Common for snap caps to jam action?

buttman

buttman

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I have a brand new Glock 34 9mm that showed up today. I won't be out to shoot it until the weekend, sadly, but in the meantime, I learned how to break it down to the main pieces and gave it all a clean and lube before reassembling. Both before and after cleaning the gun, I found the action was frequently jamming when trying to cycle training rounds (aluminum snap caps). I'm hoping this is because of them being not quite to spec measurements and/or the softer aluminum snagging on the magazine guides.

Is this a common thing with these types of rounds, perchance? Maybe it's stupid, but I'm not willing to try cycling real rounds through it until I'm at the range.
 
buttman said:
I have a brand new Glock 34 9mm that showed up today. I won't be out to shoot it until the weekend, sadly, but in the meantime, I learned how to break it down to the main pieces and gave it all a clean and lube before reassembling. Both before and after cleaning the gun, I found the action was frequently jamming when trying to cycle training rounds (aluminum snap caps). I'm hoping this is because of them being not quite to spec measurements and/or the softer aluminum snagging on the magazine guides.

Is this a common thing with these types of rounds, perchance? Maybe it's stupid, but I'm not willing to try cycling real rounds through it until I'm at the range.
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It also happens to my 85C. The way I see it, it could be an inconsistent sizing of the snap cap. Out of 5 snap caps, 1 consistently had some feed/extraction issues.
 
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Good plan not chambering live rounds at home, it is dangerous and illegal. Look for scrapes on the aluminium to see where it is snagging. I recently re-barrelled a 1911 and had to wait until I got to the range to test it out,it took two trips to tweek the feed ramp now it works great.
 
Skinny 1950 said:
Good plan not chambering live rounds at home, it is dangerous and illegal. Look for scrapes on the aluminium to see where it is snagging. I recently re-barrelled a 1911 and had to wait until I got to the range to test it out,it took two trips to tweek the feed ramp now it works great.
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I did notice the proving rounds were getting scratches on them from the jamming, so hopefully proper brass and steel casings will run through the action cleanly.

BTW: How did you tweak the feed ramp?
 
I have feeding issues with snap caps every once in a while in my AR. The caps are a shorter OAL and sometimes jam as they are stripped from the mag. The caps I use in my 870 have to be loaded into the breach by hand as they are too short to load mechanically.
 
I returned my snap caps because every time I pulled the trigger they failed to cycle the action in my semi.



:D kidding.

I've yet to have feeding issues with any of mine, do notice the front gets quite beat up though.
 
I've never had problems with them jamming but I suppose some could be out of spec. When you are cycling the action are you perhaps doing it too slowly? I could see that causing problems.
 
kxc223 said:
I've never had problems with them jamming but I suppose some could be out of spec. When you are cycling the action are you perhaps doing it too slowly? I could see that causing problems.
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Some of it is probably from letting the slide forward with a bit of ease as opposed to letting it snap full force. With all my other guns (all 22LR), they cycle rounds perfectly no matter how quickly or slowly I go. Is it a common thing for semi-auto larger cal pistols to jam if you cycle the slide slower than just releasing it from a fully back position?

Well, I did a bit of googling and it looks like this is a fairly common newbie subject. Clearly I should always be using the full force of the slide spring to chamber rounds, as easing it forward seems to be asking for jams in almost all semi-auto pistols. I guess my Ruger Mk3 is just an exceptional beast. :)
 
Gave it a test just now using full slide motion and the caps all loaded into the chamber OK. Seems it's just easing the slide forward is what's causing the jamming. They all eject and load great when you let the slide go.
 
I had a problem with an out of spec snap cap in .223 +. It jammed up my AR good. After comparing with calipers to the others, I confirmed it was way off.

It was also one of the red aluminum ones.
 
buttman...I had to take some material off the lower lip of the new barrel to get the rounds to feed at all,took a couple of tries but it worked out and now it feeds like a champ.
 
buttman said:
Gave it a test just now using full slide motion and the caps all loaded into the chamber OK. Seems it's just easing the slide forward is what's causing the jamming. They all eject and load great when you let the slide go.
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Easing the slide is a common beginner mistake. If it makes it any easier to do this consider that every time the gun fires it slams back and forth under full force. So why would you do any less when racking the slide?

One some magazines from some makers I've found that the lips of the magazines have sharp edges. In such cases I've polished the edges smooth and to a slightly rounded shape with some 800 grit wetordry sandpaper. I do this mostly do I don't cut my fingers while loading but also so the edges don't cut into the brass or snap caps.
 
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