Sudden Multiple Feed Jams

[ErikW]

My hard chromed Limited gun all of sudden is failing to feed, with three nose diving rounds, two rounds failing to fully chamber, and twice locking open with the last round still in the magazine. All within two days and maybe 400 rounds. It's like it got possessed while in the safe! It might not have been cleaned, with 300-600 rounds through it after its previous cleaning. It's looking seriously grungy now.

Let's start with the two rounds that stuck in the chamber with the slide out of battery. Each wouldn't chamber with a forward nudge and require the slide-hold/grip-smack to extract. Both happened back-to-back. The once-fired brass was resized with an EGW die and gauged after loading. I've got to chalk these up to foreign matter in the chamber, right?

Now to the last-round lock-opens. (I know the usual suspects; I compiled the FAQ.) This gun has always locked open when empty, never with a round left. Same FMJ bullet at the same OAL I've always used.

Nose dives? I immediately think #1: recoil spring is worn out; or #2: good magazines gone bad. I've got a RecoilMaster with the supposedly immortal spring. The magazines I haven't cleaned after dropping repeatedly. The springs are months old. I'm such a dumbass: I have numbered mags but I didn't record which ones were in the gun with which failures.

I took the gun apart and cleaned it; nothing was broken. I cleaned the mags, too, and they weren't bad considering. I measured the feed lips, which were mostly .390 to .395, with one at .385. I brought them all to .390-.392. I'll throw the dice and shoot it at tomorrow's match.

I'm suspicious of the RecoilMaster spring. How about replacing it with a stout Wolff? (But keeping the rest of the RM assembly.) I'm equally suspicious of the magazine springs.

[diehli]

Have you bumped your load like you were talking about doing? That could have something to do with the slide locking back, no?

[eric nielsen]

Nose-diving and needing a nudge is something I just found on one of my hi-cap Glock mags. It was the mag spring. Looked it over and found one bend had a shallower angle, also the top coil didn't angle up as high as before.

2 pairs of needle-nose pliers and that spring is good. All the turns at the front & back of the spring are equal, also put one of those 10 or 15-degree angles in the middle of the top coil. No more problems. Locks the slide back now too.

dvc - eric - a28026

[wide45]

Change everything, then take it to a match. When it barfs you will have a good excuse.

[ErikW]

Ran like a clock for 159 rounds in the match. One of the magazine springs curves in the opposite direction of the other springs. I moved it to my loader mag.

I forget, which direction are the top of the springs supposed to curve with Grams followers?

Edited October 20, 2003 by Erik Warren

[SiG Lady]

Jeez, if I put 300-600 rds thru the Kimber without cleaning it, I doubt it'd cycle at all...!! I'm kinda anal about cleaning the thing every couple of hundred rounds. Just my tiny, weensy little two cents.

[ErikW]

I've been following the Ghost Dog cleaning method and schedule lately. (Which is, load it up with Slide Glide #1, never clean the barrel, and rarely clean the gun.) It's a lot easier to neglect cleaning when you practice 2-3 times per week and shoot a match on the weekend.