9major Open Gun Maintaince

[mrsig03]

Hello,

I'm pretty new to open and USPSA. Started shooting Glock platform but after a couple months all I've been dealing with is different jam issues the last 5 weeks. Worked great for 4 weeks...maybe I just wore out parts?

I sorta gave up and got a older used SVI and plan on shooting it in 9major. I usually average about 600-800 rounds a week, including matches.

My question:

What type of maintaining do I need to do? How often should springs and other parts be replaced? Magazine springs, how often should springs and followers be replaced? Striker pin, do they have a round count life? Etc...any insight will really help or only shoot it sparingly and train on the Glock?

I would love to see this gun run without any issues...since my last 5 matches was fixing my gun at least 4 out of 5 stages. It seems only to work on qualifiers...??

Thank you...Newbie Open Shooter.

[gdboytyler]

After 10,000+ rounds as a 38 super, the only thing that broke on my STI was one of the mounting bolts for the frame mount and the barrel link.

The STI got re-barreled as a 9mm with new recoil spring and mag springs and after 2000+ rounds of 9 major, nothing replaced yet.

[Hi-Power Jack]

2 thoughts:

1. what specific jams?

2. my TruBor always worked perfectly for qualifiers, but always jammed

on longer field courses - took a while before I realized that my Mag #2

needed a new spring - solved the entire problem.

[BeerBaron]

Mag springs need replacing when you notice they are soft or you start getting feed jams.

Recoil and hammer spring say every 10k

Firing pin is fine till it breaks or gets bent.

Firing pin spring ever 10k

Hammer and sear wear eventually

Keep an eye on the barrel link.

Given you shoot 800 rounds a week I'd suggest you need to field strip and clean once a week and maybe even relube at the 400 round mark (just a couple drops on the rails basically).

No reason why it won't be very reliable.

[EkuJustice]

Recoil spring replacement I have found depends a lot on the poundage of the spring. If it's a 9 or heavier they can go easily 5-7k rounds before replacement. If it's something like a 7 it may need changing ever 1500.

[mrsig03]

Awesome info...thank you. Most of the jams are because of stove pipes in my Glock. Was failure to extract. Fixed by getting stronger extractor spring. Then when to failure to feed, needed new recoil spring. Now, not sure what is next...works 99% during the week training, but fails 80% during matches. I'll check mags springs next. But I'll be shooting the SVI mostly as soon as I get it re barrel to shoot 9 major. Thank you.

[B45C22]

Recoil spring replacement I have found depends a lot on the poundage of the spring. If it's a 9 or heavier they can go easily 5-7k rounds before replacement. If it's something like a 7 it may need changing ever 1500.

Tell that to my open gun with a 8lb spring and the 15,000 rounds that are on the original recoil, hammer, and mag springs.

[Kwontanamo]

another thing you may want to check is the ejector. I also had a problem with stove pipes until I changed out the ejector with a brazo tuned ejector. I already had an aftec extractor and now the gun runs amazing. best of luck and welcome to the dark side haha

[Glock26Toter]

Don't forget to check all your screws everytime you clean it. CMore set screws and scope mount screws will get loose when you least expect it. And yes, they ALWAYS have Loctite... but still get loose.

Oh, and use Vibra-tite on the cmore screws, not Loctite.

Good luck.

Edited April 19, 2015 by Glock26Toter

[mrsig03]

Thank you everyone for the great advice.

[gng4life]

The mag springs are the most crucial, I usually change them out in the winter and they are good the rest of the upcoming season. Recoil springs are next depending on how it is cycling. I usually change out everything else about every other year and I'm doing between 8-12K per year.

[mrsig03]

The mag springs are the most crucial, I usually change them out in the winter and they are good the rest of the upcoming season. Recoil springs are next depending on how it is cycling. I usually change out everything else about every other year and I'm doing between 8-12K per year.

Thank you...that's great to know. I'm doing more like 30k+ this year. Should I change more frequently? Thanks

[JWard79]

Springs are relatively cheap compared to the price of a level 2/3 match or the cost of a slide. The weight of the recoil spring, aggressiveness of slide modification, and number of rounds down range will determine whether you should opt for the sooner rather than later replacement plan. The length of an old magazine spring compared to a new one is a visual indicator of wear, but reliability is the goal so check for function during practices & local matches before you show up to a higher level match ( mag spring cost vs. entry fee, hotel, food, and overall results).

[gng4life]

The mag springs are the most crucial, I usually change them out in the winter and they are good the rest of the upcoming season. Recoil springs are next depending on how it is cycling. I usually change out everything else about every other year and I'm doing between 8-12K per year.

Thank you...that's great to know. I'm doing more like 30k+ this year. Should I change more frequently? Thanks

In that case, I would change out after about 5-6 month mark. That's a lot of bullets! I normally shoot about half as much as you so you'll need to change out sooner.

Edited April 22, 2015 by gng4life