Initially ran three different brands of ammo through it, 3 mags, ~1 in 8 fail to extract, case is left halfway in chamber, gun tries to feed next round with halfway extracted case still in chamber. No limp wrist to blame.
Very new looking (~98%, holster wear only)
No visible damage, gun is WELL cleaned and oiled, looks almost new.
It has some wear that shows it was shot a fair amount, but not abused.
Extractor appears fine, it's sharp and looks new, geometry appears correct.
First thing- replaced the extractor spring. New one was slightly bigger/longer. Seems to be a bit tighter.
Gun still failing to extract ~1/8.
Next- replaced the recoil spring with one from Numrich, new spring had fewer windings and slightly shorter.
Hard to tell the diameter of wire, but they are very, very close, if not the same. ~0.035"
Old spring is ~0.355 x 4.5" 26 windings.
New spring ~0.375 x 4.2" 20 windings.
Put in new recoil spring.
New spring had FTE- 2 out of 2 shots, stopped there.
Put old spring back in, back to ~1/8 fail to extract, case left in chamber & next round jammed under the un-extracted round.
Time to look with magnifying glass.
There was some
slight peening to the rear lower part of slide where it hits the hammer first, just under the rear of the firing pin. Took a fine, flat jeweler's file to it and GENTLY took off the peening and rounded it gently. I did not do a lot of strokes, took care to not alter the geometry, as it appears resistance of the hammer is critical in the timing, just like a 1911.
Slide is still VERY hard to rack (with hammer down). I'm assuming that is normal.
Attached FileLocking block appears good, no peening/mushrooming noted on the wear surfaces, no cracks noted.
Some wear on the right side of barrel.
Attached FileGun is very clean (I cleaned it thoroughly, before shooting and inbetween, even though it already was clean) and oiled.
Chamber is clean, appears to be reamed correctly (fired cases have the
slightest amount of wiggle, so I don't think it's too tight).
As an act of desperation I fired 8 +p handloads, kicked like a mule, web of hand was stinging... (124gr xtp + 6.5gr 800x)
800x is a very slow burning powder, good for safe +p loads, similar to 357sig power levels.
Function was 100%, and it was ejecting cased about as far as an AK-47/SKS.
Only ran 8 rounds through it, but ejection awesomer. Previous ejection was only going ~5 feet max, these were going 15 feet.
But, after cleaning it, a bunch... and busting out the 3.5x eye glasses, found this odd pattern in the chamber.
Looks like the machinist was a marine.
Attached FileOne of the eight +p handloads ruptured (non-catastophic). I didn't find the odd carbon deposit in the chamber until AFTER I had already smashed the ruptured casing with a hammer. But it appears to match exactly.
Attached FileCarbon deposit in chamber does not want to come off with a normal 357 bronze brush.
At this point, I'm wondering if the chamber has a weird defect.
I can't really feel anything using a paperclip to feel the chamber. But it's definitely carbon deposit. I'm thinking the chamber has a bulge and the casing is grabbing the bulge as it tries to extract, but it's holding so tight the extractor slips off.
Time to buy a new barrel?
The person I'm doin this for is not going to be happy about it, they bought this gun cause it was "cheap". I already asked them if they wanted more mags ~$50 each (while I was buying springs), they said "no".