Springfield Champion fails to return to battery on last round

[The Professor]

New guy here looking for some help with my new Springfield Champion, After 200 rounds, Cycles great on the first 6 rounds but the last round fails to go all the way to battery, Stops just 1/4" short of battery, Just a little nudge is all it takes to get it to battery. I keep the gun well lubed and clean. Is this just a case of not enough break-in rounds or something that will need tweeking? I hope someone has seen this problem and can offer me a few recomendations. Great site! lots of info.

[Sniper350]

If all the rest of the rounds load without problems ....sound like your magazine is presenting the last round improperly. Have you tried other magazines ??

Sometimes the last round in the magazine can be adversely affected by the slide stop. Check to see if the bullet [ last round is striking the slide stop ]. Use a black marker pen to color the slide stop magazine contact area and then cycle some snap caps to check for wearing marks.

Some magazines don't have the dimple on the follower and allow the last round to slide forward prematurally.......and this can cause jams.

So magazine problem is where I would put my attention

JF.

[The Professor]

Thanks for the tips Sniper350, I tried several different mags today, couple of Army surps, Springfield factory, USA brand cheapy, One with Colt logo on the bottom, All with same last round failure to battery problem. I'll get some snap caps and try those, Also I'll get a Wolff recoil spring to replace the double spring factory set up.

[Candiru]

If you can push the gun forward into battery, that sounds like excessive stem bind. It could be that your magazine spring on the last round is not strong enough to push the rim high enough under the extractor to permit it to slide into place. The shape of the feed lips may not be helping if they don't permit the rim to rise up fast enough.

The tightness of your extractor probably also figures into this. If the magazine springs are borderline, even a slight bit too much aggression on the part of the extractor might manifest itself. Have you tested the extractor tension? If not, I'd do so, paying attention to any of the symptoms of the extractor being too tight. My guess is that if you loosen up the extractor slightly your problem will go away.

[niemi24s]

If it was OK for the first 200 rounds, but now has FTRB on the last round with each of your 5 magazines, my wild guess is maybe there's something between the barrel and bed preventing the barrel from lowering fully. Regards.

[The Professor]

It's had this problem from the first mag I fed it niemi24s, I should had wrote "After shooting the first 200 rounds in several different mags the last round would always fail to go to battery" Thanks for the suggestions everyone as I would rather fix the problem myself than send it back to Springfield for repairs as this is my only handgun amist all my AK rifles, I really should do something about that should'nt I ?

[gbw]

As Candiru said, I'd first try a mag. with a much stronger spring. It's possible the stem bind is caused by the last cartridge jumping forward in the mag. just short of release and then getting slammed by the slide - I had that problem with some factory Wilson ss 7-rd. mags. Stronger spring and dimpled follower kit from Tripp cured it 100%.

[robot1911]

I agree with the mag spring idea. Get an 11# one from Wolf. And see if the rollover point in the chamber has been polished and the sharp edge broken by about .002". This can sometime overcome the stem bind condition.

Bob

[robot1911]

Thanks for the tips Sniper350, I tried several different mags today, couple of Army surps, Springfield factory, USA brand cheapy, One with Colt logo on the bottom, All with same last round failure to battery problem. I'll get some snap caps and try those, Also I'll get a Wolff recoil spring to replace the double spring factory set up.

There's nothing wrong with the Champion recoil spring assembly and I don't believe that has anything to do with your problem. These little short-strokers need to be tuned just right to function reliably and it seems yours is very close to being there.
In addition to my earlier post, I suggest you have a look at the extractor claw. It probably needs to have the ledge on the valley broken and polished so the rounds can more easily enter the claw. And the bottom, lead corner needs to be moved back for the same reason. When the case is trying to enter the claw, the round is not vertical...it's between horizontal and vertical, and breaking that corner helps the rim to enter.

Bob

[Lazarus]

Be sure you are not confusing the issue. Candiru is suggesting that your **magazine** spring is too weak. Nobody is suggesting that you change your recoil spring - that's something you would hear on the 'other' forum! We haven't even mentioned dimpled followers yet. Guess what problem a dimpled follower fixes? What type of mags are you using?

A stronger magazine spring will help by keeping the last round from diving during recoil, and thus allow normal feeding. On the other hand, a stronger recoil spring will speed up the slide and make your last round jamming even worse. Because the slide will be moving forward faster, now the jamming will include the next-to-last round and possibly earlier rounds as well.

Take your pick. Magazine spring fixes last round jamming. Recoil spring makes all rounds jam.

-Lazarus

[The Professor]

Thanks for the help every one! From what I've gleaned from these suggested fixes for my problem I will start with new quality mags from Tripp, All mags I have tried so far have a dimple on the follower but the springs seem a little weak. Again thanks folks for all the help. Prof