when he says he's not after our guns. Remember I said I was going to the range? It was kind of delayed; when I got there, there was a waiting list for a lane. At 10:30 on a weekday morning. AND the sales side was busy, too. Including(I love it!) lots of women, both sides.
So I went off to take care of some other things, then went back by a couple of hours later and was able to shoot. Aside from general practice(I need more) I'd wanted to try something. While back I'd gotten an extra-power Wolff recoil spring for the compact .45, and with Gold Dots it worked perfectly, but with lighter practice loads I kept getting something I'd NEVER had before: double-feeds. I'd wind up with a round in the chamber and the next round from the magazine trying to feed. The combination of the stronger recoil spring and lighter loads managed the combination of ejecting the empty, jarring the next round out of the mag and into the chamber, and then trying to feed the round after that as the slide tried to close. Downright strange. So before I left I'd put the standard spring back in, and no double-feeds.
Amazing what you run across.
4 comments:
Double feeds also can result from heavy bullets, and weak magazine springs. Usually happens at the last few rounds in the mag. I can't see how a heavier spring would cause that, but it's hard to argue with a bound up pistol. To check mag springs, put 1 round in each mag, and press them together round-to-round.
Got the same sort of double feed issues with my Desert Eagle Mk VII when I first brought it home. I didn't think to purchase ammo with it... already had .44 at the house, but didn't realize that it was ALL 180 gr. Winchester white box stuff that I keep around for target plinking with my Super Blackhawk.
Anyway, long story short... went back out, bought the 240 gr that the manual... hate it when I have to read that... clearly states is the minimum that will cycle the firearm properly. Needless to say, everything from 240 gr up to 305 gr has cycled it perfectly. Oddly, the Hornady rounds (all that I have tried) will not fit the magazine. And, I am still a bit confused about the action required to double feed.
I mean, the slide is forced back, it ejects the spent casing and chambers a round on return. How does the second round get involved?
Beats hell out of me. I researched it and came across the same thing everywhere: if you have a live round in the chamber and a second trying to feed, it's the mag spring losing tension. Except I tried new springs in a couple of mags, and different mags: no change. And it would happen at any point in the load: after first round, or second, or sixth, at random. Original power recoil spring installed: problem gone.
Dan, my understanding(if you can call it that) is that in the right combination of things, during the slide back/ejection stroke, if the mag spring is light it can allow inertia to cause the top round in the mag to 'stay in place' and the mag & frame move out from under it, and it then winds up going at least partially into the chamber; then as the slide comes forward and strips the next round out of the mag, it either drives the first into the chamber or just runs into it, giving the double-feed jam.
Appreciate the enlightenment... it never occurred to me that the double feed could be caused by the magazine moving relative to the round. Still, the double feed phenomenon happened with the magazines that came with the handgun (all purchased used about 5 months ago) and with all four of the magazines that I purchased afterward. Yes, after resolving the issue, I had to see if I could recreate the problem with new magazines.
And yes, somewhere between round 4 and round 7 it would either double feed or not clear the spent casing correctly... the spent casing would get caught by the returning slide, thereby getting mashed against the breech sideways with an unfired round under it. All problems were once again resolved when I increased the "weight" going from 180 gr to 240 gr. Do appreciate the insight.
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