justindad
01-02-2024, 01:16 AM
I was just about to experience the first jam-free sequence of 400 rounds cycled through my 3” Kimber 1911 in .45ACP… then I got a 3-pt jam. Bummer. The good news, I hope, is that the 3-pt jam is not what has plagued this pistol over the previous 2,500-ish rounds. The first persistent failure mode I had was failure to reach battery - which typically happened with a full magazine. I solved that by polishing wear surfaces and shooting the gun. I also swapped out the recoil spring for the stiffer version, which I think helps force the slide & cartridge into full battery. The next failure mode, which may have contributed to the FTRB, was that the slide stop pin was too long and rounds would hit the pin during the feeding cycle, which would cause the slide to lock back as if the magazine was empty. I solved that by very, very slowly removing material from the slide stop pin. I did swap the Magazine out once, but that made both problems worse.
*
So now I got this disappointing jam. Most of the stuff I read online regarding 3-pt jams pertains to something in the gun being out of spec, which I don’t think applies here given the number of cycles without a 3-pt jam. I’m shooting three boolits right now - a clone of the H&G #34 (230 gr RN), loaded to 1.275” OACL; the RCBS clone of H&G #68 (200 gr SWC), loaded to 1.235” OACL; and a Saeco 230 gr TC boolit loaded to 1.190” OACL. The Saeco boolit is the one that jammed and that mold is pretty new to me. Most of my shooting is with the 230 gr RN boolit. I think the jam was caused by the short cartridge length. The offending round was loaded with the starting charge of 5.0 gr of W231.
*
I guess I have to start over again, except without the Saeco boolit. I’ll load up 250 rounds of the SWC with a light charge of W231 and 250 rounds of the RN boolit with a stiff charge of True Blue (and a few more with Enforcer). Wish me luck on getting 500 rounds through without a hitch! If that succeeds, I’ll have a 2-c Saeco mold up for sale.
*
Any advice is welcome.
*
So now I got this disappointing jam. Most of the stuff I read online regarding 3-pt jams pertains to something in the gun being out of spec, which I don’t think applies here given the number of cycles without a 3-pt jam. I’m shooting three boolits right now - a clone of the H&G #34 (230 gr RN), loaded to 1.275” OACL; the RCBS clone of H&G #68 (200 gr SWC), loaded to 1.235” OACL; and a Saeco 230 gr TC boolit loaded to 1.190” OACL. The Saeco boolit is the one that jammed and that mold is pretty new to me. Most of my shooting is with the 230 gr RN boolit. I think the jam was caused by the short cartridge length. The offending round was loaded with the starting charge of 5.0 gr of W231.
*
I guess I have to start over again, except without the Saeco boolit. I’ll load up 250 rounds of the SWC with a light charge of W231 and 250 rounds of the RN boolit with a stiff charge of True Blue (and a few more with Enforcer). Wish me luck on getting 500 rounds through without a hitch! If that succeeds, I’ll have a 2-c Saeco mold up for sale.
*
Any advice is welcome.