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Nosedive jams - 38 Super


dons

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45 minutes ago, RangerTrace said:

Something to remember, only change one thing at a time or you won't know exactly what solved the issue.

Absolutely. Since this only jammed the pistol once every 200 rounds or so, I have a lot of work to do.  I'm hoping to get to a point where I cannot duplicate it with the magazine out of the gun, then go from there.

Once again thank everyone for their insight.

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take ur mags a apart, make sure no burs on the lips, then throw the tubes in your brass tumbler with media over night.
loose the grams springs and followers, for the life of me I dont see why these are so popular,,  go with dawson or stock and wolf or ISMI springs.
wack the back of mags when you load them

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9 hours ago, Joe4d said:

take ur mags a apart, make sure no burs on the lips, then throw the tubes in your brass tumbler with media over night.
loose the grams springs and followers, for the life of me I dont see why these are so popular,,  go with dawson or stock and wolf or ISMI springs.
wack the back of mags when you load them

Thank you. I'll try the tumbler idea. I've used both grams and stock STI insides with equal success for years,  but one of my tests will include new ISMI springs. Another will be with new grams. 

There seems to be a lot of various opinions about smacking magazines, I'll try all the options.

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20 minutes ago, Glk21C said:

Sounds like the double to single stack transition area is too wide, needs to be squeezed together some

That's one of the areas I was concerned about,  but after adjusting all the magazines according to Atlas,  no change. Thanks for the advice. 

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On 10/11/2019 at 5:58 AM, dons said:

Thank you. I'll try the tumbler idea. I've used both grams and stock STI insides with equal success for years,  but one of my tests will include new ISMI springs. Another will be with new grams. 

There seems to be a lot of various opinions about smacking magazines, I'll try all the options.

Have you tried putting back the mags to there original specs prior to all the issues. Assuming you have the old parts.. Step by step process of elimination? 

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54 minutes ago, Furrly said:

Have you tried putting back the mags to there original specs prior to all the issues. Assuming you have the old parts.. Step by step process of elimination? 

Actually yes. 4 of these magazines are near-new 2nd gen STI. I originally outfitted them with Grams kits. Then went back to the original STI stuff.  No change. Then I changed the specs. I'm going to be working on changes to OAL as my next step, leaving the magazines in their current configuration for now. Thanks for your comments. 

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I have  an STI Grand Master with two barrels - 38 & 9mm. Mags are both old style and new. 38SC virtually never jams ( maybe once every 20K) 9mm won't even feed 10 rounds without nose dive. All have Grams springs and followers. I fixed the problem. If I ever sell the gun it will be with a seldom used 9mm barrel. It's just not worth having problems at a match.

Load up some 38SC if they work enjoy the match and don't look back.

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5 hours ago, JimF38sup said:

I have  an STI Grand Master with two barrels - 38 & 9mm. Mags are both old style and new. 38SC virtually never jams ( maybe once every 20K) 9mm won't even feed 10 rounds without nose dive. All have Grams springs and followers. I fixed the problem. If I ever sell the gun it will be with a seldom used 9mm barrel. It's just not worth having problems at a match.

Load up some 38SC if they work enjoy the match and don't look back.

How did  you fix the problem for the 9mm? Grams springs and followers? Change in OAL of the ammo? Or just switched to 38SC?

Edited by dons
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  • 2 weeks later...

I had 3k 38sc brass so I didn't bother with the 9mm. The brass is the cheapest part of the weekend match so I just quit listening to everyone complain about 38sc brass cost. When I obsessed over picking it up at a match I usually got 50 back. That's about $7 saved. I got tired of hearing about the "old guys" scrounging for brass plus I wasn't really doing my fair share of the pasting. I have always shot the gun 38sc since new in 2014. I only tired the 9mm at a practice range.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I want to again thank everyone who contributed their thoughts and experience to this post.

I fixed the problem by switching to 38 SuperComp brass.   I had to replace the extractor because the old one was an Aftec, and reduce the powder charge (Starline SC cases with the same load was 5 power factor higher) but after almost 700 rounds, no isues.

Sold the good brass I had to someone here with a WTB ad, the rest goes to the recycler today.  1000 more SC brass is on the way from Starline.

All the responses I received were positive and courteous, what a great bunch here on BE!

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