First off, this is my friends pistol. I honestly don't think he's fired 200 things out of it yet, but here's the issue. About one round in every mag, the slide will not come all the way forward after firing a round off. Just the slightest tap to the slide and it will go into battery and we're good to go. We've tried different lubes as well as different amounts with no change. I believe that this is a break in thing and will eventually settle out. In all the searching I did the other day, I only found one suggestion and that was to smooth out/ reshape the feed ramp to help things along. Is there anything else we could look at to accelerate the break in as I don't think he wants to burn through 500 rounds before it's finally fun to use.
Help with a Baby Eagle (941) .40. Slide sticking
- Thread starter weasel1
- Start date
Are these reloads or factory ammo?
I've had this problem with a couple semi-autos using reloads. The problem ended up being either the bullet was seated too long or the finished ammo was still on the + side of being within tolerance and a chamber that was on the - side of being within tolerance. Seating the bullet a little deeper and running the finished ammo through a Lee carbide FC die solved that problem.
If this is with factory ammo. Remove the barrel from the gun and do the "plunk" test ie. grab a bunch of the ammo you're feeding it and drop them into the chamber. They should fall in fairly easily without needing to push them in with your finger. Flip the barrel over and see if they fall out on their own. If you have to pull them out with your fingers, then either your chamber is pretty tight or you might need to try a different brand of ammo short of running them through a carbide FC die to resize them.
I've had this problem with a couple semi-autos using reloads. The problem ended up being either the bullet was seated too long or the finished ammo was still on the + side of being within tolerance and a chamber that was on the - side of being within tolerance. Seating the bullet a little deeper and running the finished ammo through a Lee carbide FC die solved that problem.
If this is with factory ammo. Remove the barrel from the gun and do the "plunk" test ie. grab a bunch of the ammo you're feeding it and drop them into the chamber. They should fall in fairly easily without needing to push them in with your finger. Flip the barrel over and see if they fall out on their own. If you have to pull them out with your fingers, then either your chamber is pretty tight or you might need to try a different brand of ammo short of running them through a carbide FC die to resize them.
This was with factory ammo and I'm not sure what kind. As best as I can recall, it was a couple of different types. I'll mention the "plunk" test to him, but I seem to remember that the nose of the bullet was against the feed ramp, so the slide was a good bit back.
He should contact the seller if the problem persists. Feeding problems don't seem to be uncommon with that model.
I wouldn't hold my breath though as I once met a fellow whose gun was still unreliable after a trip back to the factory.
Out of curiosity, is he using factory (MecGar) mags? My NP-40 was a bit rocky at first with the Chinese ones.
I wouldn't hold my breath though as I once met a fellow whose gun was still unreliable after a trip back to the factory.
Out of curiosity, is he using factory (MecGar) mags? My NP-40 was a bit rocky at first with the Chinese ones.
First of all he will want to get out again and prove without a doubt if the issue is not fully entering the chamber or if it's the nose sticking on the ramp. Or if it's even something else altoghter.
If it's consistently the nose sticking on the ramp is it the same with both magazines? If it's a yes to this then you can try this idea. Try cleaning the ramp and applying a very light smear of grease. Just enough to make it look wet without producing any visible build up. If it runs well when greased this way and begins sticking as the grease becomes worn off then your buddy's ramp may need a slight polishing.
If it only occurs when the bullet is trying to wedge into the chamber than do the strip down and plunk test noted above to check the ammo for size.
If it's a variety of things then it may be that there's a slight binding in the slide to frame rails or in something else.
One thing often forgotten is just how much friction drag there can be on the heel and lower spine of the slide where the hammer is cocked and rides while the slide is moving. A dry heel and spine can easily act like dragging a thumb on the slide which is pretty commonly agreed to cause all manner of issues. So be sure your buddy runs a smear of grease on the face of the hammer and along the heel and lower spine of the slide. And when he's shooting the gun watch him from the side where his thumbs are and see if he's pressing one of them against the slide. That's another cycling killer too.
In fact the forward portion of that same spine rides on the next bullet in the magazine. Here again if this spine is running dry it'll tend to drag harder on the casing of the next bullet with more drag than it should have. This is a lesser issue though since brass against steel tends to be far more self lubricating than steel on steel. But still......
And the gun IS cleaned and rails lubed corretly, right? If it is so new that he is relying on the factory rust preventative this could be an issue as well. MOST of the time the stuff they pack the gun in is also a decent enough lubricant. But if IWI happens to use stuff which is best for corrosion protection and not that great a lubricant then a full cleaning and lubrication with the better options might fix this issue.
If it's consistently the nose sticking on the ramp is it the same with both magazines? If it's a yes to this then you can try this idea. Try cleaning the ramp and applying a very light smear of grease. Just enough to make it look wet without producing any visible build up. If it runs well when greased this way and begins sticking as the grease becomes worn off then your buddy's ramp may need a slight polishing.
If it only occurs when the bullet is trying to wedge into the chamber than do the strip down and plunk test noted above to check the ammo for size.
If it's a variety of things then it may be that there's a slight binding in the slide to frame rails or in something else.
One thing often forgotten is just how much friction drag there can be on the heel and lower spine of the slide where the hammer is cocked and rides while the slide is moving. A dry heel and spine can easily act like dragging a thumb on the slide which is pretty commonly agreed to cause all manner of issues. So be sure your buddy runs a smear of grease on the face of the hammer and along the heel and lower spine of the slide. And when he's shooting the gun watch him from the side where his thumbs are and see if he's pressing one of them against the slide. That's another cycling killer too.
In fact the forward portion of that same spine rides on the next bullet in the magazine. Here again if this spine is running dry it'll tend to drag harder on the casing of the next bullet with more drag than it should have. This is a lesser issue though since brass against steel tends to be far more self lubricating than steel on steel. But still......
And the gun IS cleaned and rails lubed corretly, right? If it is so new that he is relying on the factory rust preventative this could be an issue as well. MOST of the time the stuff they pack the gun in is also a decent enough lubricant. But if IWI happens to use stuff which is best for corrosion protection and not that great a lubricant then a full cleaning and lubrication with the better options might fix this issue.
not sure if it's the same issue, but my glock 30s subcompact has similar symptoms while the slide will not go into battery after firing a round, but sticking out just a little bit. once I put it with my thumb, it continues to shoot. I replaced the factory recoil spring to a stronger 23LB wolff spring and the problem was gone. That was with the full power commercial reloaded ammo. I since have tested it with my own loads with different powders and found it's rather picky on what charge it likes, more so on the factory recoil spring, not that much on the wolff. I think maybe the factory recoil spring was too soft to handle the force and the slide just hit in battery and bounced a little bit back.
