STI GP6-C Dropping Mags

7.62mm said:
I wonder, did they change something with the gun, or is this a new/different manufacturer of mags? I don't have any problems with mine, as far as mags go!
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There are at least three different magazines in Canada imported for the GP6/K100.

The early Marstar imports had a metal baseplate and the mag catch hole was round. The mags were intact tubes with a sheet metal limiter spot welded inside.

The later TSE imports had a plastic base pad, and were both lazer cut and dimpled front and back to limit to 10 rounds. The mag catch hole was square cut.

The initial Freedom Ventures GP6's came with mags identical to the TSE imports. Sean had made some phone calls and e-mails prior to import, advocating for an uncut tube to reduce damage from dropping on concrete floors. The latest imports have been identical except for the deletion of the lazer cutting.

I have all three, and mine works 100% with all of them.

My suggestion for those having an issue, is to take the slide off the gun and see how the mag locks in.
 
babo_al said:
This is all I did with my magazines and they are a joy to insert even fully loaded .
Now who of you is going to pay me the beer for all this hard work :cheers:
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Uh, I donno, did you drill a hole above the laser-cut notch? Seems drastic... Mind you, I have a nibbler, so I can just enlarge the hole going up a bit. Still, I'll try to see where its at with the slide removed, like Canuck223 said, then decide.
 
lanis said:
Thanks for posting about GP6-C.

I was thinking about buying it... No longer.
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I love the gun, flat out love it. It's just the abortion rear sight on the C model I'm dissapointed with.

However, if you have the chance, look at the Dynamic rear sight. It's a great sight picture, and easy to adjust left or right.
 
aridan said:
Uh, I donno, did you drill a hole above the laser-cut notch? Seems drastic... Mind you, I have a nibbler, so I can just enlarge the hole going up a bit. Still, I'll try to see where its at with the slide removed, like Canuck223 said, then decide.
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For what it's worth, I've never had the issue. I also take signifigant joy in the other GP6/K100 magazine quirk. When inserted with the usual vigor, the gun will go into battery from slide stop with mag insertion.

While old school IPSC shooters were trained to never allow the gun to lock back, I discovered that I could absolutely count on being able to stuff another mag in and simply get back into action.

The frame of the gun is well made, and not sloppy, but the central position of the mag catch seems to hold the magazine tight and fixed at the top, rather than somewhat loosely at the side like other designs.
 
lanis said:
Thanks for posting about GP6-C.

I was thinking about buying it... No longer.
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I'm truly sorry to hear that. It would be a big mistake if you don't buy it, just because of the issues I'm having.

Before ordering the GP6-C, I shot Canuck223's gun and LOVED IT. Manageable recoil, very smooth trigger, short reset, amazing accuracy. I own a Shadow - my 1st pistol ever - and like GP6 handling better.

FTEs and all, my buddy who's been shooting competitively for 12 years in Russia (targets, not IPSC) had shot it. His 20-round group from 10 yards was a single hole just about 1" in diameter. He was so impressed he took the target home with him.

I'm sure this will be a great pistol once I manage to clear all the hurdles. Yes, I would be much happier if I had none of those issues, but I haven't changed my opinion about the gun.

HTH.
 
Interesting links...

Here's what I found:

h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Ff6Br1DHg
h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42CA8nYDVRQ
h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6gGOSgJO7c

Unfortunately (for some), it is in Russian. The videos are mostly self-explanatory, the guy is showing how a mag should be caught without any extra effort.

These are about T10 - a gas a.k.a. 'traumatic' pistol that's based on K100. But there are enough similarities to make it interesting, IMO. In fact, the mag catch looks identical, and it seems that he's describing the same problem that some of us are having. At the beginning, he even says: 'If the mag release button is hard to press, your pistol probably doesn't have a sufficient gap between the mag base and the frame. This is even more likely if all of your mags exibit the same behavior'.

His solution to find out where along the frame base's perimeter the mag base has the smallest gap, and then either: (a) Sand down the plastic mag base where needed, or (b) Sand down the frame bottom where needed if all (both) mags are difficult to insert.

Both ways seem less drastic than enlarging the mag catch hole. I think I'll opt for (a).
 
More links...

Here's another discussion (in Russian, but great pictures) about extractor issues on the K100/GP6:

h ttp://talks.guns.ru/forum/blog/17150/20102.html

It has a good visual supplement to Canuck223's description of how to remove the extractor, plus a way to make extractor EXTRACT if it doesn't. I think this fix is for the old type extractors, IIRC mine already has the sharp edge(s) removed.

CAUTION: it says 'do not touch the working area (the tooth) of the extractor'. Look at this picture (copied from the page above):
ExtractorMod1.jpg


The green area was filed, the red one left untouched.

Another good comparison between original (Fig.7a,b,c etc.) and modified with just a round file (Fig.8a,b,c etc.) extractor towards the bottom of the page above.

Time-permitting, I'll try to read more (they have a whole forum dedicated to Grand Power guns) and see if I find anything useful. FYI: the 'for noobs' thread has 41 pages, with posts from a guy who works for Grand Power in Slovakia. There's one post where he bit*hes about his Italian magazine suppliers, too funny...

h ttp://talks.guns.ru/forummessage/223/535858.html

Good night! G:
 
Thanks for the links , people are trying to fix problems themselves ,that’s typical for people from SU  . But with so many problems Grand Power and STI should recall all defective mags . Did anybody call STI ? If they want to sell more of this guns they should look it to it ! People in Canada and US don’t like to deal with all this . Gun should work
flawlessly .
 
You need to call Sean at Freedom Ventures (sponsor) if you feel you have a warranty issue. He'd stated multiple times that STI gives a lifetime warranty, and that he would take care of any problems. So far, I haven't felt that my issues warrant sending the gun back. I don't know what the turn-around time would be.
 
Tried again...

I shot another 100 rounds today: 50 factory loads and 50 reloads. I had 14 FTEs. I don't know what's wrong; I could shoot 1-2 mags without any issues, then have 3 FTEs while shooting the same mag. I assume those were FTExtract, here are the pictures of 3 of them:

IMG_1206.jpg

IMG_1205.jpg

IMG_1207.jpg


A question to those who know: do these look like FTExtract? Either way, I see no choice but to get Sean involved. Perhaps he could send me a replacement extractor, or suggest something else.
 
Yep, I can't explain why, but it seems clear that your extractor is not able to pull the spent round out 100% of the time. Stupid question, but is your chamber smooth and polished, or is there a burr visible (maybe marked brass?)

Is the spring on the side of the extractor sticking out enough? It sticks out about as fas as it is wide.

I'm trying to imagine why your extractor would give up it's grip on the rim. Lack of tension, lack of proper contact surface, or abnormal chamber/brass adhesion are the usual causes.

About the only other cause I can imagine is a missing or broken ejector, but unless you are getting mangled cases, I suspect it's more the extractor not pulling out the case than the slide not releasing the case and stuffing it back in the chamber.
 
Canuck223 said:
Yep, I can't explain why, but it seems clear that your extractor is not able to pull the spent round out 100% of the time. Stupid question, but is your chamber smooth and polished, or is there a burr visible (maybe marked brass?)

Is the spring on the side of the extractor sticking out enough? It sticks out about as fas as it is wide.

I'm trying to imagine why your extractor would give up it's grip on the rim. Lack of tension, lack of proper contact surface, or abnormal chamber/brass adhesion are the usual causes.

About the only other cause I can imagine is a missing or broken ejector, but unless you are getting mangled cases, I suspect it's more the extractor not pulling out the case than the slide not releasing the case and stuffing it back in the chamber.
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1. Chamber looks good, cases come out "unmangled", so the ejector seems to be fine, too.

2. The extractor spring sticks out as you describe.
IMG_1212.jpg


3. I tried & failed to make a good picture of the extractor. Its working surfaces look "too rounded" to me, especially the top portion of the "tooth" if looking from the front:
IMG_1216.jpg


4. The ejector also looks OK (to me):
IMG_1217.jpg


A few more pictures, just in case you see something...
IMG_1211.jpg

IMG_1209.jpg


I left a private message for Sean, let's see what he's got to say. Too bad I can't call him during working hours.

Thanks for your help, as always... :cheers:
 
I don’t have extractor problem yet, but the mag problem is solved.
I called STI today, they (warranty department) told me “sand the base “
So I did! I sand off a lot of material, result is not satisfactory ,mag became wobbly ,
Than I file mag catch opening and bingo! mag is sturdy and works great .
You have to file with diamond file just a bit UP, don’t rush test it frequently.
STI will get new bases roughly in 6 month, they said .Personally I think it’s the mag grab opening. Other than that gun is great
 
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ZUKA said:
I don’t have extractor problem yet, but the mag problem is solved.
I called STI today, they (warranty department) told me “sand the base “
So I did! I sand off a lot of material, result is not satisfactory ,mag became wobbly ,
Than I file mag catch opening and bingo! mag is sturdy and works great .
You have to file with diamond file just a bit UP, don’t rush test it frequently.
STI will get new bases roughly in 6 month, they said .Personally I think it’s the mag grab opening. Other than that gun is great.

aridan ты в каком клубе стреляешь ? думаю куда податься, в Ошаве нравится но далековато .
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I looked at mag base(s) last night. The front of it has raised lettering that is being hit when you slam the mag in. I sanded the font of the mag base down until the lettering was gone. I still cannot insert the mag with a finger push, but a gentle tap does it now, and the gun goes into battery, just like my Jericho 941. I think this is a feature good to have.
 
aridan said:
A few more pictures, just in case you see something...
IMG_1211.jpg

IMG_1209.jpg


I left a private message for Sean, let's see what he's got to say. Too bad I can't call him during working hours.

Thanks for your help, as always... :cheers:
Click to expand...

I do see something. A Missing firing pin safety and some meat missing from the slide.
 
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