Ok, I'm stumped, Slide stop?

[jeff1124]

My latest Colt acquistion is a SS Gold Cup Trophy. Nice gun but it fails to lock the slide back with an (any) empty Magazine. Took the Slide stop off of my XSE Commander and tried that one, stilled failed to lock back. Took off the slide and saw plainly that the follower clearly misses the slide stop. To me, that would mean that the slide stop is worn or just too short, but then why wouldn't the stop from my Commander work? It operates just fine in the Commander! Enquiring minds ( at least one) want to know. :(

[Ric4509]

My latest Colt acquistion is a SS Gold Cup Trophy. Nice gun but it fails to lock the slide back with an (any) empty Magazine. Took the Slide stop off of my XSE Commander and tried that one, stilled failed to lock back. Took off the slide and saw plainly that the follower clearly misses the slide stop. To me, that would mean that the slide stop is worn or just too short, but then why wouldn't the stop from my Commander work? It operates just fine in the Commander! Enquiring minds ( at least one) want to know. :(

Did you try other magazines aside from the magazine that came with the Colt SS Gold Cup? Some of my Colts are doing that and so I replaced the followers with Tripp Research. Now they all work fine. Another fix is to replace the slide stop with Wilson's bulletproof.

[niemi24s]

Hi Jeff: You didn't say if you'd tried any other magazines, but this would be the first place to look. The magazine follower is the most likely culprit, IMHO. I can't imagine an in-spec slide stop wearing enough to miss the tab on the follower. Could also be that the slide stop pin hole on the left hand side of the receiver is not chamfered or chamfered enough to allow the slide stop's lever to fit flush to the frame. Ordnance spec's for the slide stop call for a 1/64 inch radius where the pin meets the lever, and the receiver needs to be chamfered to accomodate this radius - even though it's a pretty small one. You've already tried a second slide stop and had the same problem, so that pretty much eliminates the slide stop as the cause. Try other magazines, if you haven't done so already. If the slide fails to lock open with any slide stop and with any magazine, then somebody else needs to help you - I got no ideas for curing that! LOL

[jeff1124]

In my original post I put "any" in parentheses to indicate that I did indeed try a bunch of my magazines. When the slide is off the follower(s) do not hit the slide stop, that's why I tried swtching slide stops with the commander. After I posted I tried a slide stop out of an RIA, that has a loose front sight, and lo and behold, it worked! So I know have a parked slide stop on my SS GCT. I guess I need to buy an oversize slide stop (not extended) and fit it to the Gold Cup. Thanks for your replies.

[niemi24s]

Jeff: Don't get your hopes up that an "oversize" slide stop will fix the problem. The (supposedly) oversize ones are merely made with the pin diameter toward or at the upper limit of the specification (0.2005"). None that I know of are made "oversize" so the part that goes inside the receiver protrudes more so it'll be engaged by the follower.

Do the external arms of the slide stops you've tried lay perfectly flat and snug for their entire lengths against the side of the SS Gold Cup Trophy's receiver? If not, these slide stops either have bent arms or the receiver hole has insufficient chamfer.

And, oops, I did overlook you parenthetical reference to any magazine in your original post.

And, oops again! Just noticed the description for the Ed Brown Hardcore Slide Stop in the Brownell catalog mentions an "Oversize
lip gives positive, last round engagement." This might help compensate for a non-chamfered hole in the receiver. You said you had two slide stops which caused the same problem, but your new SS GCT is (apparently) the only receiver in which the problem shows up. How about these two slide stops in other guns? Check the left slide stop pin hole in the receiver of the SS GCT. It shouldn't have a sharp edge. If it does, the radius on the slide stop will prevent its arm from fitting snugly against the side of the receiver. This may keep the follower from lifting it.

[Lazarus]

Is this gun new or purchased from a guy who only shot it once a year for the last 30 years? New? Back to Colt. If used, I wonder why someone wanted to get rid of it?

After double checking that the SS actually does lie flat against the frame, I would break out the measuring tools and check the frame dimensions and placement of the pin holes.

-Lazarus

[thejeepster]

I've had the problem of "slide not locking" on a couple of guns, most recently (ashamed to admit I bought one but ended up after work being a great pistol) an early Charles Daly. I thought it was the slide stop but after trying and working and grunting, it dawned on me that I'd changed the plunger spring (while replacing all the pins in the pistol) DUH! a couple of turns cut from the spring (1 at a time) did wonders. Now all works as advertised and I don't need governor Arnold's thumb to disengage the thumb saftety... LOL ... sometimes the light above my head is bright and other times not!

[jeff1124]

Nothing wrong with Charles Daly! They are an Armscor product and many people on this forum have those, including myself. I have looked at the suspect slide stop and it measures only .173" from the flat on the inside side to the highest point. The RIA stop that functions, measures .203" in the same area. So, it appears that up to .030" may be worn or otherwise removed from this slide stop! This gun was manufactured in 1999 and the slide stop in question appears to be non-stock and extended, the SS color is different then the SS slide itself, while my other SS Colts match.

[niemi24s]

Ordnance Dept. spec for that projection (you measured to be 0.173 inch) is 0.196 to 0.198 inch, so your suspect slide stop is 0.023 to 0.025 inch short! How about the other slide stop that caused the same problem (the one from the XSE Commander) - what does it measure?

[jeff1124]

I'd have to pull that and check but right now I'm going out the door to go muzzleloader hunting. I'll check it later and post it.

[LJUnaTIC]

I am having similar issues with a Charles Daly. The Original stop functions normally, but I wanted to upgrade to an EGW stop, . Immediately it developed a failure to lock open on the last round. Inspection showed that all 6 of my magazines completely missed the lug on the new EGW stop, but functioned normally once again when the old stop was installed. The Daly part has a lug that exceeds the specs by about .030"

http://home.earthlink.net/~ljunatic/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/slidestop.jpg

Is it possible that there is a high quality replacement stop ,with a sufficiently over sized lug, that I could fit into this application?

[jeff1124]

Slide stop hole out of place? Just a guess.

[jeff1124]

By the way, a Wilson Combat standard SS slide stop now resides in my Gold Cup Trophy and functions perfectly with all my magazines.

[LJUnaTIC]

I emailed George @ EGW and he suggested that a 38 Super stop may have enough extra on the lug for my out of spec Daly's requirements.

Anyone here have the specs on a 38 super slide stop?