definitely try factory ammo. and check lbs on recoil spring... if all else fails borrow mags or buy different brands of mags. and if that don't work, take it to a smith.
I agree with stop polishing the ramp. You certainly can over polish and mess the frame up. And a polished ramp is seldom the fix for anything. I also agree with losing the shock buff. IMO they don't help calm recoil that much. And an argument can be made that the buff can reduce the rearward movement of the slide enough that it can't travel far enough backwards to allow a full forward travel to develop reliable speed to do its job loading the chamber. A stretch but possibly possible? The recoil spring, being of unknown strength, could be an issue and a new Wolff spring is cheap. Absolutely extractor tension could be an issue but a properly chamfered mouth on the extractor could be an issue too. My experience has been that mag issues are the root cause of many feeding problems. And Since you have two mag brands and the STI is the bad boy the mags feed lips could be out of shape for a flat nosed (kinda like a wad cutter?) bullet. Tuning mags to run 38 super wad cutters is a bit of an art.
That's what I was getting at in my earlier post. When you run standard length .40's in a frame designed to handle .45's, the shorter OAL allows the bullet tip to nose dive more before it contacts the feed ramp, which can result in a stoppage. By loading to a longer OAL, the bullet will hit the feed ramp higher up. It's not a matter of distance, but of time. That's what confuses a lot of people. Feed cycle smoothness has a lot to do with timing.
The shock-buff is definitely out, and I've got 11#, 12# and 13# recoil springs on order. I'm also ditching the plastic Para-Ordnance mag catch for a quality Caspian piece. When I had it out last night, it looked a little chewed up. Why you'd use plastic for that, I don't know.
The magazine feed lips on the mag that works best are .380". The other Mec-Gar measures .375". The STI mag measures .395". I'm also going to fiddle a bit with my COL and crimp on my handloads. I'll check some factory ammo, as well.
Thanks for the input, all.
The magazine feed lips on the mag that works best are .380". The other Mec-Gar measures .375". The STI mag measures .395". I'm also going to fiddle a bit with my COL and crimp on my handloads. I'll check some factory ammo, as well.
Thanks for the input, all.
STI mag... They told me on the phone today that mine probably didn't have the right spring in it from the get go, didn't sound very promising out of a 1800 gun. I am having the same problem with mine. He said either way it will me fixed free of charge. Mine is a 4" STI VIP double stack chambered in .40 cal. Hopefully it works when I get the mags back.
The mag spring is certainly important. The STI folks could be right. The length of the feed lips is also a factor in proper mag operation but equally important is the angle of the lips...there relationship to each other. Search the Internet for mag feed lip angle differences. You'll find info on at least three angle types, original GI, hybrid and wad cutter. The info is interesting reading. And may be applicable to your situation.
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