Haunted Commander?

[SMMAssociates]

Hey Tuner - I had one happen Wednesday night that I can't explain. Couldn't find it in my copy of the Book of Revelations either.... :eek:

First shot for the night, out of my Commander, using decent reloads made up by a friend, with a generic (it's marked "Colt .45" or something like that) magazine upgraded with Tripp's kit.

The round chambered normally, and fired normally.

Then I noticed that the slide was nowhere near returned to battery.

Looking at the top, the empty shell is sitting in the top of the ejection port area, "backwards", jamming the slide open. (That's with the primer on the downrange end of the shell!) The next round had come up a bit, but had barely moved out of the magazine.

The next round had moved just far enough to make ejecting the magazine difficult.

Cleared everything, and the gun shot fine for the rest of the evening except for a couple FTF's due to slightly "off" reloads.

Any idea what happened?

Regards,

[1911Tuner]

Worms...


:D

Sounds like a short-cycle induced failure to eject, Stu. Ammo related.
The slide doesn't get quite enough momentum to smack the case on the ejector with enough force to clear the port in time to get out of the way of the slide. If it only happened once, and functioned normally after that, it's almost gotta be the ammo, since that's the major variable in the equation.

If it gets to be a regular thing...sing out! :cool:

[SMMAssociates]

Tuner:

Thanks....

That was my guess, too....

These were homebrew reloads (a friend of mine has a progressive reloader). 230gr RNL. He likes to load 'em a little hot, but who knows. Ancient brass.

This gun likes to flip the last round of a group onto my hat....

That happened only once though.... We put another couple hundred rounds through the thing after that.

I had some Failures To Feed that seem to be related to ancient brass, too, or something of that nature. I went to a different lot (another source) and it was fine. This is the gun that wouldn't feed SWC's until I switched to the Tripp innards in the magazine. Those FTF rounds didn't like being put through a second time much either. Tripp's springs are HEAVY.... Anybody's guess if that matters, but I don't think so.

Oddly, it was always the next-to-last round (of five or six) in the magazine, but it only happened a couple times, and other sets of five or six from the same lot were fine. I'm guessing that my Commander is a little finicky, and my buddy needs to tighten up the crimp just a hair.

(Yeah - I know about crimping and 1911's. You need a good bit of case mouth to headspace on. What this looked like was his lead might be a little bit oversize and shaving a bit or some such. The lead is from a local reloading "factory". Not real big, but he knows what he's doing. AFAIK, nothing has ever been done to the ramp or throat. I think my buddy's 1911 has had a little cleanup work done there.)

Had a funny one with my Para Wednesday night, too. Testing some new magazines. One of them was perfect, but after five rounds through the second one, the slide stop refused to work, and the whole gun seemed to seize up. Slide got hard to move, etc. Let it sit for a few minutes and it was fine until I put another five through it....

This gun had been cleaned about three weeks ago, and just sat around until Wednesday night. I think I either forgot to lube the barrel bushing or recoil spring plunger (hollow - full length guide rod), or the oil just worked it's way out. (Hoppe's.) I grease the rails a bit (also Hoppe's), and that was fine.

I didn't have anything with me at the range to lube it up, so I just put it back in the bag until last night. Nothing.... No indication of galling or other undue friction anyplace. I'm guessing I need to go with a better lubricant on those parts. Normally, I shoot the thing once a week, but I'd been too sick to go out for about a month. General rule of thumb is that if I go out on Wednesday, whatever gets dirty is cleaned on Thursday.

I think the barrel bushing or the recoil spring plunger was dry, and when the barrel heated up, it expanded a bit and bound up.

Back to the range on Wednesday night, I hope. With some lubricants.... :D

[1911Tuner]

>>I think the barrel bushing or the recoil spring plunger was dry, and when the barrel heated up, it expanded a bit and bound up.<<

Howdy Stu,

If the bushing is OEM, that shouldn't cause a problem. Plenty of clearance
there. If it's fitted, it MIGHT cause one...I'm gonna say that you may have a little excessive stem-bind or out-of-spec ammo. Too long...not sized correctly...bullet seated crooked with a bulged case sidewall.

The last round in your hat may be a sign that the extractor needs a little more tension...but hold off until you can put some known good ammo through the gun.

DON'T polish the feed ramp if the gun is alloy-framed...and be careful not to
get carried away with the throat and undermine the case head support.

Standin' by for the next range report....

[Brian D.]

If this is just a one-time happening, it ain't even worth the trouble of analyzing, is it 1911T? Btw the only time this particular thing happened with one of my 1911s, it was at an indoor range. The case in question took a funny hop off of either the sidewall of the lane, or the metal rail overhead, and landed back in the ejection port.
Fwiw, at one indoor range I frequent, almost all the empties sittin' in the rail/gutter thing above each lane are .45acp's, presumably from 1911s. (Most prominently in the lane from which we shoot bowling pin matches.)

[SMMAssociates]

>>I think the barrel bushing or the recoil spring plunger was dry, and when the barrel heated up, it expanded a bit and bound up.<<

If the bushing is OEM, that shouldn't cause a problem. Plenty of clearance there. If it's fitted, it MIGHT cause one...I'm gonna say that you may have a little excessive stem-bind or out-of-spec ammo. Too long...not sized correctly...bullet seated crooked with a bulged case sidewall. It's an OEM bushing. It's always been a little bit tight, but nothing to write home about. I think something got a little warm and.... The Para never did that before....

What's "stem bind"? New one on me.

The gun's empty at the point that it binds up, so I doubt if the ammo is responsible. I was using "good" reloads, which doesn't guarantee anything except that the source is a bulk reloader and has been fine in the past. I still think the barrel bushing was just dry, although I'm not sure why. My next to last cleaning step is to wipe down about everything with an oily patch. This evens out the coating where I've dribbled oil while using a Q-tip, and is an easy way to put a little film on the slide stop, plunger, bushing, barrel, and the recoil spring and it's guide. (Final step is to assemble the thing and then wipe it with a dry cloth so it doesn't fall out of the holster :D .)

I thought maybe the top of the new magazine was too high or something like that, but it was still binding with the magazine removed. Out of nowhere.... I've been fighting magazine issues with the Para since day 1, but this is brand new. The only variable is that it'd been sitting in the bag for a week or so, and unfired for about three weeks before that. (The Para's my usual carry, although I switched to the Commander for no particularly good reason when putting the Para in the bag.)

The last round in your hat may be a sign that the extractor needs a little more tension...but hold off until you can put some known good ammo through the gun. Could be - the casing does pop up a ways, though, so who knows. That's a good reason to wear my hat.... "Good ammo" seems to behave about the same, but it doesn't happen often anyway. "Once a visit" sort of thing.

DON'T polish the feed ramp if the gun is alloy-framed...and be careful not to get carried away with the throat and undermine the case head support.Steel frame, but I'm not touching the ramp until there's nothing much left to do. (Well, maybe some really fine abrasive paper if I can find my stash.) I still don't understand why Browning went with that setup instead of a full integral ramp on the barrel like the Para. There seems to be all kinds of room to do that, and I don't see it as being any much harder to make. The only caveat I've noticed is that the rear of the Para's barrel is kind of bulky compared to Browning's design, which adds a little metal, and may not quite square with something he was thinking about in regard to the barrel link. Or maybe a slightly stronger frame in the ramp area?

Standin' by for the next range report....Should be out Wednesday night....


Saving a slot: Brian: I don't think your description fits this instance, but would believe about anything. The range ceiling is at least 8', and covered mostly with acoustical tile. It feels like the time involved was too short for a really flaky bounce like that, but.... I'm not real good at 3D visualization.... The just fired casing has to come out of the breech during the recoil period, held by the extractor. Then it hits the ejector and is kicked away. Then the slide goes forward, grabbing a round off the magazine stack and chambering it. In this instance, the "new" round probably didn't feed properly, which left the action open, but how the empty got turned around, I don't know.

Thanks,

[SMMAssociates]

Range night got moved to Thursday....

If I'm able.

Stupid stomach bug came back Saturday. I've been fighting this since before Halloween.

Meantime, the kid's in town and wants to shoot, and is only available Thursday night anyway....

(Now if I can only get my wife to come out and hold targets. A family that plays together.... :D I owe her one - my sister, who's an MD, sent me a flu shot, and my wife gave it to me the other night. She's a diabetic, so she's got the touch, but she didn't want me to remove the bubbles from the syringe.... :eek: )

Regards,

[SMMAssociates]

I did make it out to the range Thursday night....

My daughter joined us and gave my S&W M39 a workout.

The two new 10-round Mec-Gars for the Para seem fine. The old Para 13's are junk. End of problem. There was a lubrication issue there 'cause I slopped all kinds of glop on it last cleaning and it was fine tonight. Next cleaning (Friday night, probably) I'll go with a more normal lubrication. I think I forgot to lube the barrel bushing or the recoil spring plug (solid guide rod).

The Haunted Commander seems to have one "off" magazine. The other two behaved perfectly except that I had two of those "reversed" case FTE's I mentioned at the start of this thread. About two hundred rounds - mostly "factory" reloads this time. My buddy's reloads were the ones that acted up. I'm sure it's ammo related. One or two FTF's of the more normal variety, but with that one magazine. I put it aside for hammering when I feel better. I think I'm just going to call Tripp and get a couple of his at this point.

I'm going to swap in a new extractor too, just to see if that doesn't help. I have the feeling that Wolf (steel case, lacquer variety) ammo and my gunsmith's tweaking of the extractor after that may have left the extractor a little itchy.

For the guys who don't know what an S&W M39 is, it's a 9mm alloy-frame semi. DA/SA with a decocker similar to the Walther PP types, but it's otherwise similar to the 1911 design, and about the same size as a Commander. If you're old enough to remember "Starsky & Hutch", one of the guys ("Starsky"?) carried one. That got the local PD's Detectives interested in them, and I got the chance to pick one up sometime before 1975. My daughter likes it better than the Commander. :eek: Sacrilege, of course, but she's rather small, and the Commander & the Para just kick her too hard. By comparison, the 9mm kinda goes "click".... :D

[Thompsongunner]

LOL :D

I use to watch Starsky and Hutch all the time and I really don't consider myself old,,,, my kids do though.

My first pistol was a M59..A very sweet pistol that never jammed no matter what I put through it.

And btw I think Starsky carried a M59 just because it came with black grips and the M39 came with brown, plus he racked off rounds out of that thing like it was a machine gun, but then again hollywood hardly never reloads.


Gunner

[SMMAssociates]

And btw I think Starsky carried a M59 just because it came with black grips and the M39 came with brown, plus he racked off rounds out of that thing like it was a machine gun, but then again hollywood hardly never reloads. GunnerDunno.... I don't think the M59 was available until much later.... Definitely had brown grips on mine until I opted for Pachmayrs. I guess you could buy aftermarket grips in 1975....

There's probably a web site someplace that knows - there's one for everything else. :)

I considered upgrading to the M59 myself, but never quite got around to it.

My wife's car was in hospital in 1976 when one of the local Ford dealers got one of those specially painted up Torinos. I guess they sold a few.

My M39 seems to be willing to digest whatever I throw at it. Tuner'll be on my case, but I still think that Browning missed the boat with the two-piece feed ramp. 'Course, I'll give Saint Browning the benefit of the doubt in that I don't think he ever assumed anybody'd put anything but GI Hardball through 'em.

[1911Tuner]

'Twas noted:

Tuner'll be on my case, but I still think that Browning missed the boat with the two-piece feed ramp. 'Course, I'll give Saint Browning the benefit of the doubt in that I don't think he ever assumed anybody'd put anything but GI Hardball through 'em.
********************

Ahhhh, Grasshopper. You haven't studied the Gospel according to John Moses diligently enough. While you are correct on the hardball question, the pistols can be made to feed shapes that other designs would choke upon... Will your M-59 function with lead semi-wadcutters? But the integral ramp issue is another matter entirely, and rather than give you the answer, I will ask you a few questions and let you contemplate the answer as you sleep.

When the 1911 was designed...What was it for? What was important?
What would have made it less desireable? What...besides meeting the caliber and power criteria and functional reliability were its two most important attributes?

Clear your mind...and the answer will come.

May the force be with you.

[Thompsongunner]

I did put Pachmeyers on mine but they made the grips even wider than they already were :eek:

BTW I have a good friend that has a M39 in mint condition. As I recall the M39 and M59 were favorite pistols to modify in those days,


And yes tuner mine eat semiwadcutters like they were its favorite meal! never had a prob. with those 90gr. stubby little hollow points either. Sometimes I think that people do not realise that the 1911 was designed to digest 23ogr FMJs only and that it is a tribute to JMB that it can be made to digest anything people want to put through it

Did you by any chance read my other post on the extractor to headspace prob. i had with my MIL SPEC?


Gunner

[1911Tuner]

9mm SWCs?? Never seen such a critter. :confused:

Didn't see the headspace issue you posted...Is it on the Springfield board?
Gimme a link and I'll have a look-see.

[Thompsongunner]

Tuner here it is,
http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=1586&page=2

[Thompsongunner]

Tuner,
It was a long time ago that I had that M59 and all I remember is that they were lead and had a flat nose on them.

Gunner

[SMMAssociates]

I did put Pachmeyers on mine but they made the grips even wider than they already were :eek:

BTW I have a good friend that has a M39 in mint condition. As I recall the M39 and M59 were favorite pistols to modify in those days,

And yes tuner mine eat semiwadcutters like they were its favorite meal! never had a prob. with those 90gr. stubby little hollow points either. Sometimes I think that people do not realise that the 1911 was designed to digest 23ogr FMJs only and that it is a tribute to JMB that it can be made to digest anything people want to put through it.

Gunner

The M39 isn't too terrible with the Pachmayrs. I've got fairly large hands. My daughter, who's quite petite, uses a two-hand hold mostly, but has no problems with it. She doesn't like the Para. The really funny thing is that the M39, my Commander, and the Para are all about the same size, and have about the same grip width. The Para, though, has a huge rectangular grip frame which takes up a lot more hand :eek: .

Tuner: I've got some 9mm lead SWCs here - the local "factory" makes 'em. It's really just a truncated cone-shaped bullet, no steps, etc. The M39 likes em. I've never tried hollow points in it, though. The Para and the M39 share the same full ramp design - the ramp is entirely part of the barrel.

Regards,

[1911Tuner]

Stu said:
Tuner: I've got some 9mm lead SWCs here - the local "factory" makes 'em. It's really just a truncated cone-shaped bullet, no steps, etc.
________________


Ahhhh...Those aren't semi-wadcutters, mah fren...True SWCs have the flat nose, with a tapered ogive and full diameter shoulder. Truncated cones
are easy compared to semi-wadcutters. Find a picture of the Hensley & Gibbs
#68 bullet and you'll see what I mean. Most 185 and 200-grain semi-wadcutters nowadays are clones of that accurate but demon-possessed design. It's my yardstick. If the gun will feed those, it'll likely feed anything.

Cheers!

[SMMAssociates]

'Twas noted:

Tuner'll be on my case, but I still think that Browning missed the boat with the two-piece feed ramp. 'Course, I'll give Saint Browning the benefit of the doubt in that I don't think he ever assumed anybody'd put anything but GI Hardball through 'em.
********************

Ahhhh, Grasshopper. You haven't studied the Gospel according to John Moses diligently enough. While you are correct on the hardball question, the pistols can be made to feed shapes that other designs would choke upon... Will your M-59 function with lead semi-wadcutters? But the integral ramp issue is another matter entirely, and rather than give you the answer, I will ask you a few questions and let you contemplate the answer as you sleep.
The M39 and M59 will feed SWC's fine. Also RNL and any old FMJ. I've never tried HP's in my M39, though, but if they're about the right length, that should work, too.

When the 1911 was designed...What was it for? What was important? What would have made it less desireable? What...besides meeting the caliber and power criteria and functional reliability were its two most important attributes?

Clear your mind...and the answer will come. I keep my mind as clear as possible. Just washed it the other night....

I have the feeling that Browning wanted an easier to machine barrel, and to keep more metal in the frame. Since he was building a military gun, that probably would never be fed anything but GI Hardball, the system he set up should be reliable. I think the only trick in getting it to eat odd stuff is having enough bearing surface on the bullet to mimic the Hardball.

I'm guessing that the design criteria included ease of maintenance and fully interchangeable parts. The barrel ramp really doesn't have the "guide" purpose most people think of. It's a place to bounce off of on the way into the chamber. The full ramp designs don't seem to work that way.

[SMMAssociates]

Stu said:
Tuner: I've got some 9mm lead SWCs here - the local "factory" makes 'em. It's really just a truncated cone-shaped bullet, no steps, etc.
________________


Ahhhh...Those aren't semi-wadcutters, mah fren...True SWCs have the flat nose, with a tapered ogive and full diameter shoulder. Truncated cones
are easy compared to semi-wadcutters. Find a picture of the Hensley & Gibbs
#68 bullet and you'll see what I mean. Most 185 and 200-grain semi-wadcutters nowadays are clones of that accurate but demon-possessed design. It's my yardstick. If the gun will feed those, it'll likely feed anything.

Cheers!Guess you're awake....

I think you're right.... The "visible" part of the round is a truncated cone. No shoulder to speak of, though. The ones I mentioned a while back, that wouldn't feed in my Commander until I put the Tripp innards in a magazine, actually do have a little bit of a shoulder. I think the shoulder was hanging up on the ramp a bit in the Commander. Tripps "magic" fixed that, but it could have been other things. (The Para doesn't mind 'em.)

BTW, I swapped the extractor in the Commander last night. It seems to work in hand-testing, but I won't get to shoot it until Wednesday night. The old one was really hard to get out. This one just dropped in. Gotta put another one on my Brownell's wish list just to have one in stock.

(I usually clean whatever I shoot on "range night" the next evening. Three 1911-ish guns in little pieces. Gotta keep the piles separated...., although I think that only the barrel bushings and recoil springs are potentially interchangeable between the two .45's. The M39 parts just look the same, kinda.)

Regards,

[1911Tuner]

Ahhh, Grasshopper! You haven't yet considered carefully the question of
"What is it for?'

The 1911 was designed for war and ease of service in the field, and without the aid of an armorer if need be. The M-39/M-59 series was designed foremost for civilian and law enforcement market. The warranty station or the department armorer were never too far away. In a war zone, the unit armorer may not be where the soldier is...or he may be dead.

One of the most valuable attributes of the 1911 was that it could be completely disassembled without tools after minimal training....and after the
modifications of the 1911-A1 were implimented, the ability to replace the components with parts that came from various suppliers became the second
most valuable asset.

In the beginning, there was much hand-fitting involved with the 1911, but when the Ordnance Department asked for ways to enable the gun to accept
any part from any one of several suppliers with a 98% drop-in success rate,
it became a reality by way of John Browning's genius and a team of engineers
from Colt and the Ordnance Department. Yes. The 1911-A1 was designed by a committee. The result of this is not only the production pistol of today, but it also gave birth to the vast "Drop-In" aftermarket. The pistols aren't built by a factory any more. They're assembled from select-fit, drop-in parts that aren't made in-house, but supplied by an outsourced vendor.

With the integral ramp....tolerances become more critical, and the chances of
dropping any given barrel into any given gun are low. If the ramp's angle is slightly off...or the dimensions from the rear of the magwell to the datum line on the ramp are slightly off, the barrel requires careful adjustment in order to function.

If the 1911-A1 barrel overhangs slightly, it can be adjusted with a mill file and a pocketknife. If the barrel's diameter is such that it holds the chamber too high off the frame bed for smooth feeding...the bottom of the barrel's radius can be filed to lower the barrel as much as .010 inch. if the feet contact the frame and hold the barrel off the bed, they can be filed to fit in seconds.

If the barrel with the integral ramp sits too high...it requires a mill and careful set-up to lower it....and it usually requires machining in two places.

Feeding ammunition with bullet profiles other than hardball is more a function of the magazine's release point...assuming that all else is in-spec. I have a
bone stock Remington Rand and three 1942 Colts that will feed the 200-grain "Flying Ashtray" from the right magazines...and they'll feed pretty well from GI "Hardball" magazines if they're clean and oiled. The trick is to release the round from the feed lips just as it kicks over to horizontal, so that the magazine spring tension can be used to actually kick the rear of the cartridge up toward the breechface...and under the extractor hook. It also helps to have a lowr lug with correct geometry and a link of the correct length so that the barrel cams up gradually instead of pole-vaulting on the link as the bullet strikes the throat.

Go forth and prosper...May the force be with you...Nanooooo!

[SMMAssociates]

The 1911 was designed for war and ease of service in the field, and without the aid of an armorer if need be. The M-39/M-59 series was designed foremost for civilian and law enforcement market. The warranty station or the department armorer were never too far away. In a war zone, the unit armorer may not be where the soldier is...or he may be dead. Tuner:

Now I don't feel as dumb as I thought I was.... That's pretty much where I was going earlier, and I think you've seen: "Can be used as a wheel chock and maintained by the cook detailed as a truck driver." before, too....

I'd not considered the barrel fitting issues before - makes perfect sense. And, yes, the Smiths are "civilian"-oriented. I don't think people drop too may barrels into them, either. Lightweight alloy-frame guns tend to get flaky enough to put on the shelf before you burn out the barrel. But, I agree - I wouldn't want to try to fit a barrel to my M39 anyway.

Funny how things repeat. The "drop in" idea repeated itself in the early Apple and IBM personal computers. Apple switched to proprietary and most of the world bought IBM clones. If you don't like the video card, buy a new one.... (We won't talk about Tandy/Radio Shack - they dropped balls that weren't even there yet.)

We're still in "some fitting required" with the 1911's, but if you know how to do it, it's pretty simple, and most of what I've seen seems to require having the replacement part (or two, in case you trash one) and a file. It also seems to help to have a range handy, but that's a minor issue. As I mentioned elsewhere, I had a bit of fun with a drop-in beavertail. If I had to do it again, though, I think I'd get it right. Matter of fact, I wish I'd thought of using a punch to "grow" the one I destroyed. I feel a little better about spending another $30 for a new one, but that's also about three boxes of reloads and.... :o

I haven't seen a "flying ashtray" for a while. How the heck you feed one of those at all.... :eek:

Did I tell you about the "grasshopper" bit? One of my buddies on the old CompuServe POLICE forum was a Captain with an Atlanta-area PD. I said something like "you got it, grasshopper", and sent it off. Next day, I get a silly note about it. That's when the brain kicked in. His name is "Jack Hopper." :D

Regards,

[1911Tuner]

Howdy Stu,

No offense meant, mah fren...Just tryin' to put a different perspective on it.

As far as the "Some Fitting Required" point...that's also come nearly full circle.
The WW2 era pistols required very little in the way of "some fitting required"
because the Ordnance Department had strict guidelines on the specs...as generous as they were...or they'd reject the whole batch of whatever part they checked. Witness the vast number of Rands with Colt barrels and
Colts with Ithaca slides that makes it so difficult for the collector to find
a correct USGI pistol...much less an original one. I've personally witnessed
base armorers detail strip dozens of pistols of all makes...toss the parts into a
solvent bath...and reassemble the guns from the mish-mash. Only occasionally did the exercise not result in perfectly functional and reliable
pistols...and when it did happen that one or two cut a rusty, it was a fairly easy task to tweak'em into submission in about 10 minutes. Try THAT trick with 10 commercially produced pistols today...even from the same manufacturer.

What I refer to as 5th Generation 1911s and clones that come from all over seem to have their own set of specs...and very few manufacturers seem to
care about original blueprints, much less actually use'em. If their vendor supplies a part that will work in THEIR version of the gun, they could care
less about whether an aftermarket replacement part will drop in and work.
Money in their pocket when the consumer goes back to them for replacements.

Funny thing though...I ordered a couple of Springfield's drop-in "Service" barrels for a pair of my GI range beaters...both Colts. One was of 1942 manufacture, and the other was 1918. Both barrels dropped in like they were fitted to the guns, and only one required a lick or three with a file on the
sides of the barrel to let it drop all the way to bed...the older gun. A total of
5 minutes of "Light Fitting Required" to make the old girl run like a top. Even the frame to slide rear alignment was within .003 inch of dead on. That didn't happen with the barrels that I tried from my early 1991-A1s.

When the original slides broke through, I replaced'em with Essex castings. They worked perfectly, though the rear alignment was off by about .010 inch average for both, and even the side play was tighter than many NRM Colts
I've seen. Interesting, what?

[SMMAssociates]

No offense taken, believe me.... (Well, you could have hailed me and the new bride when I drove by in 1975, but.... :D )

The whole thing is very interesting.

I'm not surprised that new construction is made to different specs, though. The tendency to try to improve on things is a basic human characteristic, even when there's not a lot of improvement possible or when it's just plain nuts. The jury's still out on the Tripp magazines, and the Para LDA is kinda "out there", but those two may be the only "internal" improvements to Browning's design worth talking about if you ignore the myriad of options for sights. (And the magazines may be swapped back to originals in seconds....)

Yeah - the big beavertails and various ribbed and rubber'd grips do make for some differences in handling that some people like.... My own view is that if you can remove it without anybody ever knowing it was there, it's fine to try. Once you start cutting metal on the original parts, though....

I wonder how the neighbors would react if I put a trap in the basement? :eek: I'm itching to try the new extractor in the Commander.

(It's less than 20 minutes to the range, but I've been under the weather for more than a month, and getting out there is difficult.)

Overall, even though I've got a serious purpose here - these are carry guns - screwing around with these things on the bench, and taking practice on the range is FUN. I want to learn while I'm doing it.

Finally - that M39 has a quirk. If you strip the first round off the magazine to put one in the chamber, and then decide to clear the gun for storage later, the "second" round - the next one up in the magazine is always almost totally loose in the magazine well. I'm sure something is holding something, but when you drop the magazine, it falls out. This is absolutely consistent, and it's been doing this for more than 30 years. If you fire the gun, it always chambers that round and fires it (and the rest of the magazine) normally.

The only time that gun's failed was the night I managed to fill the magazine with .380's. :eek: The first round chambered and fired (split the case) but wouldn't extract. Accuracy was a little impaired, too.... Popped the casing with a cleaning rod, re-loaded the magazine with the right stuff, and off it went like nothing ever happened.

BUT, it's, as you said earlier, not a wheel chock. An armorer or repair station is pretty much a necessity past very simple stuff.

[SMMAssociates]

The "Haunted Commander" seems to have been exorcised.... :eek:

About 100 rounds through it tonight, mostly those reloads I keep talking about.

As long as I remember to NOT use one of the magazines (it's sick), it's 100%.

The bad mag is not ejecting reliably - the fired case is sitting there on top of the magazine, jamming the slide. The next round is stripped enough to pop out on the floor when I drop the magazine. All three magazines have Tripp refits, so it's not the spring or follower. This mag is consistent, btw. It was flaky before I put in the new extractor. I'm going to play with it a little, but will probably toss it.

Happy camper.... :D

But check "Haunted Para" in the "Magazines" section....

Happy Holidays to All!

[1911Tuner]

Stu...Don't toss that magazine yet. What brand is it?

[SMMAssociates]

Stu...Don't toss that magazine yet. What brand is it? Tuner: No idea.... It just says "Colt .45" or something like that on the bottom. Looks like the other two I have - same markings. No numbers, codes, names, etc.

(It does have the Tripp "upgrade" installed. That should solve any spring issues, and the follower seems to be OK, although I could try putting one of the original all-metal followers in. Tripp's spring is heavy.... :eek: )

I inherited this gun from a friend. It was one of his carry guns, and while he took excellent care of it, you can tell it's been used. I wasn't supposed to get this one - another friend was in line for it, and I was supposed to get a .38 Super full-size. The other guy wanted the .38, so we swapped, but I never did get a chance to find out anything at all about the gun, or the other two barrels (and a couple springs) in the box. One barrels a Bar-Sto with a fingered style barrel bushing, and the other seems "GI", but it's a 5" or something in that range - sticks out of the slide. I've not tried shooting with either of those barrels yet.

I'm not going to toss anything until I'm sure, but I need to put some paint on that one or something before I mix 'em up. :)

Regards,