Posted: 1/22/2005 9:08:08 AM EDT
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Last week I had a jam with my TLE/RL, the first one in a long time. The jam was like a stovepipe, except the case was parallel with the barrel. It got stuck between the hood of the barrel and the slide. I cleared the jam and didn't have any more problems that day. I'm wondering if this is a sign that the recoil spring needs to be replaced? I also had one failure to extract. Also, the slide stop seems to be acting up a little. It engaged the slide a time or two with rounds still left in the magazine. I don't think my thumb was near it, when it happened. Should I replace the slide stop? |
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It sounds as if you have several factors to deal with. First - Replace the recoil spring with an 18.5lb Wolf recoil spring, make sure you install the extra power firing pin spring that comes with it.  Second - Replace your slide stop with either a Wilson Bulletproof slide stop or an Ed Brown Hardcore slide stop. Third - Clean you extractor assembly completely[including the channel in the slide}. Check the extractor itself for any sign of wear or damage. Fourth - Let us know how you fair |
Ordered.
Ordered the Wilson one. One less MIM part to worry about....
On the list to complete. Is there a close up picture anywhere of a brand new extractor to compare against?
That I will do! |
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I received my parts from Brownell's today, and I've got some problems with the Wilson slide stop. The Wilson bulletproof slide stop only operates properly with 4 of 8 Wilson 8 round mags. The original slide stop works with all 8. I can cycle the gun many times without the slide stop moving at all with those 4 mags. Needless to say, I'm baffled as what to do next. I also learned that you need 4 hands to replace the firing pin spring! There was no way to hold down the extractor plug, push in the firing pin stop, push in the firing pin AND slide the pin cover closed! Luckily my wife was home to lend the extra hands needed.... |
Yes, you can do it by yourself. I do it all the time. It's a little tricky, but you can do partial assembly and some of the parts hold the other parts in place. Practice, you'll get it. |
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With all due respect I have to disagree with SGB concerning swapping out the 16# recoil spring for an increased weight recoil spring. From the description of your malfunctions I would wager that you have a poorly tuned or an all-together defective extractor or possibly (but much less likely) a loose or bad ejector. The "stovepipe" like malfunctions sound like a bad extractor to me as does the complete failure to extract... those are pretty good clues that would lead me to look at the extractor first. Check your extractor tension, the contour on the hook, and the way it holds both a live and empty cartridge. Swapping out the 16# recoil spring for an 18.5# won’t generally fix anything. If the gun is set up correctly it will feed everything behind the 16# push. Adding extra weight to the recoil spring never truly corrects a feeding or extraction problem. It may temporarily overcome the problem but it will never really fix it. Plus, if you are having stovepipes and other extraction issues the last thing I would want to do is make it harder for the slide to reciprocate. As far as the new slide stop goes... don’t count it out until you’ve actually tested it during live fire. Hand cycling doesn’t count. If you have already tested it with live fire and you’re having problems with 4 out of your 8 magazines I would look to the mags as the source of the problems followed by a detailed inspection of how much contact there is between the magazine follower and the slide stop lug, especially with WC 8rd followers. All this is, of course, in conjunction to a good thorough detail cleaning.
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IIRC the Bulletproof slide stop has a detent to prevent it from popping up prematurely. I wouldn't worry about it not popping up when hand-cycling it -- have you had problems with it not popping up when live firing? Also curious -- with the Wilson slide stop engaged, can you slingshot the slide and have it release? Awhile back I tried a wilson and an EGW and due to the length of Kimber slide stop notch, it was not possible to slingshot the slide and have the slide stop pushed down by the slide. |
Just got back from SHOT, so I was away from the computer for a few days. Answers above. I've not had the chance to shoot it yet. I also talked with Kimber at SHOT, and they are sending me a new slide stop. Admittedly it is another MIM part, but we'll see how the Wilson works with some real ammo. I'll have a chance to fire it again this Friday with the new stuff in it. I'll probably also ask them to send me a new extractor and springs. Also, I've never had a 1911 that wouldn't lock back just by hand cycling. As for the "sling shot" I was able to just pull the slide back and have the stop drop down and clear the notch. ETA: Now that I've got the new slide stop, the gun is working 100% again, just like before. It seems the slide stop was the main culprit. I haven't had any jams lately either. |