Chronic jam on round #9 or 10 on S&W M41

Moe123

Moe123

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Hi guys,

Like the title says I am experiencing troubles with my M41. It works great until round number 9 or 10. (It jams: the empty shell is blocked between the tail of the barrel and the last live round....)The problem is present even if I change ammo. It does it with my 4 mags and 2 barrels......

I've already thought of the extractor and the ejector. My question is: If there is something wrong with it/them; why do they work just fine for the first 9 rnds????
I'm pretty sure it's a new problem. I didn't shoot the gun much before I got my new 5.5'' barrel. The barrel required some fitting by 2 different gunsmiths, but I don't think the fitting caused the problem...

Help and suggestions would be appreciated. Cheers,

Moe
 
Clean your gun, change the springs...

I have a similar problem with my Hi Standard, usually it is mag related.

The M-41 S&W was built more for standard velocity target ammunition rather than High Velocity, have you tried something like Federal gold medal match, Eley, or Winchester T22?
 
The fact that it's round 9 or 10 means that the magazine spring is under the least amount of tension (the magazine is almost empty) which would seem to indicate that the magazine spring needs replacing.

In organized bullseye competition (NRA or ISSF) this isn't so much of an issue because you never load more than five rounds at a time into a magazine, so the spring doesn't get compressed as much as happens when you put in ten.
 
As mentioned before, the problem occurs with all of my 4 mags....
Also, I realized I didn't express my problem correctly: Even if I load only 5 rounds, the problem will occur.
It's always last or second to last round....
 
Lee,
I did try the T22, and many other fancy 10$/50rds target rounds, but it didn't improve...
 
I understand what you're saying, in that it's when the mag is almost empty that the problem occurs. This is when the magazine spring is almost fully extended and is applying the least upward pressure on the rounds. Even if you only loaded one or two rounds it would be the same story. My thinking was that because the springs have been compressed a lot more by having ten rounds loaded in the mags regularly instead of the five that are used in competition, they may have lost their "springiness" more rapidly and need replacing. (I know, they are designed for ten and it shouldn't be an issue, but... they are being compressed to their limit.)

It does seem a little odd that it would be in 4 different mags, but possible.

I get lots of jams and feeding problems in my Model 41 with standard velocity ammunition, but it doesn't relate to any particular position in the magazine. But I only load five at a time. They're well known to be fussy about ammunition (S&W recommends CCI Standard Velocity). I find I can use about anything as long as I put a drop of oil on the top round.
 
I'll try to find some new springs for my mags. Do you know a place where I could order them?
Even with CCI standard v......
 
I replaced the springs in my 41 with Wolff gunsprings, ordered from Wolff in the US. I recall the shipping cost was very reasonable too.

But I don't think they have mag springs. Call Smith and Wesson? The old style mags can be disassembled, but I think the new style are throw away.

The other problem I've noted is limp wristing with this gun. I can shoot it all day without a burp and twice I gave it to someone else to shoot - instant jammomatic. Must have been limp wristing.
 
Will get some Wolff springs.

Don't think limp wrsting is the problem here. My 41 was handled by quite a few excellent shooters. Always the same result....
 
Have you disassembled the magazines, cleaned all the crud out of the them, and reassembled? Mine both had a fair bit of crap in there when I first got the gun. Push the little "button" in with a chopstick, slide the bottom piece off and it should all come apart, spring and follower.

Have you opened up the gun for a good interior cleaning? If you PM me I have some PDFs I can send you. Basically you knock that tight fitting pin out of the slide with a brass punch, then you can disassemble the firing pin and clean out and inspect the extractor.
 
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