As regular readers know, I recently completed project Gaston– an 80 percent Glock compatible pistol frame. Today was the day that I finally got to take it out to turn some money into noise.
I got to put a single magazine through it. Accuracy was fine. Here is the target from 10 yards, rapid fire.
The problem was reliability. Out of 16 rounds, there was one stove pipe, three failures to feed, one round with a dented primer but no PEW!, and one where the fire control group didn’t reset.
I didn’t even get a chance to troubleshoot before the RSO came over and forced me to stop shooting because my ammo was steel cased.
I am wondering if the problems were caused by too heavy of a recoil spring. The slide is a lightweight one, and perhaps changing out the standard 15 pound spring with a 13 pound one will work.
In the meantime, I need to buy some brass cased ammo and save the steel cased stuff for the outdoor range. More on this later.
8 Comments
Will · January 12, 2022 at 7:52 am
Could have been that cheap-ass Russian ammo.
Divemedic · January 12, 2022 at 8:01 am
It was made in USA Winchester steel case.
It's just Boris · January 12, 2022 at 8:40 am
Some might just be break-in. Combining parts from many manufacturers, and some hand-finishing, sometimes results in needing some in-service burnishing.
I would try the lighter spring, and see if things don’t improve after another 2-3 magazines.
joe · January 12, 2022 at 7:00 pm
i’ve read that several places…on a lot of these types of builds, they need a few mags through them to get everything working the way it should…a break in period…
Jason · January 12, 2022 at 12:32 pm
Run 50 – 100 rounds of 124 grain JHP rounds and see if reliability improves. My P80 G17 needed some breaking in before it was running reliably.
T Town · January 12, 2022 at 12:39 pm
If not already done, polish the feed ramp and chamber. A lighter spring may also be required. Some guns just don’t seem to like steel casings.
Jonathan · January 12, 2022 at 3:30 pm
I’ve run into issues like that before. Parts from different manufacturers aren’t always as compatible as they claim…
I’ve suggest dry firing, including full slide movement a bunch of times, then look for wear points and witness marks to see if you can find a tight spot.
DBM · January 12, 2022 at 8:32 pm
I wouldn’t rule out the ammo being the main culprit. The USA Winchester steel ammo will consistently cause issues in any of my guns that use a double stack mag.
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