Need input from y'all regarding a finnicky Caspian 9mm hi-cap

[kcobean]

Hi guys,

My son's Caspian high-cap is having an issue and I'm hoping you can guide me towards a proper solution.

The gun was acting up 2 matches ago, failing to go into battery and occasionally stove piping. I think I figured out that it just does NOT like to be dirty (We brought it to the match dirty from the preceeding match.) So I cleaned the heck out of it and figured it would be good to for the next match. Last weekend, it started doing what I believe is short stroking. The slide would cycle, but sometimes not far enough for the ejector to flip the spent case off the extractor claw or pick up the next round in the mag, so it would just shove the empty case back into the chamber. Then sometimes it would cycle back far enough to pick up the next round out of the mag, but not far enough to eject the spent case, so as the breech face was shoving the next round up the feed ramp, the spent case would stay on the extractor, ride forward with the slide and hit the back of the chamber, stopping the gun from going back into battery. I took it out to the range and shot it myself and was able to reproduce the problem exactly, so it's not that he's limp-wristing or riding the slide with his thumbs. I couldn't get three consecutive shots out of it in two magazine worth of ammo. The gun is pretty new and only been to a few matches so far with the same ammo which is 124gr round nose on 3.8 grains of titegroup with Federal #100 primers. I chrono'd this ammo in this gun at a safe 135 PF. I check my loads every 25 or so rounds, so I know my powder spec is on target. While I was shooting it, a guy offered to let me try some different ammo, which was 147grain factory ammo (WWB or similar). I loaded up 10 rounds and shot the entire string without a failure.

So my questions are these:

1) I have only ever shot XD's prior to this gun. The XD's don't give a hoot whether you lube them or run them dry, they just run. The range we were shooting at is VERY dusty so I brought the Caspian out with almost NO lube on the gun anywhere to keep it from getting gummed up. Do you think that was a contributing factor? How/how much do you guys lube your 1911's and what do you use? Only thing I have right now is a standard lightweight oil that came in a pistol cleaning kit.

2) It seems that if under-lubricating is not my issue, I have 3 choices: more powder, heavier bullet, or lighter spring. What are y'alls thoughts on the best way to bring reliability to this gun?

Thanks for your help!

Kelly

[v1911]

What # spring are you running? Sounds like you might be a tad heavy. Running 9mm you should be in the 11-12# range.

[Mike21STI]

I was going to suggest a different recoil spring, I run a 9# or 10# with my single stack 9mm

[GuildSF4]

It is true that some guns do not like to run dry. The tighter tolerances are (slide to frame) the more they like to be lubed. Another spring that can affect this is the main spring, a lighter main spring allows the slide to unlock easier and sooner, leaving the slide more energy to continue it's cycle. (I normally use a 19# main spring, some people prefer a 17#, stock is about 23# (some may have a 21# stock).)

Edited May 7, 2013 by GuildSF4

[ParaGunner]

Try a 9-12lbs recoil spring and a 18-19lbs mainspring. Definitely lube the gun, I use slide glide on the slide-frame rails and the barrel. And a good oil on everything else.

[kcobean]

So it looks like my hunch about having under-lubed the gun was correct. I cleaned the gun (again) and put a liberal amount of Brownell's Friction Defense on the slide rails and took it back to the range today with 100 rounds of the same ammo that was problematic before and 100 rounds of ammo that had a few extra tenths of a grain of powder. The short-stroking problems went away, but a new problem has showed up. It seems that the extractor is letting go of the spent case about half-way out of the chamber, so when it picks up the next round in the magazine that round has nowhere to go. I have to drop the mag, rattle the spent case out of the gun and reinsert the mag. Anyone have any ideas how to fix that one? The VA/MD sectional is next weekend and I'd really love for my son to be able to shoot this gun, but right now It's looking like he'll shoot his XDm instead.

[v1911]

Sounds like a extractor adjustment needs to be made.

[kcobean]

Sounds like a extractor adjustment needs to be made.

Kinda what I thought, but the extractor is pretty tight already.

[caspian guy]

Sounds like a extractor adjustment needs to be made.

Kinda what I thought, but the extractor is pretty tight already.

Tight how? lots of tension sliding a round up the breech face or hard to get out of the slide? if you load a dummy round, and remove the mag and slowly hand cycle it what happens?

[kcobean]

Sounds like a extractor adjustment needs to be made.

Kinda what I thought, but the extractor is pretty tight already.

Tight how? lots of tension sliding a round up the breech face or hard to get out of the slide? if you load a dummy round, and remove the mag and slowly hand cycle it what happens?

I've been reading alot and it sounds like an appropriately tuned extractor will hold a round against the breech face if you slide the round up under the extractor by hand. This one definitely would not do that. I've given it a little more bend and now it will. Back to the range tomorrow to see if that does the trick. I'm trying to get this gun ready for the VA/MD sectional, so hopefully this will get it in match condition.

[kcobean]

Ok, last follow up on this....re-cleaned and lubed the gun, tensioned up the extractor more to the point that I can slide a round up under it by hand and it stays snugly in place. Went back to the range and put 200 rounds through the gun without a single failure. Problem solved, and now I'm smarter!

Thanks guys.

[Forgetful]

You also might want to consider a 9mm aftec extractor. I find the regular extractors are sometimes finicky to keep tensioned.

And a 11lb recoil spring is good for a 9mm. Plus 2011/1911 like to be run wet. Most guns do in reality.

Edited May 11, 2013 by Forgetful

[kcobean]

Thanks forgetful. This gun has a pretty light recoil spring in it. I don't know what weight it is, but this gun cycles by hand much easier than the XDm9 he was shooting before, so I suspect it's an 11 lb or thereabouts. It was really nice to see the gun run 200 rounds today without a hiccup.