Chris Rhines Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I have a 5" TSS STI Limited gun, short/wide dust cover, lightened Classic slide. I'm the second owner of the gun. Since I got it, I've put about 2000 flawless rounds through it. I replaced the recoil spring with an ISMI 12.5# spring about 1000 rounds ago, and the gun is otherwise just as it left Benny's shop. Last weekend I shot it in a local 3-gun match and had no trouble. I normally shoot a Precision 185grn. black bullet over 4.5grn. of Ramshot Competition at 1.170" OAL. I also sometimes use a 180grn. Zero over 4.4grn. Titegroup, same length. Yesterday, I went out to practice. About 200 rounds into my practice session, the gun started failing to go into battery. The bullet would be stuck partway into the chamber. Usually, a light tap on the back of the slide would get it running again. It was doing this literally every shot. I stripped the gun down last night, cleaned it, gave the extractor tunnel a good scrubbing, checked the extractor (AFTEC) for burrs, etc. Nothing to be found. I shot again today, and had more of the same problem. Interestingly, when I switched to the 180grn. Zero load, I had fewer malfunctions, maybe every 5-6 rounds. Right now I've got the gun stripped down and the barrel soaking in MPro7. I'm going to call Benny tomorrow, but until then is there anything else I should look at? - Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WDB Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 By far not an expert but I had a similar problem with my gun awhile back. Things that I checked/ask: 1. What spring did it have in it before and did this problem exist then. 2. Make sure the chamber hasn’t got any build up prior to the rifling. 3. Check the ejection pattern. Is it far enough away from you, 5-8 feet is what most recommend I think. 4. If your ejection is good double check your ammo. Does it fall in and out of the chamber? I don’t use gauges, since they are not what I’m shooting. I use the barrel AFTER a practice session to gauge my rounds. Reason being that the gun is only clean on the first stage. 5. Is the slide fully cycling? If it doesn’t come back far enough it will still eject with the brass, landing close and the slide will not have enough momentum to strip the next round and fully chamber it. 6. Mags. Make sure the rounds are not dragging as they are stripped out creating more resistance and slowing the slide down. In my instance my slide was short stroking. Bumped the PF about 3-5 points and played with the recoil spring a little and all has been good since. Best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfinney Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Just to be sure, check your reloading dies to see if anything backed out, and measure your rounds sizing, crimp and oal. Sometimes things just happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Just to be sure, check your reloading dies to see if anything backed out, and measure your rounds sizing, crimp and oal. Sometimes things just happen. +1... I know it doesn't sound like it, but... if you've got rounds where you're getting setback on the feed ramp, this can cause stalls going into batter - there's not enough "oomph" left in the recoil spring to snug the rim under the extractor after its spent all that energy seating the bullet deeper. I would especially consider this given that it sounds like you're switching bullets around - and that you say the only thing you've done is swapped recoil springs (and that it ran for 1K with the current/new spring before showing the issue). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Hello: Look in the barrel from the breach end and make sure the corner of the chamber is clean. I have to clean my 45 using Precision bullets sometimes with a scriber to clean up that area. The brass will hit a chunk of moly left in there and then it will go into battery after a light tap of the hand. Now after every cleaning I check that area just to make sure. Hope this helps and let us know if it does. Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulm540 Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 (edited) Had a similar problem with my TSS but there was lead build up in my chamber. After cleaning teh TSS , it runs like a raped ape. No fault of the gun but me for being lazy. Edited January 26, 2009 by bulm540 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Rhines Posted January 26, 2009 Author Share Posted January 26, 2009 Might have this one sorted. It looks like the problem was a combination of things. - I pulled out the extractor and examined it very closely, under magnification and bright lights. Surprise surprise, I found a tiny burr just at the top of the relief cut. Three strokes with the #2 Swill pillar file cleaned that up. Hand-cycling some dummy rounds through the gun felt much smoother afterwards. - The chamber was pretty dirty. The MPro7 bath helped. - My Precision moly load was sticking in the chamber just a tiny bit. I knew this from chamber-checking my match ammo, but had ignored it up until now because that load fed and ejected just fine. I realize now that I was probably right on the edge of feedway malfunctions. Since I've about run through this batch of ammo, I may try shortening the OAL on that load to 1.150-1.160". Thanks to everyone. - Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Hello: I know Benny loads to 1.170 with some 165 JHP bullets. He will answer this tomorrow I'll bet Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benny hill Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 I use 1.180 oal & make sure the crimp is at .417 for lead & about .418 for jacketed. Set back is a bitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Rhines Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 Thanks, Benny. I measured the crimp on a few of my remaining rounds, and it came out to 0.423. Oddly, the ones that jammed in the feedway showed no measurable setback, but I'll crank the crimp die down a bit more just the same. - Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el pres Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 (edited) nevermind !! Forgot to read the thread first ... Edited January 27, 2009 by DIRTY CHAMBER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radical Precision Designs Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I have a 5" TSS STI Limited gun, short/wide dust cover, lightened Classic slide. I'm the second owner of the gun.Since I got it, I've put about 2000 flawless rounds through it. I replaced the recoil spring with an ISMI 12.5# spring about 1000 rounds ago, and the gun is otherwise just as it left Benny's shop. Last weekend I shot it in a local 3-gun match and had no trouble. I normally shoot a Precision 185grn. black bullet over 4.5grn. of Ramshot Competition at 1.170" OAL. I also sometimes use a 180grn. Zero over 4.4grn. Titegroup, same length. Yesterday, I went out to practice. About 200 rounds into my practice session, the gun started failing to go into battery. The bullet would be stuck partway into the chamber. Usually, a light tap on the back of the slide would get it running again. It was doing this literally every shot. I stripped the gun down last night, cleaned it, gave the extractor tunnel a good scrubbing, checked the extractor (AFTEC) for burrs, etc. Nothing to be found. I shot again today, and had more of the same problem. Interestingly, when I switched to the 180grn. Zero load, I had fewer malfunctions, maybe every 5-6 rounds. Right now I've got the gun stripped down and the barrel soaking in MPro7. I'm going to call Benny tomorrow, but until then is there anything else I should look at? - Chris Sometime ago I replied to a similar post. Maybe this will help. You mentioned putting through a lot of round in one session. Did you "renew" the lubrication as you went along??? Very often I see this situation with a fellow competitor in the middle of a match. I always carry with me a small bottle of "magic lube/oil". When this happens I just put in a few drops of oil at the juncture of the slide and barrel (by the locking lugs) and rack the slide back and forth a few times to disperse the lube over the barrel. Usually the situation disappears instantly, and the slide will continue to close fine again. In your case of doing 2000 rounds, I would also consider going to the safe area, removing the extractor, cleaning it and the tunnel, reinstalling it, lubing the gun a little bit more and back to shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benny hill Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 I use only syntec 10-30 oil on all my guns & after a hard weekend they are still wet & lubed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Rhines Posted January 31, 2009 Author Share Posted January 31, 2009 Update - just got back from the range. The malfunctions aren't happening as frequently, but I'm still getting some failures. Maybe 10 failures to go into battery in 250 rounds. I'm using basically the same load, 185grn. black bullets, 1.170" OAL, but with a 0.417" crimp. One further observation - I have 4 STI 140mm magazines, two with Grams internals and Dawson pads, two with Bolen everything, and 6 SVI 140mm magazines with Bolen everything. Most of the malfunctions happened while using the SVI mags. Any ideas? - Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Chris Try dropping the slide on a full mag and see which (if any) mags give you a "KaChunck" feeling when the cartridge loads.... You can feel a hitch if the mag is not presenting the bullet to the ramp properly..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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