desert eagle broken gas piston

vince514

vince514

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Unfortunately just found out my gas piston is broken and i need help so please DE owners.. advices needed to understand what the problem is.

I have a California legal .44 DE that had 100 rounds through the barrel with ZERO JAMS with 240 gr selier and bellot .44 mag ammo.

I cleaned the gun immediately after shooting it.. left it in my safe about a year but i oiled 2 times before taking it to the range today...

My gun was clean free of lead deposits, took the same ammo and here's what happened.

I started shooting, the gun was cycling, 1 mag 2 mag, JAM, slide not fully going into battery about 1/4" open.. fixed the jam and i continued shooting... gun goes booom.

The same jam kept occuring, but guns was still cycling about 50% of the time... even when i tryed to close the slide pushing the slide releasing the gun had trouble to gun in battery about 50% again.

After 75 rounds i stopped shooting and decided to field strip the gun at the range, then i noticed my gas piston was broken in half... maybe i forgot to oil that piece???

Yes i may have forgot to oil that part but it was CLEAN maybe not oiled enough ok but is it supposed to break like that? i mean a piece not oiled properly will be showing wearing signs faster than normal..or cycling issues? how common is this.. a broken gas piston???

Results now : broken gas piston, need to order an other gas piston part about 35 $ US. I dont think it will be a problem but please can anyone help me diagnose the problem with my gun?

1st 100 rounds went flawlessly.. and i cleaned it the same way i clean it when i received it brand new.

thanks

Photos here : http://s376.photobucket.com/user/vince357/library/?sort=3&page=1
 
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Your problem doesn't have anything to do with improper lubrication. Even if you dip that piston into oil, that oil will be vaporised after 2 shots. Just order another piston from freedom ventures. He's a major imi distributor.
 
As mentioned lubrication had nothing to do with it. Personally I have never seen a piston break although I have seen one that had the springs go weak.
 
here's the answer from magnum research :

Vincent,

I spoke to my gunsmith about this. He said, It could be from not oiling it,
but typically gas pistons don't break. He thinks maybe something else might
be going on with the gun. You could try just buying another gas piston. He
suggested sending it in for him to take a look at it. If you would like to
send it in ill put a link below that will get you started.

I dont wanna send my gun goddamnit, ill buy another gas piston and see how it goes..

What else might be going with the gun?
 
Buy a new piston, install it, shoot it, if it break again just send your pistol to have it expertised... JP.
 
Was just going to ask the same question as the last poster. I've got well over 10,000 rounds through my 50 DE and the piston is fine. Never seen anything like this before
 
yes all jacketed. I've had this gun since 1993 or 94 or something. I've done one spring change. Handloads are the vast majority of the rounds shot, 325gr and 300gr, 32.5gr H110 for 325gr
 
I've had my piston break exactly like yours. Fired hundreds of rounds, both 44 mag and 50AE. One day at the range, the same thing happened.

What I figure, and this is my opinion, is we (you and I) got the piston 'twisted'. There's a flat on the piston that is supposed to go against the barrel on installation. It is not fool proof. You can install it 90° out of alignment, and still have it locked into the slide/recoil spring assy. My thought process is that this allows it to still function, but puts strain on the stem where ours broke. At an unknown time, part breaks.
So long as you get the piston back in its recess, the gun will fire another round. when it falls out of alignment, it holds the action back the ¼".

I got a replacement from Freedom Ventures and all's good since.

(E) :cool:
 
(((Echo))) said:
I've had my piston break exactly like yours. Fired hundreds of rounds, both 44 mag and 50AE. One day at the range, the same thing happened.

What I figure, and this is my opinion, is we (you and I) got the piston 'twisted'. There's a flat on the piston that is supposed to go against the barrel on installation. It is not fool proof. You can install it 90° out of alignment, and still have it locked into the slide/recoil spring assy. My thought process is that this allows it to still function, but puts strain on the stem where ours broke. At an unknown time, part breaks.
So long as you get the piston back in its recess, the gun will fire another round. when it falls out of alignment, it holds the action back the ¼".

I got a replacement from Freedom Ventures and all's good since.

(E) :cool:
Click to expand...

exactly the kind of reply i was looking for... will pay twice more attention next time...

gun was cycling well, started to jam after the second mag, anyway its broken now, im ordering from freedom, hope everything will be fine.

Still trying to understand how i had it twisted.. im pretty sure the "hook" on the recoil spring was inside the hole of the slide and in the notch of the gas piston?

I placed it exactly like this guy. at 0:45 > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtQhR0XyrgE
 
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vince514 said:
exactly the kind of reply i was looking for... will pay twice more attention next time...

gun was cycling well, started to jam after the second mag, anyway its broken now, im ordering from freedom, hope everything will be fine.

Still trying to understand how i had it twisted.. im pretty sure the "hook" on the recoil spring was inside the hole of the slide and in the notch of the gas piston?

I placed it exactly like this guy. at 0:45 > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtQhR0XyrgE
Click to expand...
So did I. I made sure the piston was facing the right way, the spring assembly was engaged properly....everything. But sometimes, when the springs don't want to co-operate and it's like a monkey fu©king a football getting it back together, the piston will get rubbed or bumped and may twist out of alignment. If you don't notice this and slap the barrel on, I believe the problem will rear it's ugly head.

First pic is normal position of the piston. I just popped off the barrel for the pic.
piston1_zpsqusk4mh9.jpg


Here it is with the piston still engaged in the spring assembly, but turned a bit.
piston2_zpsthmm7nwu.jpg


As you can see, the flat is offset 45°, and the piston rises up a bit compared to the first pic.

This misalignment is what I believe causes the piston to break during firing.

(E) :cool:
 
(((Echo))) said:
So did I. I made sure the piston was facing the right way, the spring assembly was engaged properly....everything. But sometimes, when the springs don't want to co-operate and it's like a monkey fu©king a football getting it back together, the piston will get rubbed or bumped and may twist out of alignment. If you don't notice this and slap the barrel on, I believe the problem will rear it's ugly head.

First pic is normal position of the piston. I just popped off the barrel for the pic.
piston1_zpsqusk4mh9.jpg


Here it is with the piston still engaged in the spring assembly, but turned a bit.
piston2_zpsthmm7nwu.jpg


As you can see, the flat is offset 45°, and the piston rises up a bit compared to the first pic.

This misalignment is what I believe causes the piston to break during firing.

(E) :cool:
Click to expand...

Seems pretty logical, Thanks alot for sharing your experience with pictures (((Echo))).

Ordered my new gas piston from FV. cant wait to get my gun back in business.i hope everything will be fine like the first time it went thought 100 bullets.
 
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