check the barrel link for some signs of elongation or cracks.

Oh, to answer Sky's question, the only thing I changed was the bullet heads from 180 to 200. The brass are also several fired already. I'm sending new brass and 180's to my reloader and see if it's the ammo.

Thanks a lot for the replies guys. Really appreciate the help.

[Ross Carter]

I suspect changing bullets is causing your problem. Sometimes you have to adjust your overall length when you change bullets to compensate for the different place the new bullet hits the feed ramp. Also if your 200's are loaded too long for your chamber you might have this problem. Have you tried removing the barrel and dropping a loaded round into the chamber to see if it fits flush with the barrel hood?

[oddjob]

It happened to my 45 as well. After going through the process of elimination I found it was the bullet. If I load to to 1.255" the bullet got stuck every once in awhile in the chamber/barrel. If I load to 1.240 everything was cool. If I used a 230 grn FMJ of a different design 1.255 was ok. The 230 FMJ I am currently using (M.G.'s) can't handle the 1.255 OAL. Bottom line is if you change something such as bullets test everything out in the chamber of the barrel. The loads checked just fine in a case gage, but not in the chamber/barrel. Oh well.................live and learn..........

[mcoliver]

You guys are the greatest!

It was the dang ammo. For some reason my gun and (even the mags) do not want 200 grains. And I'm tired of playing aroung with different loadings just to make it work. So I went with my old 180 gr setup and will try to be happy.

Thanks a lot.