Why won't my P38 cycle?

A

Architect_SA

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Hello, I recently acquired a P38 and have experienced nothing but frustration as the damn slide won't come all the way forward. Sometimes it is stuck, and a little nudge gets it all the way, and other times the only way to unjam it is to rip the slide back again really hard. Hitting the slide release only causes the slide to move forward about a millimeter and is stuck. I really like this gun, as it's all matching, and an early CYQ serial.

I suspect it might be the recoil spring, so I bought some new ones. I haven't had a chance to replace them yet, as I'm curious as to what your opinion is. Any help is appreciated.

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I'm using American Eagle 9mm FMJ. Yes, a round will drop in by hand, and will fire. It's quite accurate when it does fire, however once the round is ejected, I still get the same problem. There are no problems extracting it.
 
As long as a round will chamber freely, and extract freely, it sounds like the problem is with the twin recoil springs. That would be where I would start. In the photo the gun looks like it's been used a lot. After sixty years of steady use, it's not too much to expect that the recoil springs might fail. I'm a little puzzled when you write that the slide moves forward a little bit and is then "stuck". Do you mean that when the slide moves to a certain point, you can't get it to move beyond that without using considerable force?
 
Sorry, what I meant to say was once I hit the slide release, it moves freely until contact with the round in the magazine. It doesn't seem to have the oomph to catch it and yank it out of the mag. It stops at the round. So, yes, I was saying it won't move without considerable force.
 
Could you please take it apart and post pictures. I don't think the problem are the springs, there are quite a few pieces which can catch the slide, maybe one of them is not properly sitting.
 
While it is recommended the recoil springs on old P-38's be changed I agree with scianna54 that your problem may be elsewhere. When I first got mine the slide would sometimes jam just on racking it. I thought it might be the ejector but there are two other parts also in that vicinity which could be more likely. The safety hammer lowering lever and the firing pin lock lever. In any case a good spraying with Gunk-Out of that area has resolved the problen and it fires just fine.
 
I agree it is probably the springs but check the extractor and make sure it is clean and nothing is stiffening the arm, if you don't think it is the two springs, it could be a stiff extractor arm.
 
Strip, clean in detail, re-assemble, and test. If it then works properly, the cause of the problem was either that it was dirty or something was assembled incorrectly. If the problem persists, you will have eliminated those two possible causes and then it will be worth spending money, (instead of just time and effort that you have spare anyway) for either some new parts to test with or a gunsmith.
 
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