waktasz Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 I have a Para 16.40 that I've been using for a while. This gun has been pretty much flawless, as long as I keep it reasonably clean. The only jams I've had was in a class after shooting 1000+ rounds in a day. I put it away for about three years and didn't plan any gun games for a while. Fast forward to the last few months. The gun is back in action but will occasionally fail to feed. I figured it was time to replace the springs anyway so I got all new mag springs and a 12.5 # recoil spring to replace the possibly worn 12 # Wolff spring. It still has the occasional FTF issues and will not strip the first round when using the slide release on three of my mags (important since I play IDPA as well) I switched to a 15# spring and all is well again, although I like shooting it better with the light spring. All of the metal contact surfaces look fresh to me, and the gun cycles smoothly, if a little loose. What could be the culprit? Is there anything I could check myself that could be out of whack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Is your extractor tunnel clean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waktasz Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 Under the extractor claw is clean, not sure about the tunnel. I've never taken it out...not even sure how. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Under the extractor claw is clean, not sure about the tunnel. I've never taken it out...not even sure how. The tunnel could very well be gunked up. Take the slide off the gun, depress the firing pin with a punch or something similar and slightly push down on the firing pin stop. Remove the punch, cover the area with your hand to catch the firing pin and slowly pull down on the firing pin stop until the firing pin pops out. Remove the firing pin and spring and set aside with the firing pin stop. Next push outwards and back on the nose of the extractor so that it moves back into the tunnel. Once you have it started back enough you can then grab the back of the extractor where it sticks out the back of the slide and you're set. Take a Q-tip soaked in solvent and run it through the tunnel until you get all the gunk out and then dry Q-tips (you don't want oil/solvent in the tunnel as it will attract powder residue. Reassembly is in the reverse order. Oh, also clean the firing pin tunnel out while you have it apart...Q-tips and solvent will work there too and you want that dry as well when you're done. R, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Have you changed anything on the gun or the mags? New followers or a new slidestop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waktasz Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 Thanks G-man. I will try that. I've had the firing pin out before, didn't realize the extractor pulls out like that. Nothing changed except mag and recoil springs Merlin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Make sure the slide is not dragging on top of the mags. You can black the top of the lips with a marker and see pretty quick if this is happening. I just finished a new IDPA CDP STI widebody and the tuned mags that ran perfectly in my previous gun... 3 out of the 5 now drag across the mag lips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 If you haven't had the extractor out before that is what the problem is, it gets nasty in there and artificially jacks the extractor tension way up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashvillebill Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Does anybody besides me use a 22 caliber bore brush to clean out the extractor tunnel? Is this a bad idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 22 brush works as good as anything. I grease the tunnel, so all the fouling stays soft. I can shoot a lot longer between cleanings and push the gunk out with a Q-tip when I do clean this way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JThompson Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Is your extractor tunnel clean? Go here first... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waktasz Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 (edited) Ah, now I remember how to do this. I have had the extractor out before, but it was probably 3 years ago before I "retired" from shooting. The gun now seems smoother when going into battery but still hitches a little bit when stripping the rounds, and still had a few FTF while just dropping the slide using the slide release last night during testing. I'm going to try running it with the 15 pound spring and then get a 14 pounder and see how I like the feel. Going into battery with the 15 # just feel so much more solid and reliable, I'd rather keep it like that to get the reliability back. edit: Just read this article http://www.brazoscustom.com/magart/0609.htm, and my extractor definitely is not nice and smoothly radiused like this. Time to break out the file? Edited November 11, 2008 by waktasz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryC Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Ah, now I remember how to do this. I have had the extractor out before, but it was probably 3 years ago before I "retired" from shooting. The gun now seems smoother when going into battery but still hitches a little bit when stripping the rounds, and still had a few FTF while just dropping the slide using the slide release last night during testing. I'm going to try running it with the 15 pound spring and then get a 14 pounder and see how I like the feel. Going into battery with the 15 # just feel so much more solid and reliable, I'd rather keep it like that to get the reliability back. edit: Just read this article http://www.brazoscustom.com/magart/0609.htm, and my extractor definitely is not nice and smoothly radiused like this. Time to break out the file? Could be that the new mag springs are putting more drag on the slide. Try an old mag spring and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBoyle Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Did you change your load? I have noticed that my para feeds lrn much easier than swc. I use a 14 pound with the round nose but use a 16 to reliably strip rounds from full mags with the semi wads. When I used a worn out 14lb spring with the SWCs I would get some feeding problems......never at practice of course. A fresh 16 lb keeps it 100%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 My Para never ran well with less than a 16lb Spring. I would allways read here about 12's and 14's and every now and then I would try it and would get the same slide lock reload FTF you're getting on a full mag. I just ran 18lb springs and smiled and liked it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmccrock Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 When I had beyond 10K rounds in my Para P14.45, it started having feed problems. Replacing the original plastic Para magazine catch helped greatly (went from 1-2 rounds every mag to 1-2 rounds per match). Also, when the feed problems started in the middle of a match, everyone said "its the mag". Well, not 5 different mags at once. After replacing the mag catch, there was still an occasional feed problem, which I fixed by re-setting OAL on my 550 (it had drifted off some). Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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